Multifaceted training and readiness to respond to family violence: A prospective cohort evaluation

Background: As frontline healthcare workers, there is a growing expectation that nurses should be able to respond to disclosures of family violence. However, the profession and hospital systems have been slow to respond with clear skills, knowledge and confidence deficits identified in existing research. There is limited research which has robustly evaluated the effectiveness of in-depth, multifaceted training on readiness to respond among nurses. Aim: To longitudinally evaluate the effectiveness of an in-depth family violence training intervention on confidence, knowledge and clinical skills of nurses working in a large tertiary adult hospital. Design: Single-centre, longitudinal intervention study. Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) cross-sectional guidelines were used. Methods: One hundred and ten nursing clinicians participated in this study to complete a comprehensive evidence-based model of healthcare workers response for assisting patients experiencing family violence. A mixed methods survey was used to assess change in knowledge, confidence and clinical skills among participants. Outcome assessment was electronically undertaken at baseline, 6–9 months and 12–15 months following intervention. Results: Statistically significant improvement was seen in self-reported knowledge, confidence and frequency of screening for family violence. Relative to baseline estimates, these improvements were identified 6–9 months and 12–15 months following intervention; albeit with consideration to the visually observed trend of skill reversion at follow-up. Quantitative findings were paralleled by qualitatively identified improvements in the recognition of the intersectional nature of violence, need for patient collaboration in screening and depth in considerations around how family violence is screened for. Conclusions: Findings provide tentative support for the utility of a multidimensional training approach to improving nurses' readiness to respond to disclosures of family violence.