Domestic Violence Screening and Intervention in Medical and Mental Healthcare Settings » (1st Edition)

Mary Beth Phelan, MD, is a board-certified Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin. Her major areas of interest are domestic violence and ultrasonography. Dr. Phelan completed an Emergency Ultrasound fellowship in 1994 and has contributed extensively to the advancement of Emergency Ultrasound education locally, regionally, and nationally through workshops, presentations, lectures, and peer-reviewed journal publications. Dr. Phelan was co-principal investigator for two consecutive years on a grant titled "Male and Female Victims of Domestic Violence Identified in the Emergency Department," which sought to determine the impact of intimate partner violence on women and men seeking emergency medical treatment. She is also a co-investigator on a Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance grant, "Enhancing Education in Partner Violence Identification, Intervention, and Prevention at MCW," from 1998 to 2003. Work from this grant has contributed to domestic violence curriculum development and expansion for medical students, residents, and faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Additionally, she has assisted with the development of domestic violence guidelines that were accepted by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research's National Guideline Clearing House for Website publication.

L. Kevin Hamberger, PhD, is a Professor of Family and Community Medicine in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin. Since 1982, he has conducted treatment and research programs with domestically violent men and women, and developed and evaluated health care provider training programs to deliver violence prevention services to patients. Dr. Hamberger is Co-Chair of the Wisconsin Governors Council for Domestic Abuse, and was Chair of the Committee that developed the 1996 Wisconsin Male Batterer Treatment Standards. He presently co-chairs a task force for the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Institute charged with developing professional credentials for providers of intimate partner violence offender services. He is a founding member and past Chair of the Wisconsin Batterer Treatment Provider Association. He has served as a consultant to the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Justice, the Department of Defense, and the Family Violence Prevention Fund. He is on the editorial boards of four scholarly journals. He is the past Chair of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Group on Violence Education and President of the Board of Directors of Womens Horizons domestic abuse shelter in Kenosha, WI. Dr. Hamberger has published approximately 80 articles, chapters, and 5 books, including Treating Men Who Batter: Theories, Programs, and Practice, Domestic Partner Abuse, Violence Issues for Health Care Educators and Providers, and Domestic Violence Screening and Intervention in Medical and Mental Healthcare Settings.

Hamberger and Phelan, both affiliated with the Medical College of Wisconsin, review the literature on screening, identification, intervention, and prevention of partner violence across healthcare specialties and disciplines to offer insight on the development of effective domestic violence prevention programs. Primary care, psychiatric and mental health care, and emergency department settings are considered. The book will be of interest to those who develop or study health care policy, those who train health care professionals, and health care professionals who work with victims and offenders. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Steven T. Herron, MD(University of Arizona Health Sciences Center)
Description:The authors present a review of the literature related to domestic violence and concentrate on its identification and methods of intervention in various medical settings.
Purpose:This book attempts illustrate the current understanding of acts of domestic violence, as well as to define and highlight areas for future research in an effort to improve the identification and prevention of this prevalent societal problem.
Audience:The foreword suggests this book is appropriate for "those who develop or study health care policy, those who train health care professionals, and health care professionals who take seriously their potential for making a difference" in the lives of victims and offenders.
Features:The chapters address each area in which victims of intimate partner violence can be encountered in various medical environments. These include primary care, psychiatry and mental health, or emergency/urgent care settings, to name a few. There are numerous tables in most chapters and references range from the mid-1970s to 2003. Particularly enlightening is the chapter on mandatory reporting of domestic violence, which examines data regarding victim and offender attitudes toward these statutes, including whether they encourage or prevent access to healthcare providers.
Assessment:Disappointingly, much of the information in this book is not favorable to the medical profession regarding identifying and assisting victims of domestic violence. However, the data compiled illustrates interesting attitudes of both offenders and victims, and may be helpful in nudging healthcare providers in the direction of more appropriate screening and identification of these populations. Despite the interesting information provided in its pages, many of the tables are difficult to interpret, and frequently statistics are overgeneralized with limited ability to provide firm conclusions from the data. Future editions may be more productive in proposing implementation methods for clinical practitioners regarding screening techniques without overburdening already overwhelmed providers.