The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of lifetime intimate partner violence (IPV) in older women and to analyze its effect on women's health and Healthcare Services utilization. Women aged 55 years and over (1,676) randomly sampled from Primary Healthcare Services around Spain were included. Lifetime IPV prevalence, types, and duration were calculated. Descriptive and multivariate procedures using logistic and multiple lineal regression models were used. Of the women studied, 29.4% experienced IPV with an average duration of 21 years. Regardless of the type of IPV experienced, abused women showed significantly poorer health and higher healthcare services utilization compared to women who had never been abused. The high prevalence detected long standing duration, negative health impact, and high healthcare services utilization, calling attention to a need for increased efforts aimed at addressing IPV in older women.

This work presents an assessment of pre-service teachers’ argumentative practice, after implementing a novel teaching-learning sequence on soil health including a citizen science programme, which was applied outdoors at the university garden. The sequence was implemented at five Spanish universities with 351 undergraduates studying Early Childhood and Primary Teacher Education. It posed a final assessment task consisting in a real-world situation that involved making decisions on science-related issues: students needed to argue whether it was possible to use a piece of land as a school garden, based on soil data provided in a variety of formats. To assess participants’ level of achievement, a rubric was specifically designed by adapting the Evidence-Explanation Continuum approach, which was applied to a subsample of 123 answers (35%). Results evidenced that the process of knowledge-building discourse from initial data to final explanations involved a series of transformations of increasing difficulty, since the percentage of students who were able to correctly accomplish them decreased a long the continuum. Including the citizen science programme promoted the development of basic aspects of scientific literacy related to interpreting data and evidence scientifically but, for students to be generally capable of drawing evidence-based conclusions, argumentation practices should be regularly included in science classes.

Background: The health impact of violence against women by perpetrators other than intimate partners has received little attention. This study aims to analyze the effect of different forms of interpersonal violence on women's health. Methods: Adult women (10,815) randomly sampled from primary healthcare services around Spain were included. Women were grouped as follows: (1) no history of violence, (2) history of intimate partner violence only (IPV), (3) history of non-IPV only, and (4) history of both IPV and non-IPV. Lifetime prevalence of violence by IPV, non-IPV, and both was calculated. Adjusted multivariable regression analysis was performed to assess the effects of the different forms of violence on women's health status. Results: Of the women, 32.7% experienced lifetime violence. Poor self-perceived health, psychological distress, co-occurring somatic complaints, and use of antidepressant or tranquilizer medication were significantly higher for women with a history of violence than for women with no history of violence. Women who reported both types of violence, IPV and non-IPV, were almost five times more likely to suffer psychological distress and co-occurring somatic complaints and > six times more likely to use medication than women with no history of violence. Conclusions: The high prevalence of violence and its consistent association with a wide range of women's health problems suggest that violence seriously compromises women's health. Health providers should ask their female patients specifically about their history of violence, both IPV and non-IPV. Including this in patient's assessment would lead to more informed clinical decisions and more integrated care.

Background Research on women''s responses to intimate partner violence (IPV) has largely been limited to women who have been exposed to severe physical violence with scarce generalisation. This study aimed to analyse how Spanish abused women from different backgrounds and with different IPV characteristics respond to violence. Method Women experiencing IPV before the previous year (1469) were selected from a large cross-sectional national survey of adult women recruited during 2006–7 among female patients seeking medical care for whatever reason in primary healthcare services. The outcome variables were women's responses to IPV and the predictor variables were personal and social resources profiles and characteristics of the abuse (type, duration and women's age at onset). Stepwise logistic regression models were fitted. Results 87.5% of abused women took some kind of action to overcome IPV. Significant differences on personal and social profile and type and duration of the abuse were detected between the three strategic responses: distancing, in process and inhibition. The probability of a woman responding with a distancing strategy (seeking outside help or leaving temporarily) is almost three times greater if she is employed, was young when the abuse began, had experienced physical and psychological abuse and when the abuse was under 5 years. Conclusions The results of this study show that personal and social resources and the specific circumstances of the abuse should be taken into account to understand women's responses to IPV. Well-validated interventions targeted at abused women's needs and the circumstances of IPV remain a priority.

El concepto de salud no es único y universal, como tampoco lo es el de enfermedad. Son cambiantes y dependen de las personas y de los contextos desde donde se conceptualizan. Cada época y cada contexto ha realizado su aportación con la que se ha construido el edificio actual que conocemos. El presente artículo trata de hacer un recorrido en esa construcción, dando a conocer los momentos principales que han supuesto un avance en el significado del binomio salud-enfermedad y deteniéndose en la evolución del concepto de salud y de su percepción, entendiendo por percepción la visión, el conocimiento, las sensaciones que inspira y el uso que se hace del término.