Patients' experiences of abuse in health care: a Nordic study on prevalence and associated factors in gynecological patients

Abstract

AHC is commonly reported by gynecological patients in the Nordic countries, but not yet properly explored or understood. The most important factors associated with AAHC were high educational level and poor self-rated health.

Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and the association with symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress in a multi-ethnic pregnant population in southern Sweden

“…Another limitation is the use of a non-validated set of questions to measure PTS symptoms. However, several previous studies have been published using the exact three questions and coding we have used [12,23].…”

“…Research shows that misinterpretation of cues, sexual attitudes and alcohol 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 9 consumption are associated with sexual violence [28,29]. Sexual attitudes vary from a restricted (low sociosexuality) to an unrestricted willingness (high sociosexuality) to engage in uncommitted sexual relationship [23]. Cultural values (such as chastity or freedom of selfexpression), traditions and institutions (marriage systems) influence the degree of sociosexuality in populations [30].…”

“…Women answering "sometimes" or "often" to at least one of the three symptoms of intrusion, avoidance and numbness were defined as suffering from PTS symptoms [23]. Women indicating "no" or "rarely" and missing values of the three items were coded No.…”

What contributes to abuse in health care? A grounded theory of female patients? stories

“…It has been well-documented that female and male patients can experience suffering from encounters in health care, which is not related to their disease and even despite a medically correct treatment (Brüggemann et al, 2012a;Coyle, 1999;Levinson and Shojania, 2011;Swahnberg et al, 2009a;Swahnberg et al, 2007a;Söderberg et al, 2011). These incidents do not only imply immediate and long-term suffering, but they can also affect a patient's confidence in the health care system (Swahnberg et al, 2009b).…”

“…Using this operationalization, the prevalence of abuse in health care has been extensively studied in the Nordic countries, where between 13 and 28 percent of gynecology patients (n=3641) reported some kind of abuse in health care (Swahnberg et al, 2007a). Prevalence in Swedish male patients was about 8 percent (Swahnberg et al, 2009a).…”