Abstract
OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of intimate partner violence among health care professionals who work in the Spanish National Health System, according to the autonomous communities of Spain. METHOD This was a descriptive cross-sectional multicenter study conducted with male and female health professionals (doctors, nurses, and nursing aides) in the different autonomous communities that are part of the Spanish National Health System. The following instruments were employed: among women, an intimate partner violence screening questionnaire; and among men, a questionnaire that screened for violence in the family environment. RESULTS A total of 1,039 health professionals participated in the study. Of these, 26% had suffered some type of abuse. Among the men, this prevalence was 2.7%, while among the women, it was 33.8%. There were differences in the prevalence of intimate partner violence among different autonomous communities, with the highest percentages in the Canary Islands. In terms of profession, 19.5% of the doctors had been exposed to intimate partner violence, while this percentage was 31% and 48.6% for nurses and nursing professionals, respectively. CONCLUSION The results indicate the presence of intimate partner violence among healthcare personnel in most of the autonomous communities of Spain. The data demonstrate the need to implement action plans, both to support victims and to mitigate the problem.
Highlights
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is the most common type of violence against women present in society, affecting men to a lesser extent[1]
The findings of the present study indicate the presence of IPV among health professionals in most of the autonomous communities of Spain
The prevalence of IPV varied among communities, with the lowest rates in the Basque Country and Andalusia, and the highest in the Canary Islands and Castile and León
Summary
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is the most common type of violence against women present in society, affecting men to a lesser extent[1]. The World Health Organization has recognized IPV to be a public health and human rights issue[2]. This phenomenon is present among all social groups and has been recently documented within the nursing category[3,4,5,6]. Healthcare services are a natural point of entry for possible victims[7,8], and health professionals tend to represent their first point of contact with the system. It is especially relevant to study the prevalence of this issue among health personnel. Recent studies have been conducted in Spain to analyze the prevalence of IPV in the general population, but only one study involving health professionals focused on nurses, who represent a sensitive group. 33% of the investigated Andalusian nurses had been victims of abuse[5]
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