RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 National study of physical and sexual assault among women with disabilities
JF Injury Prevention
JO Inj Prev
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 87
OP 90
DO 10.1136/ip.2007.016451
VO 14
IS 2
A1 C Casteel
A1 S L Martin
A1 J B Smith
A1 K K Gurka
A1 L L Kupper
YR 2008
UL http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/14/2/87.abstract
AB Objective: To examine the association between the level of disability impairment and physical and sexual assault in a sample of US women at least 18 years of age. Design, setting and participants: Retrospective longitudinal study of 6273 non-institutionalized US women from 8000 women participating in the 1995–1996 National Violence Against Women (NVAW) Survey. Main outcome measure: Women’s experiences of physical and sexual assault in the 12 months before the NVAW interview. Results: Most women reported having no disability (n = 5008, 79.8%) and/or not experiencing an assault in the year before their interview (n = 6018, 95.9%). Less than 5% (n = 280) reported having a disability that severely limited daily activities, and 15.7% (n = 985) reported having a disability that moderately limited activities. Less than 4% (n = 218) of the women reported a physical-only assault, and less than 1% (n = 37) reported being sexually assaulted. Women with severe disability impairments were four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than women with no reported disabilities (RR = 4.0, 95% CI 1.5 to 10.6). Little difference in the risk of sexual assault was found between women with moderate disability impairments and those reporting no disabilities (RR = 1.0, 95% CI 0.3 to 2.8). Women with severe (RR = 1.6, 95% CI 0.9 to 3.0) and moderate (RR = 1.2, 95% CI 0.8 to 1.9) disability impairments were at greater risk, although not quite significantly so, of physical-only assault than were women without a disability. Conclusion: The findings suggest that women with disabilities that severely limit activities of daily living are at increased risk of sexual assault.