Impact of an educational intervention for district nurses about preparedness to encounter women exposed to intimate partner violence

AimTo evaluate the impact of an educational intervention on the preparedness of district nurses at primary healthcare centres to encounter women exposed to intimate partner violence. Methodological designAn observational quasi-experimental study. Participants were divided into an intervention group (n=117) and a control group (n=204), both from the eastern part of Sweden. A group of nurses from across Sweden (the national group,' n=217) was also recruited. The Violence Against Women Health Care Provider Survey was used pre- and 1year postintervention to measure the intervention's impact. This survey, which measured preparedness, included eight factors: practitioner preparedness, self-confidence, lack of control, comfort following disclosure, professional support, practice pressures, abuse inquiry and consequences of asking. anova, the paired Wilcoxon test, the Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyse the data. FindingsPre-intervention preparedness was equal in all three groups. In the intervention group, preparedness related to the factor practitioner lack of control increased (p=0.003), but a comparison of change between the intervention and control groups showed no significant intervention effect (p=0.069). ConclusionsThe results indicate that the intervention had a low impact on district nurses' preparedness. The educational intervention must be adjusted; a main focus of changes should be the addition of continuing postintervention supervision and support.