Intimate Partner Violence Among Men With Disabilities: The Role of Health Care Providers

Abstract

Men with disabilities experience higher rates of interpersonal violence (IPV) than either women or men without disabilities, yet research exploring this problem is limited. This retrospective descriptive study examines the clinical files of male survivors of IPV with disabilities who received services from the Secret Garden, a disability-specific nonresidential IPV program located in New York City. These data inform the role health care providers may fill in helping address IPV against men with disabilities. Abuse history, medical and mental health service utilization, and the channels through which men accessed IPV assistance were areas of focus for analysis. Data were analyzed descriptively and outcomes reported as frequencies and percentages. Results indicate that more than half of study participants were abused by an intimate partner (66.2%) and nearly two-thirds described an act of physical abuse as the most serious type of abuse perpetrated (71.7%). Nearly half (40.8%) had previous contact with medical providers due to abuse. The high prevalence of physical abuse in this sample has critical physical and mental health implications, and could further exacerbate already precarious health statuses. While nearly half reported previous contact with health care providers due to abuse, only 15.8% were referred for IPV assistance by a health care provider, indicating a missed opportunity to identify signs of abuse and direct survivors to additional resources.