Citation

Vijayaraghavan M, Tochterman A, Hsu E, Johnson K, Marcus S, Caton CL. J. Community Health 2012; 37(5): 1032-1039.

Affiliation

Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Moores UCSD Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA, mvijayaraghavan@ucsd.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10900-011-9527-7

PMID

22187095

Abstract

Among a sample of sheltered homeless women, we examined health, access to health care, and health care use overall and among the subgroup of participants with and without intimate partner violence (IPV). We recruited homeless women from a random sampling of shelters in New York City, and queried them on health, access to health care and health care use. Using multivariable logistic regression, we determined whether IPV was associated with past-year use of emergency, primary care and outpatient mental health services. Of the 329 participants, 31.6% reported one or more cardiovascular risk factors, 32.2% one or more sexually transmitted infections, and 32.2% any psychiatric condition. Three-fourths (73.5%) had health insurance. Health care use varied: 55.4% used emergency, 48.9% primary care, and 75.9% outpatient mental health services in the past year. Across all participants, 44.7% reported IPV. Participants with IPV compared to those without were more likely to report medical and psychiatric conditions, and be insured. Participants with IPV reported using emergency (64.4%) more than primary care (55.5%) services. History of IPV was independently associated with use of emergency (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.7, 95% CI 1.0-2.7), but not primary care (AOR 1.5, 95% CI 0.9-2.6) or outpatient mental health services (AOR 1.9, 95% CI 0.9-4.1). Across the whole sample and among the subgroup with IPV, participants used emergency more than primary care services despite being relatively highly insured. Identifying and eliminating non-financial barriers to primary care may increase reliance on primary care among this high-risk group.

Language: en