Safe Haven for IPV Abuse Victims a Life or Death Matter

Newswise — Housing availability can mean the difference between survival and further abuse or death for women who have suffered intimate partner violence (IPV), according to professor Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, RN, nursing doctoral graduate Jessica Draughton, PhD, MSN, RN, senior research program coordinator Amber Clough, MSW, and a colleague. Based on in-depth interviews with IPV survivors, the study confirms the critical nature of safe housing and identifies significant barriers to it. One is a disconnect between local housing and domestic violence service systems. Over 2 million injuries are attributed to IPV annually. For some, the drive to escape abuse results in creative but ultimately temporary solutions, such as living in a car or an abandoned building. “From a public health perspective, IPV survivors need safe housing as a first step in recovery. We can and must do better,” Glass says. “Funding, policy, and service delivery must be restructured to better meet these survivors’ complex physical, behavioral, environmental, and social needs. With growing numbers of IPV survivors likely to be identified through [Affordable Care Act] women’s health screening requirements, the time is now for action.” [“‘Having housing made everything else possible’: Affordable, safe and stable housing for women survivors of violence,” Qualitative Social Work, published online September 20, 2013.]

Attacking Obesity Through the Affordable Care Act.Poor choices in diet and in daily activities by people of all ages can lead to heart disease, diabetes, depression, and other chronic conditions. The key to reducing obesity and its damaging effects is primarily a matter of prevention—a focus of the Affordable Care Act and other recent laws, according to associate professor Cheryl Dennison Himmelfarb, PhD, RN, ANP, FAAN, and a colleague. They explain in the November/December 2013 Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing how the Affordable Care Act, along with programs like WIC, the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, and the National School Lunch Program, promote nutrition and exercise at school, in the home, and in rural, urban, and ethnic communities at greatest obesity risk.

Dennison Himmelfarb notes, “Nurses must advocate for and participate in implementing the Affordable Care Act to achieve its foremost goal of improving the health of the public.” [“Preventing obesity and promoting cardiometabolic health: The promise and potential of policies and the Affordable Care Act.”]

In Other Nursing Research News: • Improved self-management by heart-failure patients and telephone assessments by nurses can reduce hospital readmissions by as much as 80 percent and improve individual health outcomes, according to assistant professor Diana Lyn Baptiste, DNP, MSN, RN, assistant professor Hayley Mark, PhD, MPH, RN, assistant professor Laura A. Taylor, PhD, RN, and a colleague. [“A nurse-guided patient-centered heart failure education program,” Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, published online November 2013.]

• Dennison Himmelfarb and Dean-designate Patricia M. Davidson, PhD, MEd, FAAN, highlight the importance of using knowledge gleaned from population-based cardiovascular health studies to develop culturally appropriate interventions in their editorial “Population health studies: What do they tell us?” [Heart, Lung and Circulation, November 2013.]

• Elsewhere, Dennison Himmelfarb, doctoral student Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, BSN, RN, and JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health colleague (and Hopkins Nursing graduate) Laura J. Samuel, PhD, examine the role factors like neighborliness, trustworthiness, and community cohesion can play in health promotion and illness prevention. [“Developing behavioral theory with the systematic integration of community social capital concepts,” Health Education and Behavior, published online October 2, 2013.]

• According to a pilot study by practice faculty associate Cynthia Foronda, PhD, RN, and colleagues, virtual clinical simulations that focus on communication can help nursing students gain skills and confidence necessary to avoid communication errors during key times. [“Use of virtual clinical simulation to improve communication skills of baccalaureate nursing students: A pilot study,” Nurse Education Today, published online November, 13, 2013.]

• In the September 2013 BMC Geriatrics, professor Laura N. Gitlin, PhD, and colleagues describe their study of individualized care to help improve quality of life for veterans with dementia and their families. [“A non-pharmacologic approach to address challenging behaviors of veterans with dementia: Description of the tailored activity program-VA randomized trial.”]

• Professors Phyllis Sharps, PhD, RN, CNE, FAAN, and Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN, FAAN, assistant professor Jeanne L. Alhusen, PhD, CRNP, RN, and others describe how the Domestic Violence Enhanced Home Visitation (DOVE) program can keep at-risk pregnant and post-partum women in programs known to improve maternal and infant health outcomes. [“Engaging and retaining abused women in perinatal home visitation programs,” Pediatrics, November 2013.]

• In the November-December 2013 Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, a detailed literature review by doctoral student Mariam Kashani, DNP, CRNP, and associate professors Mary Terhaar, DNSc, CNS, RN, and Linda Costa, PhD, RN, underscores the importance of family history in assessing cardiovascular risk. [“Improving assessment of cardiovascular disease risk by using family history: An integrative literature review.”]

• As volume co-editors, professor Cynda Hylton Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN, and a colleague provide an editorial context for a series of personal stories about value conflicts faced by clinicians of all types. [“The many faces of moral distress among clinicians: Introduction,” Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, Fall 2013.]

• In “Building the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health: Can we engage and empower the public voices of nurses worldwide?”, Rushton and others describe the need for nurses to embrace integrated care, with attention to the whole person and the environment. [Nursing Science Quarterly, October 2013.] Other Articles Co-authored by JHUSON Faculty:• Professor Pamela R. Jeffries, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN, coauthor of “Embracing pharmacy e-learing: Models of success,” Pharmacy [August 2013]. • Davidson, coauthor of “Central venous catheter placement by advanced practice nurses demonstrates low procedural complication and infection rates: A report from 13 years of service,” Critical Care Medicine [published online October 2013].