ession is in a position to identify abused victims, administer the proper care they require, and refer them to necessary social services. Unfortunately, numerous articles report that many health care professionals do not perform these services for battered women, especially in the emergency room.Using ethnographic techniques, Sugg and Inue (1992) concluded that physicians who explored for domestic abuse in the health care setting felt the procedure to be similar to “opening Pandora’s box”, in fact, 18 percent of the physicians interviewed used that actual phrase. The physicians participating in this study (the majority of whom were family practice specialists) reported such problems as lack of comfort in dealing with the issue, fear of offending the patient, a sense of powerlessness, loss of control, and time constraints, all of which constitute barriers to domestic abuse recognition and intervention in cases of domestic abuse seen in the primary care setting (Sugg and Inue, 1992).Analyzing research that investigates health professionals’ perspective of domestic abuse helps to confirm the startling reality that exists for victims seeking assistance. Sadly enough, as severe a health threat domestic abuse poses to women, many victims have been, or are currently, misidentified or met with apathy by health care professionals. This phenomenon is due to many factors, the most common of which includes inadequate training (many training programs do not even discuss domestic abuse) and tendencies toward feelings of “victim blaming”. Many health care professionals adopt the stance that domestic abuse is a problem that falls outside the spectrum of their job description. These professionals view the ideology of the family as a private domain and believe difficulties inside the home can and should be settled by the family member themselves (Davison & Couns, 1997).Assessment of abuse, whether in female or mal...
