Black Health Trust Highlights the Dangers of Intimate Partner Violence
With the Zoomcast entitled Intimate Partner Violence, Black Health Trust, the New York Citybased consortium of leading African American physicians and other professionals devoted to familyrelated violence prevention, fulfilled the commitment expressed in its mission statement that the need to share theoretical and practical information about critically important subjects is appropriate in such a public forum.
The event aired on April 18th and featured many of the nation’ s most prominent experts on the subject matter. They offered credible science-based information regarding the physical and mental health of families affected by IPV, also known popularly as Domestic Violence.
Lead study author Dr. Rahn Bailey framed the day’ s event as the second discussion of a three-part series. The book length collection of essays was edited by Dr. Bailey and published by Springer. It carries the subtitle An Evidence-Based Approach and consists of 19 chapters offering a variety of perspectives including the effects of IPV during the current pandemic. Many chapter authors participated in the day’ s event and there was a strong consensus of agreement regarding the findings expressed throughout the book.
Citing remarks included in her book Foreword, CDU COM Dean Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith cited IPV as an international issue of historic significance that cuts cross racial lines. She credited the women’ s rights movement for bringing attention to this challenge. The Violence Against Women Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1994, triggered a cultural change and focused greater spotlight on IPV primarily on women and families.
The Act provided $ 1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of crimes against women and established the Office of Violence Against Women in the federal Department of Justice. The Act also called on public health and healthcare workers to do more.
Citing stories from her own professional experience, Dr. Prothrow-Stith told of treating a female security guard initially as a teenager. Later she saw the client again in her late 20s-early 30s. In leaving behind the IPV environment, the patient cited the futility of the situation as not getting better despite her best efforts. The good news was that the conversations helped the young woman to muster the courage to leave.
In her second story, Dr. Prothrow-Stith noted that a client’ s being in a market and buying a bottle of shampoo triggered unpleasant memories that she thought she had left behind. It involved her decisionmaking ability and pointed to the impact of IPV on her mental health.
There is a vicious cycle of violence that is not simply a matter of men versus women. The challenge is for caregivers to step forward and recognize that treatment offers a range of options offered to victims. The issue of race and violence also comes into play.
CDU College of Medicine | PG. 25