Clinicians’ perspectives on routine screening for intimate partner violence in pregnant patients during antenatal care: a research protocol from the EGPRN Fellows

Hüsna Sarıca Çevik, Sherihane Bensemmane, Michael Harris

Keywords: Antenatal care, intimate partner violence, pregnancy, screening, violence against women

Background:

One in three women experiences physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. Studies suggest that intimate partner violence (IPV) increases during pregnancy, with 5% of women experiencing abuse in Europe during pregnancy. Timely IPV screening and intervention are important to reduce risks and improve outcomes. While IPV screening is not recommended in all settings, it quadruples the chance of IPV detection when performed during antenatal consultations. There are, however, conflicting reports on the effects of routine IPV screening and interventions on pregnancy and birth outcomes in pregnant women. This could result in clinicians’ attitudes, beliefs and knowledge hindering the use of IPV screening and referral to specialised services.

Research questions:

What do clinicians who give antenatal care think about routinely screening their pregnant patients for IPV?

Method:

This study will use an online questionnaire with both closed and open-ended questions and will be informed by a literature review. The study will be conducted in Belgium, England and Turkey.

Results:

The EGPRN Fellows will present their study protocol, with a particular focus on discussion of the methodological aspects learned during the EGPRN Fellowship.

Conclusions:

The study results will allow us to understand how clinicians providing antenatal care services (family doctors/general practitioners, obstetricians, midwives, etc.) in three different European countries believe that their roles regarding IPV screening can be improved, the barriers and facilitators they encounter, and it will help us understand how to improve and standardise IPV screening. We expect the findings to be relevant in other European settings.

Points for discussion:

Are there routine IPV screening practices during pregnancy in other European countries, and if so, by which clinicians?

What are the main challenges you experience in screening for, diagnosing and managing IPV?

Are EGPRN colleagues from other countries interested in collaborating on this project?

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