Citation

Covington DL, Dalton VK, Diehl SJ, Wright BD, Piner MH. J. Adolesc. Health 1997; 21(1): 18-24.

Affiliation

Research Department, Coastal Area Health Education Center, Wilmington, NC 28402-9025, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9215506

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that use of a direct, systematic assessment protocol applied throughout the course of prenatal care rather than a one-time, nonstructured, routine assessment would increase the reporting of prenatal violence among adolescents. Data from a retrospective assessment of the records of all 142 adolescents aged 12-19 years enrolled during 1993 (when the assessment was nonstructured) in the Maternity Care Coordination program of a health department prenatal clinic in North Carolina were compared to data from all 130 adolescents enrolled during 1994-95 when the systematic protocol was in place. The 13 adolescents with repeat pregnancies were excluded from analysis. The assessment protocol asked the direct question "Have you been hit, slapped, kicked, or hurt?" at three points during pregnancy. It was found that the standardized assessment protocol resulted in almost twice as many reports of violence at initial assessment, but this result was not statistically significant. However, multiple assessments using the systematic protocol increased reporting of prenatal violence significantly and consistently documented the perpetrator of the violence (68% partners, 14% parents, 9% siblings, and 9% friends). In-depth interviews with the seven maternity care coordinators confirmed that the new intervention tool was useful and effective because it used a written protocol and data collection form; asked direct, specific questions; did not label the victim; did not require the perpetrator's name; and involved multiple assessments.

Language: en