Does the health status of intimate partner violence victims warrant pharmacies as portals for public health promotion?

Objectives: To explore whether the health status of intimate partner violence (IPV) victims warrants pharmacies to be portals for public health promotion. Specific objectives included (1) identifying prevalence of IPV including domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA) in a community sample, (2) describing characteristics and correlates of DV/SA between participants who reported and did not report DV/SA, and (3) exploring whether DV/SA status is related to mental health medication use.

Design: Cross sectional.

Setting: Upstate New York during 2006.

Participants: English- and Spanish-speaking respondents younger than 65 years of age answering four questions to assess DV/SA.

Intervention: Secondary analysis of a countywide random telephone survey, the 2006 Monroe County Adult Health Survey, which collects prevalence data on health behaviors and health status indicators.

Main Outcome Measure: To determine whether those reporting DV/SA are at increased odds for mental health medication use, controlling for other sociodemographic- and health-related variables.

Results: The survey response rate was 30.3%, with 1,881 respondents meeting inclusion criteria. Those reporting DV/SA were almost twice as likely to use mental health medications. However, when controlling for other variables, only poor mental and physical health were significant in increasing the odds of mental health medication use.

Conclusion: The analyses reported here suggest that DV/SA victims in a community sample use mental health medications. When controlling for other variables, survey respondents reported worse physical and mental health. If pharmacies are suitable portals for DV/SA outreach, curricula would need to provide the knowledge and skills needed to take an active role in this public health promotion.