Nurse practitioner interventions for domestic violence

The purposes of this study were to (1) identify interventions used by a sample of adult and family nurse practitioners (NPs) with suspected cases of domestic violence and (2) determine if the interventions used had theoretical and empirical support. Sixty vignette responses from 20 NPs were analyzed using content analysis and compared with the literature. The NPs in this sample diagnosed domestic violence in only 60% of the cases. A total of 12 intervention categories (e.g., screening, physical examination, medical treatment, or counseling) were developed. Twelve categories were theoretically supported, and one category had empirical support. These findings support the need for heightened awareness of domestic violence for proper diagnosis and for use of theoretically and empirically supported interventions.