Who gets screened during pregnancy for partner violence?

Contexts Despite recommendations to screen prenatal care patients for partn er violence, the prevalence of such screening is unknown. Objectives: To estimate the statewide prevalence of partner violence screen ing during prenatal care among a representative sample of North Carolina wo men with newborns and to compare women screened for partner violence with w omen not screened. Design, getting, and Participants: This investigation examines data gathere d through the North Carolina Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, a random sample of more than 2600 recently postpartum women who were deliver ed of newborns between July 1997 and December 1998. Main Outcome Measures: Self-reports of violence, health service factors, an d sociodemographic characteristics. Analysis: The prevalence of screening was computed, and odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to examine bivariate and multivariable asso ciations between being screened for partner violence and other factors. Results: Thirty-seven percent of women reported being screened for partner violence during prenatal care. Logistic regression analysis found that wome n were more likely to be screened if they received prenatal care from (1) a public provider paid by a public source; (2) a private provider paid by a public source; or (3) a public provider paid by a private source. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the majority of prenatal care pati ents in North Carolina are not screened for partner violence. Screening app ears to be most highly associated with whether a woman is a patient in the public sector or the private sector, and with the source of payment for pre natal care.