Provider and Survivor Perspectives on Screening for Intimate Partner Violence During Pregnancy and Postpartum

PROJECT ABSTRACT Homicide is a leading cause of death among women who are pregnant and within 1-year postpartum in the US. A majority of cases involve intimate partner violence (IPV), which is known to escalate during pregnancy. Our overall objective is to understand, from the perspective of health care providers and survivors of violence, barriers and preferences for

increasing IPV screening and supports in maternity care settings. This information will inform the future development and implementation of a multi-level intervention to build capacity and improve provider and system-level responses in the care of pregnant and postpartum women experiencing IPV. Our specific aims are (1) To identify specific barriers to and preferences for

IPV screening and responding as perceived by health care providers, and (2) To obtain in-depth understanding of the preferences around screening and responses to IPV as perceived survivors of violence during pregnancy and postpartum. Our approach involves the convening of focus groups comprised of health care providers who may come in contact with pregnant and

postpartum people (including OB/GYNs, advanced practice registered nurses, pediatricians, midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, and emergency department practitioners) as well as persons who experienced violence during pregnancy or the postpartum period. We will use Nominal Group Technique, a structured idea-generating process that produces quantitative

weights to a breadth of issues that were obtained through a qualitative, discussion-based approach. Findings from this work will include a comprehensive view of reasons underlying the consistently low rates of identification and responding to IPV among pregnant and partum people among a diverse group of providers who are mostly likely to encounter this population.

Of critical importance, this work will center the voice of those with lived experience and provide a detailed characterization of how best to identify and support pregnant IPV survivors in health care settings, by their own account.