Domestic Violence and Health Care: Opening Pandora’s Box - Challenges and Dilemmas

Possibilities for Intervention in Domestic Violence: Frame Analysis of Health Care Professionals’ Attitudes

“…The psychological frame, however, also poses challenges to violence intervention, because the fear of retraumatizing the patient and initiating an unpredictable process prevents questions of violence from being taken up. Because of this fear of initiating an unpredictable process, domestic violence can easily be ignored, as has also been noticed in other studies on health care (Donohoe, 2010;Lavis et al, 2005).…”

“…In social and health care, this challenge has been met with health and well-being promotion, which has become increasingly central (Laing et al, 2013;Lavis et al, 2005;Lupton, 2003;Spangaro et al, 2011) during the 21st century in both health care policies and strategies and in the media and public discussion. In addition, other frames and combinations of frames that support intervention in domestic violence are redefining and changing interpretations of domestic violence and habitual ways of framing it.…”

“…According to several studies on this topic, the provider's fear of offending the client or patient and general discomfort about asking questions are among the most important reasons for the low screening rates. In addition, providers have been shown to be reluctant to ask about domestic violence because of fear that such questions will open "Pandora's box" and may do more harm than good (Kulkarni, Bell, & Wylie, 2010;Lavis, Horrocks, Kelly, & Barker, 2005). However, previous research (Ambuel et al, 2013) shows that domestic violence intervention does not appear to pose a risk to abuse victims, while failure to ask about violence may represent a lost opportunity to help, which leaves a victim vulnerable to further assault.…”

An exploration of the perceptions of emergency department nursing staff towards the role of a domestic abuse nurse specialist: a qualitative study

“…Domestic abuse takes many different forms and has been traditionally defined as including physical, psychological, sexual, financial and emotional abuse (Olive, 2007 Those who experience domestic abuse report significant immediate and longer-term health impacts which affect both physical and mental health status (Lacey et al 2013, McGarry et al 2011. However, despite recognition of the consequences that domestic abuse exerts on the health and wellbeing of those affected it is only relatively recently there has been a shift at a policy and service delivery level from the construction of domestic abuse as a largely social problem to its 'reconstruction' and growing recognition as both a health and a social care issue (Lavis et al 2005). Within the UK for example, domestic abuse is now a key concern within both health and social care policy contexts at a national level and in ' (NICE, 2014).…”

Chronic Victims, Risky Women: Domestic Violence Advocacy and the Medicalization of Abuse

“…While violence against women is often overlooked in theories about medicalization and risk production, public health literature on domestic violence screening has abounded. Studies indicate that doctors often associate domestic violence work with "opening Pandora's box" because it is a problem that lacks a straightforward solution and makes the doctorpatient interaction needlessly difficult ðBacchus, Mezey and Bewley 2003; Lavis et al 2005;Warshaw 2009Þ. In her 1987 study, sociologist Demie Kurz found that hospital staff viewed dealing with battered women as "dirty work" and only gave sympathy to women who took obvious steps to leave the relationship ðKurz 1987, 78Þ.…”