Women survivors of intimate partner violence talk about using e-health during pregnancy: a focus group study

Abstract

Background Pregnancy is a period of particular vulnerability to experience intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW). eHealth strategies have been implemented to identify women exposed to IPVAW and to combat the abuse and empower them, but there is a lack of evidence on the use of these strategies among pregnant women. This work aims to identify the needs, concerns and preferences of survivors about the use of eHealth strategies to counsel and empower pregnant victims of IPVAW in antenatal care. Methods A focus group of six IPVAW survivors who had been pregnant was conducted and open questions about the use of eHealth strategies were asked. The session was recorded, transcribed and thematically analyzed. We identified three main themes: needs and worries of pregnant women experiencing IPVAW, key aspects of video counseling sessions and usefulness of safety planning apps. Results Women highlighted the relevant role of healthcare professionals—especially midwives—in the identification of IPVAW and the wellbeing of their children as one of the main concerns. They perceived video counseling and safety planning apps as valuable resources. The preferred contents for a video counseling intervention were awareness-raising of the situation, self-esteem and legal advice. They also proposed safety and pregnant-related aspects that should be taken into account in the design of the video counseling sessions and the safety planning app. Conclusions Video counseling sessions and safety planning apps are potentially useful tools to counsel and empower women who experience IPVAW during pregnancy. Midwives play a key role in this endeavor.

Digital self-help for people experiencing intimate partner violence: a qualitative study on user experiences and needs including people with lived experiences and services providers

“…This includes information on the definition and different forms of IPV, danger assessment, information on related topics (e.g., legal advice, finances and housing) and step-by-step instructions for preparing a separation [ 44 , 65 – 68 ]. However, consistent with previous research, we found that these contents can be overwhelming and exacerbate the experienced distress and social isolation [ 44 , 66 , 69 ], if not accompanied by ongoing psychological support. Therefore, digital interventions should ideally serve as a bridge to face-to-face services, that can provide this support [ 44 , 66 , 68 ].…”

E-health psychological intervention in pregnant women exposed to intimate partner violence (eIPV): A protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial

“…If they perceive it like this, they may not want to be randomized into control group or they may drop out after been randomized to usual care instead of intervention. To overcome this difficulty with acceptance of allocation to the control group, we followed the input of IPV survivors in a focus group we conducted [13]. Amongst other things the survivors informed us that they would prefer delayed intervention instead of usual care in a control group.…”

“…eHealth interventions have the potential to provide more flexibility and safer spaces than face-to-face interventions, making it particularly useful for screening violence, empowering women and reducing exposure to IPV [12]. IPV survivors considered appropriate and necessary to be screened using eHealth strategies in antenatal care settings and perceived that video counselling is a viable and acceptable tool for pregnant women who experience IPV [13]. Trials have shown that e-health screening tools are effective in getting women to disclose or detect IPV [14][15][16].…”

Obstacles and Limitations in the Use of Protocols Responding Intimate Partner Violence Against Women from the Health System in Spain

“…According to Myers' recommendations (1998) for conducting focus groups, seven PCPs were selected via incidental sampling to participate. In this sense, previous studies (Fernández et al, 2022;Nyumba et al, 2018) support the use of a single focus group to conduct research.…”