Citation

Fisher CA, Jones S, Smyth CB, Stokes L, Cairns G, Withiel TD. Int. J. Ment. Health Nurs. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc., Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/inm.13004

PMID

35535637

Abstract

Mental healthcare services have an important role to play in recognizing and responding to domestic and family violence (DFV). This study aimed to evaluate staff knowledge, confidence, and clinical skills in family violence in an Australian private mental healthcare service. The methodology utilized was a cross-sectional, online survey of clinical staff. In total, 93 clinical staff participated (51 nursing, 37 allied health, and 5 medical), with a 29% response rate. Most clinicians reported working with patients who had disclosed experiencing family violence, but the majority of clinicians (63%) had received no training in the area, with nurses reporting the lowest training levels. Less than 20% reported definitive knowledge of important clinical skills including key family violence indicators, asking about family violence, and responding to disclosures. However, qualitative text response data indicated that many clinicians would provide responses that encompassed best-practice recommendations. Overall, the results indicated suboptimal clinician family violence knowledge, with further training needed, particularly in nursing staff. Stronger knowledge and skills in social workers and psychologists, relative to nurses, paralleled existing research in a medical hospital sample. The data from the study will be utilized to inform the implementation of a hospital-wide quality and service improvement project in the area of DFV clinical response.

Language: en

Keywords

education; domestic violence; intimate partner violence; acute mental health; nursing education