The Process, Outcomes, and Challenges of Feasibility Studies Conducted in Partnership With Stakeholders: A Health Intervention for Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Feasibility studies play a crucial role in determining whether complex, community-based interventions should be subject to efficacy testing. Reports of such studies often focus on efficacy potential but less often examine other elements of feasibility, such as acceptance by clients and professionals, practicality, and system integration, which are critical to decisions for proceeding with controlled efficacy testing. Although stakeholder partnership in feasibility studies is widely suggested to facilitate the research process, strengthen relevance, and increase knowledge transfer, little is written about how this occurs or its consequences and outcomes. We began to address these gaps in knowledge in a feasibility study of a health intervention for women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) conducted in partnership with policy, community and practitioner stakeholders. We employed a mixed-method design, combining a single-group, pre-post intervention study with 52 survivors of IPV, of whom 42 completed data collection, with chart review data and interviews of 18 purposefully sampled participants and all 9 interventionists. We assessed intervention feasibility in terms of acceptability, demand, practicality, implementation, adaptation, integration, and efficacy potential. Our findings demonstrate the scope of knowledge attainable when diverse elements of feasibility are considered, as well as the benefits and challenges of partnership. The implications of diverse perspectives on knowledge transfer are discussed. Our findings show the importance of examining elements of feasibility for complex community-based health interventions as a basis for determining whether controlled intervention efficacy testing is justified and for refining both the intervention and the research design. © 2015 The Authors. Research in Nursing & Health published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Development of a brief measure of intimate partner violence experiences: the Composite Abuse Scale (Revised)—Short Form (CASR-SF)

“…Four smaller studies included community samples of women (n=670, 10.7% of pooled sample), who all self-identified as having experienced IPVi ii iii 35 while the remaining study30 included a large clinical sample of women (n=5608, 89.3% of pooled sample) who had and had not experienced IPV in the past 12 months. We included the four community-based samples in this analysis to maximise sample diversity such that the brief scale would be appropriate for women with different experiences and backgrounds.…”

Reclaiming Our Spirits: Development and Pilot Testing of a Health Promotion Intervention for Indigenous Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence

“…Post‐test data were not collected from three women who did not engage with the nurses in any 1:1 visits; the remaining 18 women spent an average total contact time, including Circles and 1:1 nurse visits, of 28.2 hours; of that, an average of 6.25 hours was spent with the nurses (range 1–14.5). This was more overall time but less 1:1 time with nurses than in the feasibility studies, in which women averaged 16.8 and 15.9 hours of contact with interventionists (Ford‐Gilboe, Varcoe et al, ; Wuest et al, ).…”

“…The i HEAL has been tested in two feasibility studies in different contexts, with significant improvements in health and quality of life (Ford‐Gilboe et al, in review; Wuest et al, ). However, the extent to which it would meet the needs of Indigenous women was not known.…”

“…Specifically, we (a) reduced class bias by removing assumptions such as that women would have homes or access to child care or a car; (b) attended to the fact that women may not have left abusive partners; (c) integrated greater attention to the diversity of women along multiple lines of difference and identity (e.g., ability, sexual and gender identity, Indigenous identity); and (d) recognizing the extent of state apprehensions of Indigenous children and over‐involvement of the state in child rearing of Indigenous children in Canada (Blackstock, ; Blackstock, Trocmé, & Bennett, ; McKenzie, Varcoe, Browne & Day, ; Sinha, Trocmé, Blackstock, MacLaurin, & Fallon, ; Trocmé et al, ), eliminated the assumption that women would have their children living with them. We also integrated recommendations from the feasibility studies (Ford‐Gilboe, Varcoe et al, ; Wuest et al, ) to (a) provide opportunities for women to meet and potentially support each other; (b) integrate more attention to substance use including training for nurses; and (c) pay more attention to spirituality.…”

Predicting family health and well‐being after separation from an abusive partner: role of coercive control, mother's depression and social support

“…, Wuest et al . ) can provide a framework for nurses to consider the priorities of women and families in the transition out of an abusive relationship and ways which nurses can provide critical support.…”