Women's opinions about domestic violence screening and mandatory reporting

Background: The purpose of this paper is to describe women's opinions and p olicy preferences concerning domestic violence screening and mandatory repo rting. Methods: This case-control study included 202 abused women and 240 randomly selected nonabused women recruited from a large metropolitan health mainte nance organization who were interviewed by telephone. Of these women, 46.6% had a college degree, 53.4% were white, and 60% had a household income of $50,000 or more. Results: Forty-eight percent of the sample agreed that health care provider s should routinely screen all women, with abused women 1.5 times more likel y than non-abused women to support this policy. For mandatory reporting, 48 % preferred that it be the woman's decision to report abuse to the police. Women thought it would be easier for abused women to get help with routine screening (86%) and mandatory reporting (73%), although concerns were raise d about increased risk of abuse with both screening (43%) and reporting (52 %) policies. Two thirds of the sample thought women would be less likely to tell their health care providers about abuse under a mandatory reporting p olicy. Interventions offered in managed care settings that would be well re ceived, according to the women in this study, include counseling services, shelters, and confidential hotlines. Conclusions: Women expressed fears and concerns about negative consequences of routine screening and, even more so, for mandatory reporting. Domestic violence policies and protocols need to address the safety, autonomy, and c onfidentiality issues that concern women.