@article{ref1,
title="Recognizing the co-occurrence of domestic and child abuse: A comparison of community- and hospital-based midwives",
journal="Health and social care in the community",
year="2009",
author="Lazenbatt, Anne and Thompson-Cree, Margaret E. M.",
volume="17",
number="4",
pages="358 - 370",
abstract="Abstract: This study aimed to compare and contrast how midwives working in either hospital or community settings are currently responding to the co-occurrence of domestic and child abuse (CA), their perceived role and willingness to identify abuse, record keeping, reporting of suspected or definite cases of CA and training received. A survey questionnaire was sent to 861 hospital and community midwives throughout Northern Ireland which resulted in 488 midwives completing the questionnaire, leading to a 57% response rate. Comparisons were made using descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation, and the questionnaire was validated using exploratory factor analysis. Community midwives reported receiving more training on domestic and CA. Although a high percent of both hospital and community midwives acknowledged a link between domestic violence (DV) and CA, it was the community midwives who encountered more suspected and definite (P < 0.001) cases of CA. More community midwives reported to be aware of the mechanisms for reporting CA. However, an important finding is that although 12% of community midwives encountered a definite case of CA, only 2% reported the abuse, leaving a 10% gap between reporting and identifying definite cases of CA. Findings suggest that lack of education and training was a problem as only a quarter of hospital-based midwives reported to have received training on DV and 40% on CA. This was significantly less than that received by community midwives, as 57% received training on DV, and 62% on CA. The study suggests that midwives need training on how to interact with abused mothers using non-coercive, supportive and empowering mechanisms. Many women may not spontaneously disclose the issues of child or domestic abuse in their lives, but often respond honestly to a sensitively asked question. This issue is important as only 13% of the sample actually asked a woman a direct question about DV.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0966-0410",
doi="10.1111/j.1365-2524.2009.00833.x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2009.00833.x"
}