JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy is a serious public health issue with wide-ranging consequences for both the mother and the unborn child. Thus, interventions are needed to address this issue.

Objective:

The aim of the STOP study is to implement digital screening for IPV within antenatal care and provide video counselling and safety planning to women exposed to violence to reduce IPV, IPV-related health consequences, improve safety behavior, and empower the women. Further, the study aims to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of video consultations and safety planning.

Methods:

The STOP study is an intervention set in the Region of Southern Denmark and Andalucía in Spain. Pregnant women are screened for IPV during routine antenatal care using validated screening tools (AAS, WAST, ISA). Women are eligible to be included into the study, if they screen positive to vio-lence through either of these tools. Those who screen positive are offered 3-6 video consultations with an IPV counsellor and a safety planning app. In Denmark, IPV counsellors are antenatal care midwives trained by a psychologist specialized in IPV whilst in Spain it is a psychologist. The intervention is co-created with women who have previously been exposed to IPV, health care providers, and non-governmental organizations working within the field of IPV. Questionnaire data are collected before and after the intervention: IPV exposure (ISA), depression (EPDS), safety actions (Safety Action Checklist), and empowerment (MOVERS). To explore how the IPV counsellors and the participants experience the intervention, in-depth qualitative interviews are conducted post intervention. The project serves as the basis of a future large-scale multicentre IPV-trial in antenatal care.

Results:

Data collection started in January 2021 and is expected to finish in October 2022. As of February 2022, a total of 14,985 pregnant women have been invited for IPV screening, 11,328 (76%) women have completed the screening, and a total of 615 (5.4%) women have screened positive for IPV-exposure (16.2% in Spain and 3.2% in Denmark). Sixty-four women (31.0%) have started receiving the intervention, 27 women have dropped out during the intervention period, currently leaving the total study population at 37 women. A total of 18 women have completed the study (28.1%). Qualitative interviews have been conducted with 16 out of the 18 women, and preliminary findings show that the women find the counselling highly supportive and empowering.

Conclusions:

The preliminary results show that digital screening for violence during pregnancy is highly feasible in Denmark and Spain, yet it may be challenging to get women to attend video consultations during their pregnancy. However, those women who do receive video consultations find them highly supportive and empowering.