Domestic Violence Intervention in Health Care

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Type of Legislation

Domestic violence is a concept that can be described as emotional, verbal, sexual or any other existing kind of abuse that may scare the victim or lead to a situation where one of the participating parties will be keen on retaining supremacy over another. This issue has to be approached multidisciplinarily because it involves numerous organizations that have to deal with the premises and outcomes of domestic violence. This policy proposal is intended to turn into a local legislation that will be evaluated on the basis of its effectiveness within the framework of a single location.

Literature Review

The results of the research conducted by Husso et al. (2012) show that a number of successful practices can be applied to identify the victims of domestic violence and prevent the future occurrence of such cases. Nonetheless, they realized that there is a need for the re-evaluation of the challenges that are inextricably linked to the concept of domestic violence victimization. In other words, they advocated for the new insights into the issues of

providing help to those in need
broadening the knowledge base of professionals working in the area (Cibulka, 2017).

It is safe to say that there is a necessity to establish new organizational practices that will support social care and become a way to approach domestic violence more responsibly (Asay, DeFrain, Metzger, & Moyer, 2015). At the same time, Beccaria et al.s (2013) study gives us the idea that students also have a rather delicate point of view when it comes to domestic violence. Their survey answers supported the hypothesis that inexperienced health care providers are not prepared to take on the challenge of domestic violence.

Nonetheless, the main idea that prevailed was that communication is the key to successfully dealing with domestic violence (Feder, 2013). It may be concluded here that the main issue may consist in the fact that healthcare providers may not be able to realize the social and economic background of domestic violence (Baillie & Black, 2015). This will lead to a situation where they will miss out specific details that are critical for the patients.

Further review of the literature on the topic showed that there are even more limitations that may adversely impact the quality of healthcare in terms of domestic violence. Natan, Ari, Bader, and Hallaks (2011) findings displayed a rather high level of reluctance to screening when it came to nursing staff working with the victims of domestic violence. On the other hand, it is a well-known fact that the majority of patients require screening as they believe it to be one of the crucial aspects of healthcare that are interconnected with domestic violence (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2015). Screening behavior was found to be associated with violence.

Even though the process of screening is legally authorized, numerous members of the nursing staff tend to overlook it. One of the reasons for this may be the fact that such interventions are not commonly practiced by nurses and physicians (Wheeler, 2012). Nonetheless, there is still need to understand what kind of barriers have to be overcome in order to help the victims of domestic violence properly. This hypothesis is also supported by Ramsay et al.s (2012) study. They found that the majority of nurses possess a mere knowledge of domestic violence experiences. Therefore, it may be concluded that nurses and general practitioners have to go through training courses so as to be able to provide high-quality services in terms of assessing and treating the patients that were exposed to domestic violence.

The Impact of Issue

The impact of the proposed policy would include improved nursing practices and patient outcomes. It is expected that both nursing staff and the patients will receive advantageous knowledge that will either predict or facilitate the process of dealing with the outcomes of domestic violence. In perspective, the proposed policy is also projected to reduce the occurrence of domestic violence cases and create a stronger bond between nurses and their patients.

Specific Aspects of the Proposed Policy

Stakeholders

The stakeholders that will be involved in the implementation of the proposed policy include the managers of healthcare facilities of interest, the nurses that will take care of the patients that were exposed to domestic violence, and the sponsoring organization (this may be the healthcare facility where the implementation of the policy will take place).

Issue Statement

In the case of the current policy proposal, the issue consists in the fact that both nurses (here, we can also consider any other healthcare experts involved in the current state of affairs) and patients may not be ready for the implementation of the community-based empowering approach to eliminating the adverse consequences (psychological, social, and other health-related issues) of domestic violence.

Possible Methods of Addressing the Issue

The first method of addressing the issue is discussing the topic of domestic violence with all the parties that are involved. This will be helpful in terms of identifying women that need confidential assistance (such as private consultations, for example). Another idea that can be helpful is to apply a holistic approach to care when treating the victims of domestic violence. In this case, this will give other organizations the possibility to help nurses and guarantee the safety of those in need.

The third method is to provide support services in more locations. In perspective, this will extend the reach of the proposed policy. All the discussions with the patients will have to be documented (informed consent is a must). The third method of addressing the issue is to ask for support from other organizations and experts that have experience in dealing with domestic violence.

Policy Goals

There are two main goals that can be associated with the implementation of the proposed policy. First, it is critical to reduce the number of individuals suffering from domestic violence by means of empowerment and knowledge transmission. Second, the policy is intended to educate the patients with the intention of either preventing the future cases of domestic violence or not allowing this to happen to other families that were not exposed to domestic violence yet. In other words, nurses will have to convey the premises of domestic violence and provide necessary emotional support to their patients.

The Benefits of Implementing the Policy

There are several benefits that can be associated with the process of implementing the policy. First of all, nurses and other healthcare professionals will pay closer attention to the concept of empowerment. This will impact the society at several different levels communal, domestic, and individual. The majority of healthcare facilities will be able to help the victims of domestic violence by altering their state of mind and providing necessary psychologic help in addition to evidence-based pharmacological treatments.

By doing this, healthcare professionals will gain more knowledge about their patients and will have the possibility to allocate the available resources correctly and grant access to domestic violence knowledge so that their patients would enlighten as well. Hypothetically, all these benefits will help the victims to cope with the issues that are recurrently associated with domestic violence and promote their well-being.

The most important risk revolves around the idea that a cohort of nurses that suffered from domestic violence will not be able to address their patients correctly and have the requisite level of compassion. In perspective, such attitude may adversely impact the quality of care and patients mental health.

Analysis of the Policy and Its Influence on Personal Nursing Practice

The influence of the proposed policy will be measured by means of two types of questionnaires for nurses and their patients respectively. Both of them will be able to assess the quality of care and share their thoughts on the effectiveness of the treatment program offered by the policy. It is recommended to pay close attention to the data collection process as it may limit the validity of the policy in terms of bias.

Nonetheless, the proposed policy is expected to introduce a necessary change in the understanding of domestic violence in terms of nursing. Healthcare professionals will be able to come up with relevant solutions and create a patient-friendly environment that will positively contribute to the treatment process. Overall, it may be claimed that a new policy on domestic violence is necessary and the current policy proposal contains a robust array of data that would be useful throughout the process of implementing the new domestic violence policy.

References

Asay, S. M., DeFrain, J. D., Metzger, M. L., & Moyer, R. (2015). Family violence from a global perspective: A strengths-based approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Baillie, L., & Black, S. (2015). Professional values in nursing. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Beccaria, G., Beccaria, L., Dawson, R., Gorman, D., Harris, J. A., & Hossain, D. (2013). Nursing students perceptions and understanding of intimate partner violence. Nurse Education Today, 33(8), 907-911. Web.

Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2015). Foundations of couples, marriage, and family counseling. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Cibulka, N. (2017). Guidelines for nurse practitioners in ambulatory obstetric settings. New York, NY: Springer.

Feder, L. (2013). Women and domestic violence: An interdisciplinary approach. New York, NY: Haworth Press.

Husso, M., Virkki, T., Notko, M., Holma, J., Laitila, A., & Mantysaari, M. (2012). Making sense of domestic violence intervention in professional health care. Health and Social Care in the Community, 20(4), 347-355. Web.

Natan, M., Ari, G., Bader, T., & Hallak, M. (2011). Universal screening for domestic violence in a department of obstetrics and gynaecology: A patient and carer perspective. International Nursing Review, 59(1), 108-114. Web.

Ramsay, J., Rutterford, C., Gregory, A., Dunne, D., Eldridge, S., Sharp, D., & Feder, G. (2012). Domestic violence: Knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice of selected UK primary healthcare clinicians. British Journal of General Practice, 62(602), 647-655. Web.

Wheeler, H. (2012). Law, ethics and professional issues for nursing: A reflective and portfolio-building approach. Milton Park, UK: Routledge.

Click Here To Order Now!