Table 1. Study and participant characteristics.
| Source | Country | Objective | Method | Theories | Setting | Sample (Gen, #, prof, age) | Years of clinical experience | Training received |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allen et al., 2011 | USA | To compare providers and health care settings at two points in time to explore the degree to which the Health Care Council achieved proximal outcomes in the health care response to DVA | Mixed methods Focus groups | Grounded Theory | Primary Emergency Obstetrics/gynaecology Intensive care | 19 Practitioners 100% women | Not stated | 100% |
| Al-Natour et al., 2016 | Jordan | To describe Jordanian nurses’ roles and practices in screening for DVA. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Phenomenology | Emergency | 12 Nurses 50% women 50% men | Mean 7 years | Not stated |
| Baig et al., 2012 | Columbia | To describe the barriers that Colombian health care personnel reported in identifying survivors of DVA and their proposed solutions to improve detection of DVA in the health care setting. | Mixed methods Semi-structured interviews | Naturalistic Inquiry | Obstetrics/gynaecology Internal General Emergency | 27 Doctors Nurses Social workers Psychologists 67% women 33% men | Mean 13 years | 74% |
| Beynon et al., 2012 | Canada | To identify barriers and facilitators to asking about DVA among a large, randomly selected sample of nurses and physicians in specified areas of practice where abused women are likely to present. | Mixed methods | Inductive content analysis | Primary Emergency Public health, Obstetrics/gynaecology Maternity Retired | 769 Nurses Doctors 81% women 19% men Age 20–60 years | Not stated | 38% |
| Black et al., 2010 | USA | To identify recommended practices of children exposed to domestic violence, as reported by practitioners. | Qualitative individual and group interviews | None stated | Public health Emergency DVA services Mental health | 22 Doctors Nurses Social workers, Managers Academic experts Youth counsellors Advocates 90% women 10% men | Not stated | Not stated |
| Chang et al., 2009 | UK | To explore in more depth the experiences and perspectives of different health professionals regarding what they considered to be necessary to assist them in helping women experiencing DVA. | Qualitative semi-structured interviews and focus groups | Grounded Theory and Triangulation | Obstetrics/gynaecology Midwifery Internal | 24 Doctors Nurses Medical assistants Social workers 88% women 12% men Age 27–58 | Not stated | Not stated |
| Colarossi et al., 2010 | USA | To expand current knowledge by comparing licensed family planning service providers (advanced practice clinicians and social workers) and unlicensed ones (health care assistants) who work in a setting guided by an institutional policy and procedure for intimate partner violence screening. |
Mixed methods, including focus groups | Grounded Theory | Family planning | 64 Practitioners Social workers | Range 5 - > 10 years | 48% |
| Eddy et al., 2008 | USA | To describe one town and gown partnership established to address the health disparities of women experiencing DVA and the children who are exposed to that violence. | Mixed methods Focus groups | Content analysis | Prenatal | 23 Nurses Social workers Lay people | Not stated | 100% |
| Eustace et al, 2016 | Australia | To identify midwives’ experiences in relation to screening, ongoing referral and support for women who positively disclose about DVA. | Qualitative semi-structured interviews | Thematic analysis | Midwifery | 21 Midwives 95% women 5% men | Not stated | 100% minimal |
| Evanson, 2006 | USA | To describe the unique challenges and opportunities experienced by rural home-visiting PHNs when working with families where DVA was occurring. | Qualitative semi-structured interviews | Descriptive phenomenology | Rural public health | 7 Nurses 100% women | Mean 13 years | 100% |
| Fay-Hillier, 2016 | USA | To explore the experiences, views and perceptions of registered nurses working in emergency departments with regard to screening for DVA. | Qualitative semi-structured interviews | Phenomenology Social cognitive theory | Emergency | 21 Nurses 81% women 19% men Age 24–60 | Not stated | 19% minimal |
| Goff et al., 2003 | USA | To investigate the skills, beliefs, and expectations about screening for domestic abuse among physicians, dentists, and nurse practitioners from a border community in southwest Texas. | Qualitative semi-structured interviews | None stated | Multiple settings | 15 Doctors Dentists Nurses 40% women 60% men | Not stated | Not stated |
| Goicolea et al., 2015 | Spain | To develop a programme theory that seeks to explain how, why and under which circumstances a primary health care team in Spain learned to respond to DVA. | Qualitative semi-structured interviews | Realist evaluation | Primary | 17 Doctors Nurses Paediatricians Midwives Physiotherapists Social workers | Not stated | 16% minimal 20% advanced |
| Haggblom & Moller, 2006 | Finland | To explore in depth selected expert nurses’ experiences of the phenomenon of violence against women and the nurses’ roles as health care providers to those women. | Qualitative semi-structured interviews | Constructivist Grounded Theory | Emergency Outpatient Mother-child Mental health | 10 Nurses 100% women | Mean 18 years | Not stated |
| Henderson, 2001 | Canada | To determine how nurses make sense of the interface between themselves, their working environments, and their nursing actions with abused women. | Qualitative focus groups and individual interviews | Social Constructivist | Community health Maternity Emergency Mental health | 49 Nurses 98% women 2% men | Range 6 months-33 years | Not stated |
| Henriksen et al, 2017 | Norway | To gain an in-depth understanding of midwives’ experiences with routine enquiry for intimate partner violence during the antenatal period. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Content analysis | Midwifery | 8 Midwives | Range 3–30 years | 40% |
| Hooker et al., 2015 | Australia | To present the findings of a mixed methods process evaluation of the MOVE cluster randomised trial. | Mixed methods Semi-structured interviews | Process evaluation | Community maternal and child health | 23 Nurses Team leaders Nurse mentors | Range 1->20 | 100% |
| Hooker et al., 2012 | Australia | To explore the breadth of literature on domestic violence screening by nurses in maternal-child practice | Literature review | Scoping review | Community maternal and child health | 17 Papers | n/a | n/a |
| Husso et al., 2012 | Finland | To use frame analysis to explore the ways in which the possibilities for intervening in domestic violence are understood in health care. | Qualitative Focus groups | Frame analysis | Public health | 30 Nurses Doctors Social workers Psychologists 73% women 27% men | Not stated | Not stated |
| Inoue & Armitage, 2006 | Australia | To explore how nurses construct their understanding about domestic violence issues and abused women in relation to their nursing practice. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Grounded Theory | Emergency | 41 Nurses | Not stated | Not stated |
| Iverson et al., 2013 | USA | To assess Veterans Health Administration primary care providers’ perspectives about DVA screening. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Constructivist Grounded Theory | Primary | 12 Doctors Nurses 83% women 17% men | Mean 15 years | 8% |
| Jack et al., 2017 | Canada | To develop strategies for the identification and assessment of intimate partner violence in a nurse home visitation program. | Qualitative Focus groups Semi-structured interviews | Content analysis | Community home visiting Mother-child Antenatal | 32 Nurses | Not stated | Not stated |
| Kirst et al., 2012 | Canada | To scope the common elements in the literature about the “critical ingredients” of DVA referral processes in health care settings. | Scoping review | Realist synthesis | Primary Emergency Prenatal | 19 papers | n/a | n/a |
| LoGiudice, 2015 | USA | To glean an understanding of healthcare providers’ experience with prenatal screening for DVA. | Qualitative Meta-synthesis | Meta-ethnography | Women’s health | 8 papers | n/a | n/a |
| Mauri et al., 2017 | Italy | To explore midwives’ knowledge and clinical experience of domestic violence among pregnant women. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Phenomenological-hermeneutical | Midwifery | 15 Midwives | Range 14–35 | 13% |
| McCauley et al., 2017 | UK | To investigate the knowledge and perceptions of domestic violence among doctors who provide routine antenatal and postnatal care at healthcare facilities in Pakistan. | Qualitative Semi-structured | Thematic framework analysis | Antenatal Mother-child | 31 Doctors Policy-makers 87% women 13% men | Range for doctors 2–10 | Not stated |
| McGarry & Nairn, 2015 | UK | To explore the perceptions of emergency nursing staff about the role of a domestic abuse nurse specialist. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Analytic Hierarchy Model | Emergency | 16 Nurses Assistants 94% women 6% men | Range 4 months– 27 years | 100% |
| McGarry, 2016 | UK | To explore the experiences of clinical staff in responding to disclosures of domestic violence and to evaluate the role of dedicated nurse specialist. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Analytic Framework | Emergency | 11 Practitioners 100% women | Range 6 months– 30 years | 100% |
| Penti et al, 2017 | USA | To explore family medicine physicians’ experiences when interacting with patients whom they know, or suspect, to have perpetrated DVA. | Semi-structured interviews | Grounded Theory | Primary | 15 33% women 66% men | Up to 10 years | Not stated |
| Pitter, 2016 | Jamaica | To assess midwives’ knowledge and attitudes when encountering gender-based violence in their practice. | Qualitative Participatory action research Focus group | Feminist theory | Midwifery | 6 Midwives Age 28–46 | Range 6 months-11 years | 0% |
| Po-Yan Leung et al, 2018 | Australia | To explore how doctors perceived the concepts of readiness and preparedness to identify and respond to DVA against female patients. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Thematic analysis | Primary | 19 Doctors 58% women 42% men Age 34–61 | Mean 19.5 years | 53% |
| Ritchie et al., 2009 | New Zealand | To explore the experiences of emergency nurses one year after launch of routine screening. | Qualitative Single and group interviews | Thematic analysis Triangulation | Emergency | 11 Nurses | Range 1–14 years | 100% |
| Rittmayer & Roux, 1999 | USA | To address the methods used by obstetricians/gynaecologists to identify/intervene with patient victims of DVA. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Grounded Theory | Women’s health | 13 Obstetricians/ gynaecologists | Range 20–50 | Not stated |
| Saletti-Cuesta et al., 2018 | Argentina | To explore the opinions and experiences of primary care providers regarding DVA. | Qualitative Meta-synthesis | Thematic synthesis | Primary | 46 papers | n/a | n/a |
| Sormanti & Smith, 2010 | USA | To explore barriers to DVA screening and initial steps to address these barriers. | Mixed-methods Focus groups | Thematic analysis | Emergency | 25 Doctors 28% women 72% men | Range 1–3 | Not stated |
| Spangaro et al., 2011 | Australia | To understand challenges and enablers of screening and apply this to how health policies become routinised in practice. | Qualitative Focus groups | Normalisation Process Theory Thematic analysis | Antenatal Substance abuse Mental health | 59 Practitioners 90% women 10% men | Not stated | 81% |
| Sprague et al., 2013 | Canada | To explore barriers and facilitators to screening for DVA in an orthopaedic fracture clinic. | Qualitative Focus groups Semi-structured interviews | Thematic analysis | Orthopaedics | 22 Surgeons Residents 25% women 75% men | Mean 10 years | Not stated |
| Sugg, 1992 | USA | To explore primary care physicians’ experiences with DVA victims in relation to responding in primary care settings. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Ethnography | Primary | 38 Doctors 37% women 63% men Age 33–58 | Mean 15 years | 8% |
| Sunborg et al., 2015 | Sweden | To improve the understanding or nurses’ experiences of encountering women exposed to DVA. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Grounded Theory | Primary | 11 Nurses 100% women | Not stated | Not stated |
| Thi Thanh Nguyen et al., 2014 | Vietnam | To explore the underlying beliefs that influence nurses and doctors in screening for victims of DVA. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Planned Behaviour Framework Content analysis | Emergency Outpatient | 19 Doctors Nurses 68% women 32% men Age 18–60 | Not stated | Not stated |
| Varcoe, 1997 | Canada | To examine the relationship between the social context of practice and the way in which nurses recognise and respond to women who have been abused. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews Fieldwork | Critical ethnography | Emergency | 35 Nurses Other practitioners Victim-survivors | Range 4–20 | Not stated |
| Virkki et al., 2015 | Finland | To explore how professionals see the possibilities for domestic violence intervention and their role in the process. | Qualitative Focus groups | Frame analysis | Emergency Mental health Maternity Social Work | 30 Nurses Doctors Social workers Psychologists 73% women 27% men | Not stated | Not stated |
| Watson et al., 2017 | UK | To explore primary care psychological therapists’ experiences of working with mid-life and older women presenting with DVA. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Grounded Theory | Primary Mental health | 16 Practitioners 100% women | Range 1–20 | 0% |
| Williams et al., 2016 | USA | To explore methods by which DVA screening practices are implemented in clinic and emergency settings. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Content analysis | Primary Paediatrics Emergency | 18 Doctors Nurses Managers Medical assistants 72% women 28% men | Not stated | Not stated |
| Wilson et al., 2016 | USA | To explore the experiences of health practitioners who have addressed DVA with migrant and seasonal farm working women. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Phenomenology | Migrant health | 9 Practitioners 100% women Age 29–75 | Not stated | Not stated |
| Zijlstra et al., 2017 | Netherlands | To examine factors facilitating and constraining the identification and management of DVA in an emergency department. | Qualitative Semi-structured interviews | Grounded Theory | Emergency | 18 Doctors Nurses Receptionists 56% women 44% men Age 25–60 | Mean 5.1 | 0% |
| Zink et al., 2004 | USA | To examine primary care providers’ awareness about DVA in older women. | Qualitative | None stated | Primary | 44 Doctors Nurses 36% women 64% men | Mean 15.6 | Not stated |