JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 35% of women experience domestic violence at least once during their lifetimes. Yet approximately 80% of healthcare professionals have never received any training on management of this major public health concern.

Objective:

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of health professions’ digital education on domestic violence.

Methods:

Seven electronic databases were searched for RCTs from January 1990 to August 2017.

Results:

Six studies with 631 participants met our inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis of five studies showed that when compared with controls digital education may improve knowledge (Standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.67, 95% Confidence intervals (CI) 0.38 to 0.95; participants = 510; I2 = 59% low certainty evidence); as well as attitudes (SMD 0.67, 95% CI 0.25 to 1.09; participants = 339; studies = 3; I2 = 68%; low certainty evidence); and probably improves self-efficacy (SMD 0.47, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.77; participants = 174; studies = 3; I2 = 0%; moderate certainty evidence).

Conclusions:

The evidence on the effectiveness of digital education on health professionals’ understanding of domestic violence is promising. However, the certainty of the evidence is predominantly low and merits further research. Given the opportunity of scaled transformative digital education both further research and implementation within evaluative context should be prioritised.