An evaluation of health care providers' sexual violence screening practices

To evaluate whether health care providers (HCPs) screen women and provide them with information about sexual violence and how women receive this information.

A multiethnic sample of 945 low-income women recruited from family planning clinics responded to an anonymous survey regarding their discussions with HCPs about sexual violence.

Forty-eight percent of women reported that they had been screened or given information about sexual violence by a HCP. Only 6% of women expressed discomfort with being screened, and more than 95% found the information given to them by HCPs to be helpful. Latina, less educated, and monolingual Spanish-speaking women were less likely to have been screened or provided information.

Women find discussions of sexual violence by their HCPs to be helpful and nonintrusive. Educational, linguistic, and cultural factors appear to affect the likelihood that HCPs discuss sexual violence with their patients.