Table of Contents
Domestic Partner Violence
and Alcohol
Sherry Lipsky, Ph.D., assistant professor of
epidemiology, School of Public Health
Dallas
Regional Campus
Sherry Lipsky, Ph.D.
If you’ve ever seen a domestic violence call on “Cops,” you may have noticed that often someone has had too much to drink. Sherry Lipsky, Ph.D., studies the relationship of alcohol in intimate partner violence between male and female partners.
“From my work in clinical medicine (as a physician’s assistant) to public health research, I have focused on the health of women,” she said. “While I have a diverse background in health care delivery and research, I developed a keen interest in partner violence through my doctoral research.”
Working with her mentor, Raul Caetano, M.D., Ph.D., regional dean at the UT School of Public Health Dallas Regional Campus, Lipsky gained experience in alcohol research. “This has provided me with a unique opportunity to incorporate my epidemiological training and research experience in the field of partner violence with alcohol research, a critically important component in the study of partner violence.”
Lipsky’s current research is on ethnic disparities in the relationship among partner violence, alcohol abuse and health care utilization. “I am conducting two studies to investigate these relationships among female victims and male perpetrators of partner violence,” she said.
“One study utilizes previously collected data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The second study links local law enforcement records on partner violence incidents to state-wide hospital discharge records,” she said.
These two studies will complement each other by combining data from two sources: a national self-report survey about alcohol use and health care utilization; and local hospital records that provide information about partner abuse, substance abuse and health care utilization.
“This study will assist in identifying those at risk for intimate partner violence, as well as alcohol problems, and provide opportunities for intervention and referral to needed services,” Lipsky said. “In addition, this research may provide a better understanding of the health service needs of those affected by intimate partner violence and the impact of intimate partner violence on the health care system.”