Intimate Partner Violence Screening Among Barbadian Primary Care Professionals: An Exploratory Study of Practitioner Attitudes, Beliefs, Knowledge and Screening Intention

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), the most prevalent type of violence against women, has been recognized as a human rights violation by intergovernmental organizations and international law. Due to its physical and psychological sequelae, the World Health Organization has considered IPV a major global public health issue since 1997. Primary care health care professionals (HCPs) are considered especially well-positioned to identify women experiencing IPV, yet screening rates are low. Utilizing the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) and Intersectional Feminism as guiding theoretical frames, this mixed method study (qualitative, N = 35; quantitative, N = 176) explored Barbadian HCPs’ attitudes, beliefs and knowledge regarding IPV screening, including personal and professional factors that facilitate or inhibit screening. Future screening intention and past screening behaviors were assessed. Findings from the study indicate that the IBM model explains a significant amount of variance in predicting screening intention, with the IBM construct of self-efficacy being the strongest theoretical predictor of screening intention. Overall, practitioners’ personal experience of physical abuse was the strongest predictor of screening intention. Implications for social work include future IPV research using a community-based participatory research methodology; in terms of practice and education, increasing the number of medical social workers in primary care settings and public health social workers, capitalizing on social work’s person-in-environment perspective to engage systems at multiple levels in addressing IPV. Policy recommendations are to engage in a chronic disease model of care and trauma-informed practice to empower women experiencing violence in primary care settings