Because children often witness spousal abuse, pediatricians have two reasons to routinely screen their patients’ mothers or other caregivers for signs of such physical and emotional domestic violence, a study from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center suggests.Brief screening is not only a step to protecting a spouse or a partner, it also can reduce the very real collateral health risks experienced by children who see or hear such abuse, the investigators say. Children who live in homes where spousal abuse occurs are at high risk of being abused themselves, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. [continue reading…]