Preparing Mental Health Professionals to Work With Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: A Comprehensive Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects millions of individuals across all demographics and ethnicities. Research has revealed a direct link between experiencing IPV and having adverse physical, mental, and financial outcomes which can create difficulties for survivors. Survivors experiencing these adverse outcomes are likely to seek out support to address these issues, increasing the likelihood that they will encounter mental health professionals (MHPs). MHPs can play a significant role in assessing and addressing IPV since they are often critical access points for those experiencing violence and are likely to counsel victims. Accurate identification of current or past IPV victimization is crucial to avoiding the potential of misdiagnosis of survivors. In addition, by applying and emphasizing an understanding of the connection between individual and structural explorations of gender, race, class, and other socially constructed identities, mental health professionals can utilize the skills necessary to challenge inequalities, which in turn can encourage survivors to create strategies that make sense to themselves and their communities. This study explores what is known about how MHPs are prepared to work with IPV. Peer-reviewed journals that were published between 2005 and 2019 were reviewed systematically to develop a better understanding of the existing literature. We sought to answer the question, “What is known about how MHPs are prepared to work with IPV?” This review identified 20 articles regarding training experiences of MHPs and how these experiences shaped their responses to and practice with those experiencing IPV.

Domestic violence screening in a public mental health service: A qualitative examination of mental health clinician responses to DFV

“…Organizational support was also seen to increase staff participation in training (Sutton et al, 2020). Providing innovative modes of delivery (e.g.…”

“…Screening for domestic violence in mental health settings is particularly important given the high estimated rates of domestic violence that have been reported within the population, and the intersectionality of domestic violence and mental health (Khalifeh et al, 2016; Trevillion et al, 2012). Women who experience domestic violence have an increased risk of experiencing mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), self‐harm and substance abuse (Kumar et al, 2013; Sutton et al, 2020). These findings are further supported by the high rates of sexual trauma and domestic violence seen in women admitted to an inpatient psychiatry unit in Australia (Niven et al, 2022).…”

Intimate Partner Violence in the Middle East Region: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Diverse forms or components of abuse can be used by a partner, including physical, sexual, or emotional/psychological (verbal; degradation or frightening; and social: constraint or deter from communication or relationships, works, and activities) and economic abuse (regulate access to financial and welfare sources such as food, dress, and car; Fedina et al, 2018; McMahon & McGorrery, 2020). Emotional and psychological are nonphysical forms of abuses that oppressed and controlled the victim by criticism, manipulating, making harmful threats toward them, and causing intense harm to their mental health (Sutton et al, 2020). Almost all emotional abuses are considered in the light of psychological abuses, but there is a tricky difference between them.…”

Stakeholder-based governance for managing victims of violence against women and children in East Java

“…Acts of violence in the family cause mental health problems experienced by the victims (Sutton et al 2021, Glowacz et al 2022. Mental health disorders are biological, psychological and social illnesses that hinder an individual's abilities and function in their environment (Manwell et al 2015).…”