RESEARCH REPORT Sustainability of identification and response to domestic violence in antenatal care
This study aimed to understand and support the integration of evidence-based, effective screening, risk assessment and first-line response to domestic violence into the complex system of antenatal care.
The researchers explored the complicated area of addressing domestic violence (DV) in antenatal care from multiple perspectives using a WITH Health Systems Implementation Model framework that arose from previous ANROWS research (Hegarty et al., 2017). Taking a case-study approach across six hospital antenatal clinics in Victoria and New South Wales, each operating at different levels (relating to maternal complexity) and with differently sized health facilities, allowed the researchers to examine system barriers to and facilitators for implementing and sustaining DV screening and responses.
The case study involved:
- examining workplaces: collecting hospital antenatal clinic context data and auditing readiness to respond to DV
- listening to women’s voices: surveying 1219 women at two Victorian sites, supplemented by interviewing five women at two NSW sites to provide insight into the complexity of the pathways to disclosure and safety
- listening to practitioners’ voices: conducting 12 focus groups and eight interviews with 91 antenatal staff members at six hospitals
- proposing a new transformation model for implementing sustainable DV screening and response in antenatal care
- developing the SUSTAIN Guidelines to assist hospital antenatal services’ and practitioners’ readiness to respond to DV via reflective questions and practical scripts.
- The methodology used for this research privileges the voices of Aboriginal women and therefore gives primacy to the experiences of the women as expressed in their own words.
The report includes recommendations for policy and practice.
Publication details
This work is part of the ANROWS Research reports series. ANROWS Research reports (Horizons) are in-depth reports on empirical research produced under ANROWS’s research program.
Author
PROFESSOR KELSEY HEGARTY
Professor of Family Violence Prevention Research, University of Melbourne and Royal Women’s Hospital
PROFESSOR JO SPANGARO
Professor of Social Work, University of Wollongong
PROFESSOR JANE KOZIOL-McLAIN
Professor of Nursing, Auckland University of Technology
JEANNETTE WALSH
Research Associate, University of New South Wales
DR AMELIA LEE
Research Fellow, University of Melbourne and Royal Women’s Hospital
DR MINERVA KYEI-ONANJIRI
Research Fellow, University of Melbourne and Royal Women’s Hospital
ROBYN MATTHEWS
Research Midwife, Midwifery and Maternity Services Research Unit, Royal Women’s Hospital
DR JODIE VALPIED
Research Fellow, University of Melbourne
JENNY CHAPMAN
Project Manager Strengthening Hospital Responses to Family Violence, Royal Women’s Hospital
DR LEESA HOOKER
Nurse/Midwife Academic and Research Fellow, Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe University
ELIZABETH McLINDON
Research Officer, University of Melbourne and Royal Women’s Hospital
KITTY NOVY
Administrative Officer, University of Melbourne and Royal Women’s Hospital
DR KIM SPURWAY
Lecturer, University of New South Wales
ISBN: 978-1-925925-20-3 (print) | 978-1-925925-19-7 (online)
163 pp.
Suggested citation
Hegarty, K., Spangaro, J., Koziol-McLain, J., Walsh, J., Lee, A., Kyei-Onanjiri, M. … Spurway, K. (2020). Sustainability of identification and response to domestic violence in antenatal care (The SUSTAIN study) (Research report, 06/2020). Sydney, NSW: ANROWS