Article Figures & Data
Figures
- Figure 1.
Participants stating it is “easy” or “very easy” to empathize with a patient who remained in an abusive relationship.
*The section about empathy was preceded by the following statement: “Health care providers generally find it easier to empathize with some people’s choices than others. Imagine a patient is choosing to remain in an abusive relationship. For each of the patient types listed below, please mark how easy or difficult it is for you to empathize with their decision to remain in the abusive relationship.”
**P < .001 for difference between providers and other staff.
Tables
Characteristics N (%) Professional role* Primary care providers 70 (25) Medical support staff 122 (44) Administrative staff 56 (20) Other employees 30 (8) Unknown 9 (3) Medical specialty (providers only) Family medicine 32 (46) Internal medicine 19 (27) Obstetrics/gynecology 12 (17) Other 7 (10) Male sex† 26 (9) Prior domestic violence training‡ 123 (62) Self, family member, or close friend with history of domestic violence‡ 134 (59) * Primary care providers include 48 physicians, 17 nurse practitioners, and 5 physician assistants; medical support staff include nurses, medical assistants, and technicians; administrative staff include clinic managers, receptionists, records clerks, and billing clerks; and other employees include social workers and community outreach workers. Nine nonphysician employees did not specify a clinical role.
† Twenty of the 48 (42%) physicians were male.
‡ Only 199 and 226 participants responded to questions about prior domestic violence training or personal experience with domestic violence, respectively.
- Table 2.
Percentage of Healthcare Workers Agreeing with Items about a Primary Care Provider’s Responsibility to Assess for or Counsel about Intimate Partner Violence
This section was preceded by the statement: “Primary care providers are asked to do increasingly more for patients in increasingly less time. For each of the statements below please mark your level of agreement regarding what should be expected of a primary care provider. The provider’s responsibility includes:” Participants who “agree” or “strongly agree”% (N) Screening female patients for domestic violence at every routine health maintenance visit. (Responsibility to assess for IPV) 67 (181) Asking all patients with chronic pain about the possibility of domestic violence. (Responsibility to assess for IPV) 56 (151) Asking about domestic violence any time an injury is noticed, regardless of the stated cause. (Responsibility to assess for IPV) 63 (170) Asking about domestic violence at every visit. (Social desirability) 14 (38) Making sure a patient gets to a shelter right away if he or she discloses abuse. (Unrealistic expectations/lack of respect for autonomy) 58 (155) Telling a patient that an abusive partner’s behavior is not acceptable. (Responsibility to manage IPV) 92 (253) Telling a patient that a particular relationship is harmful to his or her health. (Responsibility to manage IPV) 85 (233) Following-up with a patient after making a referral to a domestic violence agency. (Responsibility to manage IPV) 80 (220) Telling a patient he or she needs to leave an abusive relationship. (Lack of respect for autonomy) 55 (148) Type of visit Participants were instructed: “Please indicate how often you have asked a patient about the possibility of Domestic Violence when you saw any of the following conditions in the last month. If you have not seen this condition in the past month, mark N/A. Please skip to the next section if you do not interview patients.” Number of respondents answering item* “Nearly always” or “always” assess for IPV [% (N)] Injuries (bruises, lacerations, etc.) 114 35 (40) Chronic pelvic pain 116 18 (22) Irritable bowel syndrome 112 13 (14) Headaches 129 12 (15) Depression/anxiety 134 24 (32) Coronary artery disease† 104 1 (1) Routine health maintenance exam 121 26 (32) Pre-natal care 89 31 (28) * The number of respondents varies by item because not all participants interviewed patients or saw these conditions in the past month.
† The item regarding coronary artery disease was intended to measure social desirability bias and was not included in the summary score for the self-reported behaviors scale.
- Table 4.
Bivariate Analyses Assessing the Association between Empathy and Healthcare Workers’ Characteristics
Characteristics Mean Empathy Score P value Professional role Providers 3.2 .04 Other staff 3.0 Unrealistic Expectations Agree or strongly agree 2.9 .0045 Strongly disagree to neutral 3.2 Other Characteristics The following variables did not correlate with empathy: sex, personal experience with IPV, prior IPV training, sense of responsibility to assess for IPV, sense of responsibility to manage IPV, confidence, barriers, knowledge, and self-reported behavior.
