Background information Domestic Violence (DV) is associated with serious consequences to the survivor’s physical, emotional, sexual, social and mental well-being. DV screening ensures timely detection of violence and hence promotes timely intervention. This timely intervention has the potential of averting adverse outcomes of DV to the survivor. Globally, the prevalence of DV among women is 35% and in Kenya its 49% among women and 13.5% among pregnant women. Despite the adverse outcome of DV in pregnancy, screening during pregnancy lags behind in Kenya. Purpose To assess the nursing barriers to screening pregnant women for DV. Methodology A cross-sectional study of 125 nurses selected by random sampling method was conducted at a National Maternity Hospital in Kenya. Data was collected for 8 weeks using researchers developed structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Chi-square test was used to determine significance of relationships between nominal variables. A P-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results Study results revealed that 16% (n=8) of nurses routinely screened pregnant women for DV. Non-screening behavior of nurses was associated with lack of DV screening training during their education program (P=0.002), fear of the partner’s reaction (P=0.004) and lack of mentors and role models in DV screening (P=0.005). Lack of cooperation from other health professionals was also associated with non-screening of DV (P=0.016). The significance of the study The results of this study point to the need of developing hospital’s protocols on DV management and considering integrating DV screening in the routine medical screening of pregnant women during antenatal care. Conclusion The study showed that the nurse’s prevalence of screening pregnant women for DV is low at 16% due to various barriers.
Abstract:Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) constitute physical, sexual, social or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse. Many researchers have observed that intimate partner violence is directly associated with negative maternal and neonatal health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to assess nurse's perception on non-disclosure of IPV by pregnant women. A mixed method was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. A demographic questionnaire was used to collect demographic data and a Likert scale was used to collect quantitative data. A structured interview schedule was used to gather qualitative data. 125 nurses and midwives were voluntarily recruited for this study. The results of this study showed that 52% (n=65) of the respondents had worked for more than 12 years and a majority (62.6%, n=77) were community health nurses. The nurses perceived that non-disclosure of IPV by pregnant was because of various barriers. Majority (n=86, 69.9%) agreed that the reason why they did not disclose IPV was because the abused survivor would still stay with the abuser after disclosure, and 66.7% (n=82) agreed that stigmatizing attitudes towards the IPV survivors from the society prevented disclosure. About 65.3% of the respondents agreed that survivors are not aware of their rights in regard to IPV reporting and that survivor's view IPV abuse as normal. The results from this study point to the need of addressing barriers that emanate from the survivors of IPV themselves if IPV screening is to be achieved.
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