Type:	Report
Title:	Initiative to combat the health impact of domestic violence against women : stage 2, report
Authors:	Queensland Health : Brisbane, QLD
Keywords:	Health;Pregnancy;Screening
Year:	2001
Publisher:	Queensland Health
Notes:	"This is an internal working document of the Queensland Health Domestic Violence Initiative. A final evaluation report will be produced on completion of the Initiative" - contents page For more information see "Queensland Health's Domestic Violence Initiative" on our Good Practice database. The experience of domestic violence causes health problems for women, and poor obstetric and reproductive outcomes for pregnant women. The Domestic Violence Initiative, which commenced in 1998 through funding from the Queensland Government’s Crime Prevention Strategy, seeks to incorporate screening for domestic violence into routine history taking protocols, as a component of core clinical practice. This entails the health service provider asking the client 2 –3 additional questions relating to domestic violence as part of the routine client history taking procedure. This small change in the process of routine history taking could result in significant improvement in the diagnosis and provision of health services and information to women who experience domestic violence. Stage 1 of the Domestic Violence Initiative involved trialling a screening tool at 8 pilot sites. The evaluation of Stage 1 revealed that most women (83%) presenting to the antenatal or gynaecology outpatient services were screened for domestic violence, with approximately 6.5% disclosing some form of domestic violence. Of those women who screened positive for domestic violence, approximately 10% accepted an offer of immediate help. Stage 2 of the Domestic Violence Initiative was a continuation and extension of the previous Stage, by including the original pilot sites, as well as 11 new sites. Some 7% of all women screened disclosed some form of domestic violence, increasing slightly from the Stage 1 result of 6.5%. Some 6.8% of the women screened at the antenatal sites, 8.5% of the women screened at the emergency department and 1.6%of women presenting to the Gynaecology Outpatients Department disclosed some form of domestic violence. Approximately 13% of women disclosing violence at all sites accepted an offer of help at the time of screening. Women who screened positive to domestic violence reported that fear, embarrassment or shame, and the hope that the situation would resolve itself, were barriers to accepting help at the time of screening. Women survey participants also reported that support of family and friends, counselling, and police and agency responses were helpful factors when experiencing abuse. The report presents several key recommendations, such as the need for a protocol documenting screening procedures, including record keeping, to be distributed and implemented statewide; that the findings of this evaluation should be incorporated into staff development and training addressing the health impact of domestic violence; and that the findings of this evaluation should be disseminated to relevant government, non-government and community health and welfare services that address domestic violence.
Contents:	¬ Recommendations References Appendices Part A:Executive Summary of Evaluation Findings
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/19810
Physical description:	57 p.
Appears in Collections:	Reports

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