Are nurses skilled enough to identify and support women subjected to domestic violence?
- Bill Deans
- May 9, 2018
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 1, 2024

"There is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable”
(United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon).
In their article in the Nursing Times in 2016 Bradbury-Jones and Clark argued that nurses need to 'use every interaction with patients to detect domestic violence and abuse'.
In 2017, a study by Bradbury-Jones, Clark, and Taylor found that abused women often encountered inappropriate or unhelpful interactions with services and individuals. This involved the abuse being trivialised or ignored, and ineffective responses and excuses due to insufficient time, privacy, or confidence. Some nurses expressed fear of offending the women, and unfortunately, this was sometimes influenced by their own personal experiences of abuse.
References
Bradbury-Jones, C. & Clark, M.T. (2016) How to address domestic violence and abuse. Nursing Times, online issue, 12, 1-4.
Bradbury-Jones, C., Clark, M.T. & Taylor, J. (2017) Abused women’s experiences of a primary care identification and referral intervention: A case study analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing. DOI: 10.1111/jan.13250
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In Scotland the government has updated and strengthened existing legislation, policy and strategies aimed at 'preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls' (Scottish Government, 2016); has strengthened the powers of the Police to charge perpetrators of abuse; and equip the whole health workforce with strategies in how to respond to disclosure and specific training for staff who work directly with women and girls.
Scottish Government (2016). Equally safe: Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls. Edinburgh;
Scottish Government (2018). Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 ;
NHS Scotland (2019). Domestic Abuse. What health workers need to know about gender-based violence. Edinburgh.
Police Scotland (2023) Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. Edinburgh.
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Are nurses skilled enough to identify and support women subjected to domestic violence?
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