Managing intimate partner violence at the social services department of a Greek university hospital

Abstract

• Summary:

Although abused patients are thought to access the health system at a range of potential entry points, social services are usually the only referral option within the various hospital sectors. In Greece, little is known about the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and the quality of care provided to cases of abuse at the social services. The current study explored the department’s response to IPV cases in a Greek university hospital. Two different research methods were employed: qualitative and document research. Qualitative data were collected through personal interviews with the 10 social workers employed at the department. Document research involved the review of all registries and social history forms recorded between January 2005 and April 2009 at the department. Two predefined screening criteria were employed to identify IPV cases. Seven socio-demographic variables were abstracted from all IPV cases that met the inclusion criteria.

• Findings:

Four main themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: 1) knowledge gap and openness to education, 2) poor assessment and recording practices, 3) concerns about intervention in confirmed cases, and 4) mistrust in referral resources. The document research revealed a total of 42 records (3.8%) having an IPV screening record present, out of the 1117 initially reviewed. The majority of the IPV patients were women (n = 33, 78.6%), encountered at the age group of 28–37 years (n = 16, 38.1%) and presented mixed types of abuse (n = 32, 76.2%).

• Applications:

Developing training opportunities and introducing organizational changes could help social workers to better manage IPV cases in the hospital setting.