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The community should be informed of the risk factors
associated with battered spouses based on the research findings
of the emergency clinicians, according to the paper “Risk factors
for injury to married women from domestic violence in Hong Kong”
published in the August issue of the Hong Kong Medical Journal (HKMJ
2006;12:289-93).
Dr EKL Chan of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration
at the University of Hong Kong writes a commentary (HKMJ 2006;12:322-3)
on the new study in the same edition of the HKMJ, “Emergency
departments are services frequently used by victims of intimate
partner violence (IPV). It has been advocated that universal screening
for IPV should be conducted in these health care settings”.
He continues, “Violence prevention can start at an emergency
department (ED) when it is linked to a social service agency. The
development of a validated screening tool and a study of risk factors
associated with IPV can facilitate routine screening in an ED. The
paper Risk factors for injury to married women from domestic violence
in Hong Kong in this issue of the Hong Kong Medical Journal, which
describes a study of risk factors in a local hospital, is a much-needed
one that can contribute to the knowledge and practice of universal
screening in health care settings.…Routine screening could
be applied to the victims, as well as the perpetrators, who present
to an ED for medical care.”
In this new study, Tsui et al looked at the risk factors for injury
from domestic violence to married women. The study, which compared
293 married women with domestic violence injuries to 313 other married
women attending the ED at a major New Territories hospital in 2004
and 2005, identified a number of characteristics in husbands making
domestic violence more likely.
Unemployment, extramarital affairs, alcohol abuse, low educational
level and mental illness were all significant factors in husbands
who injured their wives.
Other factors identified by univariate analysis as significant 'predictive
variables' in the women who were injured during domestic violence
included being a new immigrant and not having a paid job.
“This ED-based study provides essential information for the
development of local preventive strategies,” writes Dr Chan.
“I believe the investigators have now gained good experience
at administering screening in EDs and such experience could be turned
into a protocol and applied to other EDs. Universal screening is
regarded as a good public health preventive strategy.”
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