How do clinical staff in a large metropolitan hospital respond to disclosures of family violence?

Abstract

Objective: Family violence is a critical public health issue. Best practice guidelines advise that clinicians respond by providing both practical and emotional support, which reflects the desires of victim survivors. However, there is little research analysing clinicians’ provision of emotional support to victim survivors. This study aims to explore clinicians’ responses to family violence in a large Australian public hospital, specifically examining the provision of emotional support.

Procedures: An online survey of clinical staff from nursing, medical, and allied health was conducted. Free-text responses were analysed using qualitative content analysis. There were 534 survey respondents, 241 of which provided free-text data.

Results: Four types of responses were identified ranging from non-active to active: Passing, Information Provision, Collaborating and Supporting. Overall, few clinicians indicated that they would provide emotional support when a disclosure occurred, with the majority describing non-active responses.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that very few clinicians report providing emotional support when responding to family violence disclosures, contrary to best practice guidelines. Given the disparity between best practice guidelines and self-reported clinical practice, findings highlight a need for specific training in providing emotional support following disclosures of family violence.