The Role of Health Services in Encouraging Disclosure of Violence Against Women

The aim of the survey was to assess the differences in disclosure by the type of violence to better plan the role of health services in identifying and disclosing violence.

A validated, anonymous screening questionnaire (NorAQ) for the identification of female victims of violence was offered to all postpartum women at a single maternity unit over a three-month period in 2014. Response rate was 80% (1018 respondents). Chi square test was used for statistical analysis (p<0.05 significant).

There are differences in disclosure by type of violence. Nearly half (41.5%) of violence by health care services was not reported, compared to 33.7% physical, 23.4% psychological, and 32.5% sexual that was reported. The percentage of violence in intimate partnership reported to health care staff is low (9.3% to 20.8%), but almost half of the violence experienced by heath care services (44%) is reported. Intimate partnership violence is more often reported to the physician than to the psychologist or social worker. Violence in health care service is reported also to nurses.

Disclosure enables various institutions to start with the procedures aimed at protecting victims against violence. Health workers should continuously encourage women to speak about violence rather than asking about it only once. It is also important that such inquiries are made on different levels of health care system and by different health care professions, since there are differences to whom women are willing to disclose violence.