Intimate Partner Violence and Community Service Needs among Pregnant and Post-partum Latina Women

摘要

Healthcare providers are advised to refer abused women to needed community services. However, little is known about abused women's perceived need for services, particularly among Latina women. We examined the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and perceived needs for legal, social, and job services among a prospective cohort of 210 pregnant Latinas. At the pre-natal interview 27.2% of recent IPV(+) Latinas reported needing legal services compared to 27.1% of ever IPV(+) and 10.2% of IPV(-) (p=0.006). At 3 months post-partum 19.3% of recent IPV(+) Latinas reported needing legal services compared to 13.4% of ever IPV(+) and 4.6% of IPV(-) (p=0.03). Finally, at 7 months post-partum 29.0% of recent IPV(+) Latinas reported needing legal services compared to 12.1% of ever IPV(+) and 7.6% of IPV(-) (p=0.006). At 3 months post-partum recent and ever IPV(+) Latinas reported a greater need for social services (recent IPV(+) 46.2%, ever IPV(+) 25.4%, IPV(-) 11.0%, p<0.001). There was no significant difference in job services needs. In multivariate analyses, IPV(+)had a greater need for legal services (AOR 2.30, 95% CI 1.15, 4.62) and social services (AOR 2.18, 95% CI 1.21, 3.95) than IPV(-). We conclude that IPV may be associated with ongoing perceived needs for social and legal services among Latina perinatal patients.