FY15 The IPV Provider Network: Engaging the Health Care Provider Response to Interpersonal Violence Against Women

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The mission of the Office on Womens Health (OWH) is to provide national leadership and coordination to improve the health of women and girls through policy, education and innovative model programs. The Department of Health and Human Services has identified violence prevention as a major goal for improving health across several initiatives, including Healthy People. Further efforts are needed to ensure that all aspects of the health care system respond appropriately to women and girls who are victims of interpersonal violence. According to data from the CDC, women are disproportionately affected by intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and stalking; and victims experience many negative impacts and health consequences. (http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs-fact-sheet-2014.pdf; accessed January 10, 2015). Preliminary work supported by OWH highlighted the need for more collaborative violence prevention and health-related programs and projects.Previous work sponsored by OWH has illustrated the need to connect health care providers and public health programs to IPV programs. Strategies have included train-the-trainer methods, clear messaging, and development of services. OWH work also supports the importance of including geographically and ethnically diverse sites to maximize impact and social responsibility to underserved populations. Across all strategies and sites, the over-riding goal has been to develop the connection and support the linkage between systems that provide health care services and IPV programs for women. The next step is to test models that implement the linkages using robust methodologies to test interventions and evaluate programs.

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