Violence victims' perception of functioning and well-being : a survey from an urban public hospital walk-in clinic

This study assessed the health perceptions of self-reported violence victims in an urban minority population attending a walk-in clinic by using an anonymous, 1-week, cross-sectional survey. The Medical Outcome Study Short-Form (MOS SF-20) was used to assess functioning/well being, including the dimensions of physical functioning, role functioning, social functioning, mental health, health perceptions, and pain. Health perception main scores were calculated for each of the six health dimensions in the following four groups: patient-victims, patient-nonvictims, visitor-victims, and visitor-nonvictims. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated to assess the association of violence victimization and functioning/well-being. The mean scores of health status were consistently better among nonvictims for all of the six health concepts measured; patients who were victims showed lower mean scores than nonvictim patients. A similar pattern also was found in visitors' health status scores when victims were compared to nonvictims. The strongest association was found between violence victimization and mental health, and the least association was between the pain score and violence victimization. This study showed a substantial association between poor health and violence victimization in the patient population studied. Intervention is needed to prevent and decrease violence in order to minimize the impact of violence on the health of victims.