Objective To determine the prevalence of domestic violence in a population of women attending a gynaecology outpatient clinic in the United Kingdom and also to investigate whether women who reported domestic violence were more likely to complain of certain gynaecological symptoms. Design Questionnaire survey.Setting A gynaecology outpatient clinic in a North of England Hospital.Sample Nine hundred and twenty consecutive clinic attenders.Methods Anonymous confidential questionnaire given to women.Main outcome measures Disclosure of a past history of domestic violence and gynaecological complaints.Results Nine hundred and twenty consecutive women were included and 825 questionnaires were returned (90% response rate). The prevalence of physical abuse was 21% (171/825). Thirty-four (4%) had experienced violence in the past year. Domestic violence is three times less common in women over 50 years old. Exhusbands (32%) and ex-boyfriends (29%) were the main perpetrators. Forty-eight percent women who had experienced physical violence also had forced sexual activity. Of the 15 presenting symptoms reported by the women, lower abdominal pain, dysmenorrhoea, dyspareunia, smear abnormalities, cancer worries and bowel symptoms were significantly more common complaints in the group who reported domestic violence. The women with domestic violence also had significantly more consultations; however, the duration of their symptoms was not significantly different. Conclusion The prevalence of domestic violence in a cohort of women who attended the gynaecology outpatient clinic in a North of England Hospital was 21%. Women who are subjected to domestic violence tend to have more consultations and are more likely to complain of certain symptoms.

Juvenile assessment centers (JACs) were developed to address service fragmentation and promote the sharing of information among agencies providing services to youth involved with the juvenile justice system. To date, there are no reports that describe the diagnostic profiles of the youth served by such centers. The authors hypothesize that the rates of psychiatric disorder among youth at JAC intake would be lower than rates reported for youth in secure care, that girls would show higher rates of some disorders, and that those with substance disorders would show higher rates of other, co-occurring disorders. Disorder was measured on the Voice Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children in 1,012 randomly selected youth (248 girls). Rates of disorder for JAC youth are lower than those reported for incarcerated samples and more comparable to other general intake samples; JAC youth's diagnostic profiles remain elevated compared to youth in the general population, and girls report higher rates of disorder in three of four diagnostic clusters examined. Clinical and policy implications are discussed.

To describe suicide risk in youth seen at a Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC), we examined relationships among self-reported lifetime attempts and demographic, justice, and psychiatric data via logistic regression. Similar to other settings, youth reporting lifetime attempts were more likely to be older, female, not living with both parents and currently arrested for a violent or felony crime. Mood, substance use, and behavior disorder each increased prediction substantially. Anxiety Disorder was associated with elevated attempt rates for boys only. JACs need to develop protocols for identifying suicide risk; further, since suicide history predicts future attempts, Anxiety Disordered boys may be at particular risk.

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