Intimate partner violence among health professionals: distribution by autonomous communities in Spain

Abstract

Objective:To determine the prevalence of intimate partner violence among health care professionals who work in the Spanish National Health System, according to the autonomous communities of Spain. Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional multicenter study conducted with male and female health professionals (doctors, nurses, and nursing aides) in the different autonomous communities that are part of the Spanish National Health System. The following instruments were employed: among women, an intimate partner violence screening questionnaire; and among men, a questionnaire that screened for violence in the family environment. Results: A total of 1,039 health professionals participated in the study. Of these, 26% had suffered some type of abuse. Among the men, this prevalence was 2.7%, while among the women, it was 33.8%. There were differences in the prevalence of intimate partner violence among different autonomous communities, with the highest percentages in the Canary Islands. In terms of profession, 19.5% of the doctors had been exposed to intimate partner violence, while this percentage was 31% and 48.6% for nurses and nursing professionals, respectively. Conclusion:The results indicate the presence of intimate partner violence among healthcare personnel in most of the autonomous communities of Spain. The data demonstrate the need to implement action plans, both to support victims and to mitigate the problem.

Burden of Intimate Partner Violence among Nurses and Nursing Students in a Tertiary Hospital in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

“…A sizable number of the respondents were of the view that IPV should not be reported thus corroborating the finding in sub-Saharan Africa (Umana et al, 2014). Our finding is also supported by an earlier finding in Spain (Carmona-Torres et al, 2017). This is a disturbing finding as an opportunity for the elimination and prevention of IPV may be lost.…”

“…The rate of psychological abuse among the women studied is high; this is in keeping with the findings from previous studies (Al-Natour et al, 2014; Bracken et al, 2010; Carmona-Torres et al, 2017; Christofides & Silo, 2005; McLindon et al, 2018). Physical, Emotional, and/or Harassment abuse is more prevalent among nurses while Emotional and/or Harassment abuse was more common in nursing students.…”

“…The prevalence of IPV among graduate nurses in our study was similar to the rate of 59.0% reported by Al-Natour et al (2014) in Jordan. Our rate was however higher than the rates reported by Christofides and Silo (2005) in South Africa (39.0%), Carmona-Torres et al (2017) (31.0%), and Rodríguez-Borrego et al (2012) (33.0%) in Spain and (2010) (25.0%) in USA. Rate as high as 42.1% and 42.3% have been reported among female students in Philadelphia, USA, and in Ibadan, Nigeria respectively (Lokhmatkinaa et al, 2010; Umana et al, 2014) which agrees with our rate.…”

“…Reporting an abuse will assist in IPV reduction. It is, however, encouraging that the majority of the respondents believe that IPV should be reported although disapprovingly majority will report to their parent and the relation of her partner thus corroborating the finding of Carmona-Torres et al (2017) in Spain. A sizable number of the respondents were of the view that IPV should not be reported thus corroborating the finding in sub-Saharan Africa (Umana et al, 2014).…”

“You can’t swim well if there is a weight dragging you down”: cross-sectional study of intimate partner violence, sexual assault and child abuse prevalence against Australian nurses, midwives and carers

“…An extensive search of the academic literature (1991-2021) using the search (and associate) terms – ‘intimate partner violence’; ‘domestic violence’; ‘family violence’; ‘nurses and health professionals’ – identified 19 quantitative studies about DFV against nurses globally [ 8 , 9 , 16 – 32 ]. Originating from 16 countries, most of these studies report DFV prevalence against women nurses, with five studies including men nurses [ 8 , 18 , 21 , 24 , 29 ]. Of two studies that separate the experience of IPV during the last 12-month by gender, men nurses reported a higher prevalence of combined IPV (between 9 and 16%) than women nurses (between 8.2 and 13.9%), which was not consistent with local community statistics [ 8 , 24 ].…”