Jordanian Nurses' Barriers to Screening for Intimate Partner Violence.

摘要

Intimate partner violence (IPV) continues to be a problem worldwide. Intimate partner violence in its forms (physical, psychological, and sexual) can result in a negative impact on women's health. Despite the crucial role nurses play in screening and providing the needed support and help for IPV victims, nurse screening rates are very low. Nurses may encounter several barriers that hinder their IPV screening practice. Currently, there are no studies estimating nurses IPV screening rates and the barriers to IPV screening among Jordanian nurses. The purpose of this study was to estimate the rate of IPV screening and determine the barriers to IPV screening among Jordanian nurses. This study used a cross sectional design with a stratified random sample of 125 Jordanian nurses working at 10 health centers and three hospitals in a northern city of Jordan. The study instrument included the Domestic Violence Health Care Provider Survey (DVHCPS), Women Abuse Screening Tool (WAST), and demographic survey. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Chi-square Goodness-of-Fit tests, and one and two tail proportion z-tests. Study results showed that Jordanian nurses screened for IPV most often when women sought care for physical injuries (25%) and lowest for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (3.3%).The one proportion z-tests revealed that the Jordanian nurse screening rates were significantly lower than the rate reported with U.S. nurses. The two-tailed two proportion z-tests revealed no significant differences between the proportions of nurses that screened for IPV based on personal IPV experiences. Jordanian nurses defined barriers to screening were contributed to several sources including their beliefs about screening practice, victims' role for being abused, the adequacy and ability of social and mental services to provide help and other important barriers presented in this study. Barriers for IPV screening should be eliminated through education on IPV screening, therapeutic communication, and referral of victims to community services. Moreover, policies should be activated for assuring IPV screening protocols. Further research is needed to find appropriate strategies that increase nurses screening compliance and the effect of IPV screening on the quality of nursing care.