Background

Domestic abuse is a type of violence and abuse that happens between adults who are partners, ex-partners, or family members. It includes psychological, emotional, physical, sexual, and financial abuse, and coercion, control, and stalking.

In the UK, around 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men will experience domestic abuse during their life. Recent research shows that people who work as healthcare professionals — as doctors, nurses, and in other healthcare roles — are even more likely to experience domestic abuse.

Healthcare professionals who have experienced domestic abuse often provide support to patients who are experiencing abuse, but rarely seek help for themselves. Working as a healthcare professional can be a stressful job and experiencing domestic abuse at the same time is very difficult.

Aim

The purpose of this study is to gather information about the impact of healthcare professionals’ own experiences of domestic abuse. We will use this information to inform and develop workplace policies. In the future, we hope to design a tailored intervention to support healthcare professionals who have experienced domestic abuse.

In this study, we plan to find out:

• whether organisations such as GP surgeries, pharmacies, dental practices, and community hospitals have useful policies for staff who are experiencing domestic abuse
• how the experience of domestic abuse affects healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, other healthcare staff), including how this affects their experiences at work
• what help and support healthcare professionals who have experienced domestic abuse seek, and what they might need
• what implications there may be for managers and senior staff as they try to support staff who have experienced domestic abuse.

With this information, we will make recommendations to help improve healthcare organisations’ policies on domestic abuse. The research will also build a foundation for the next stages of our research. In the future, we want to develop services to provide tailored support to healthcare professionals who have experienced abuse.

The study will run from May 2022 to May 2023.

Online survey

If you are a healthcare professional working in primary or community care in England who has experienced domestic abuse, or if you work in a role where you may support healthcare staff who have experienced abuse, please consider completing our survey. The survey asks questions about your experiences and about the support options available.

We appreciate that questions about domestic abuse can be incredibly difficult to read and to answer. If you have experienced domestic abuse, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, and there are people ready to listen and help. Details of support options are included in the survey, including the National Domestic Abuse Helpline (for women), which you can contact on 0808 2000 247 anytime, and Respect Men’s Advice Line (0808 8010327 - Mon–Fri 10am-8pm).

Funder

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research