Helping healthcare pros screen for gender-based violence

There’s room for improvement when it comes to identifying patients affected by intimate partner violence and gender-based violence—and connecting them to appropriate support. That’s why a community health researcher from Dalhousie University plans to work directly with health professionals at IWK Heath in Halifax to try to make sure interventions reach the people who need them.“Violence against women has a lot of negative health outcomes—injuries, mental health problems, chronic pain, disease and more. And many times, healthcare is the only formal service victims will access,” Alexa Yakubovich, assistant professor in the department of community health and epidemiology at Dalhousie University said in a press release. “Because we know that these women are more likely to access healthcare, it's a really important intervention point that can allow us to connect them to a wider array of supports that can help.”Yakubovich’s new partnership with IWK Health will allow her to work with healthcare providers in a clinical setting, to help them identify signs of violence and create a process to routinely inquire about possible abuse.“We need to make sure those people are being acknowledged by their care provider for having experienced violence and then being connected to the support that they need,” Yakubovich told CBC News.Read: Updated Canadian guidelines for management of depression in adultsThe initiative has a number of goals. Initially, Yakubovich will look at programs already existing at IWK and other organizations to see if they can be linked to increase their impact. She’ll also work to make sure abuse is captured on health records in a way that is safe and private. Another goal is to provide training to healthcare providers on how to screen for intimate partner violence or gender-based violence and connect affected patients with support. Making direct connections with healthcare providers is the best way for research to get into clinical practice, Yakubovich said. “Ultimately, this way of working with organizations and with partners is the best way to create a pathway for research to move into policy. This is really the only way to have the latest evidence put immediately into practice.” The Mass Casualty Commission, which examined the 2020 mass shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia, called gender-based violence an epidemic in their final report. “The mass shooting provides an example of a situation where there was a history of intimate partner violence. There was contact with different social, health service, and justice systems and, unfortunately, there were gaps in the response,” Yakubovich explained.The event has spurred healthcare providers and decision-makers to make real changes.“We see a newfound commitment to resolving these issues and really taking up the recommendations of the mass casualty commission, which makes this an amazing time to do this research and bringing everyone on board on how we can integrate the health system into a whole-society approach to end gender-based violence.” The research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)’s Health System Impact program.Read: Nova Scotia health official says virtual care ‘here to stay’

Helping healthcare pros screen for gender-based violence

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