Biomedical subjects

W Wiist

Publications and source records attributed to W Wiist.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

Use of counseling by abused pregnant Hispanic women.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are characteristics of abused women that are associated with the women's use of the services of counseling to help end the abuse. The research design was a prospective, descriptive analysis of 216 abused pregnant Hispanic women receiving prenatal care in urban public health clinics. Women who were abused by their intimate male partner were offered unlimited access to the services of a bilingual English/Spanish-speaking counselor experienced in abuse whose office was located in the public health clinic. Baseline demographic characteristics, severity of abuse experienced by the women, and the women's previous use of community resources were assessed. Analyses were conducted to examine associations between baseline characteristics and the number of visits the abused women made to the counselor. The results of the study show that when an abused pregnant Hispanic woman had an average of two or more children, she was more likely to use the services of an abuse prevention counselor. The study also showed that the women who had used the police most during the previous 12 months made the fewest number of visits to the counselor. Prenatal care may provide a convenient and safe setting for low-income, ethnic minority women with numerous children to conveniently and safely access abuse prevention services. Research is needed on the effectiveness of incorporating abuse intervention services into nontraditional settings, such as neighborhood clinics.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Predicting physical abuse against pregnant Hispanic women.

CONTEXT: Abuse during pregnancy is common and has adverse health effects on maternal and infant health. To prevent abuse to pregnant women, predictors must be identified and incorporated into routine screening and intervention protocols. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether or not symbolic violence and threats of violence by a male intimate were associated with physical violence against pregnant Hispanic women. DESIGN: Cross-sectional interview survey questionnaire. SETTING: Urban, public health prenatal clinics. PARTICIPANTS: 329 pregnant, physically abused Hispanic women. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Physical abuse against pregnant Hispanic women as measured on the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale. RESULTS: Regression analysis showed that symbolic violence and threats of violence by the perpetrator were jointly and independently significantly (P < .0005) associated with physical violence. CONCLUSIONS: Because symbolic violence is significantly associated with physical violence against pregnant women, screening and early intervention programs should focus on such behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Characteristics of sexual abuse against pregnant Hispanic women by their male intimates.

There have been few research reports on sexual abuse of Hispanic women by their intimate male partners. This study examined the frequency of six types of sexual abuse of 329 pregnant Hispanic women identified during routine prenatal care in public health clinics as physically abused. Threats of abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse were measured with the 46-item Severity of Violence Against Women Scale. Comparisons were made between women reporting sexual abuse and those who did not. Thirty-two percent (n = 105) of the women reported sexual abuse by their male partner at least once during the prior 12 months. Sexually abused women reported significantly higher levels of threats of abuse and physical abuse than women not sexually abused. Among the sexually abused women, not living with the abuser was correlated with higher threats of abuse, physical violence, and sexual abuse scores. The results of this study support previous research proposing a continuum of violence and possible escalation of violence when an abused woman leaves her abuser. Additional longitudinal research is needed on psychosocial and behavioral characteristics of sexually abused women, particularly among ethnic minority women.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1997

Preventing abuse to pregnant women: implementation of a "mentor mother" advocacy model.

Abuse to pregnant women is common and can result in complications to maternal and child health. Although screening and detection of abuse in primary health care settings is becoming more commonplace, intervention models that include community outreach have not been developed or tested. An advocacy model was developed and tested for pregnant abused women by melding research on advocacy programs for abused women exiting shelters with the principles of home visitation used to improve outcomes to pregnant women. Advocacy was offered by "mentor mothers," who were residents of the project's service area. The advocacy consisted of weekly social support, education, and assisted referrals to pregnant women identified as abused as part of routine screening offered at the first prenatal visit to a public health clinic. Effectiveness of the advocacy intervention was measured as contact success rate, number and type of advocacy contacts, and number and type of referrals made to the first 100 women to complete the advocacy program. The mentor mother advocates were successful in contacting the abused woman 33% of the time, regardless of whether a telephone call, home visitation, or in-person meeting was attempted. The average number of advocacy contacts was 9.2 (SD = 7.6) with the majority (74%) being via the telephone. The average number of referrals per woman was 8.6 (SD = 7.6) with the largest percentage (38%) being for medical services. Outreach advocacy as an intervention model for pregnant abused women is recommended.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

An evaluation of interventions to decrease intimate partner violence to pregnant women.

Prevention of abuse to women is a national priority; however, research has focused on identification of abuse rather than evaluating interventions. To evaluate the differential effectiveness of three levels of intervention, Brief, Counseling, and Outreach, a longitudinal study with repeated evaluation interviews at 2-, 6-, 12-, and 18-months postdelivery was completed at two urban public health prenatal clinics. The participants were 329 pregnant, physically abused Hispanic women. Both physical abuse and women's use of community resources were measured. Repeated measures ANOVA showed that severity of abuse decreased significantly (p < 0.001) across time for all intervention groups. Violence scores at 2-months postdelivery were significantly lower for the Outreach group (p < 0.05) compared to the Counseling only group, but not significantly lower than the Brief intervention group. At 6-, 12-, and 18-month follow-up there were no statistically significant differences among the intervention groups. The use of lay outreach for abused pregnant women merits further research. Abuse screening by itself, however, may be the most effective intervention to prevent abuse to pregnant women.

Adolescent↗