<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><sec id="j_sjph-2017-0030_s_006_w2aab3b7b5b1b6b1aab1c18b1Aa"><h3>Introduction</h3><p>The aim of the survey was to assess the differences in disclosure by the type of violence to better plan the role of health services in identifying and disclosing violence.</p></sec><sec id="j_sjph-2017-0030_s_007_w2aab3b7b5b1b6b1aab1c18b2Aa"><h3>Methods</h3><p>A validated, anonymous screening questionnaire (NorAQ) for the identification of female victims of violence was offered to all postpartum women at a single maternity unit over a three-month period in 2014. Response rate was 80% (1018 respondents). Chi square test was used for statistical analysis (p&lt;0.05 significant).</p></sec><sec id="j_sjph-2017-0030_s_008_w2aab3b7b5b1b6b1aab1c18b3Aa"><h3>Results</h3><p>There are differences in disclosure by type of violence. Nearly half (41.5%) of violence by health care services was not reported, compared to 33.7% physical, 23.4% psychological, and 32.5% sexual that was reported. The percentage of violence in intimate partnership reported to health care staff is low (9.3% to 20.8%), but almost half of the violence experienced by heath care services (44%) is reported. Intimate partnership violence is more often reported to the physician than to the psychologist or social worker. Violence in health care service is reported also to nurses.</p></sec><sec id="j_sjph-2017-0030_s_009_w2aab3b7b5b1b6b1aab1c18b4Aa"><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Disclosure enables various institutions to start with the procedures aimed at protecting victims against violence. Health workers should continuously encourage women to speak about violence rather than asking about it only once. It is also important that such inquiries are made on different levels of health care system and by different health care professions, since there are differences to whom women are willing to disclose violence.</p></sec></abstract>

IntroductionThe aim of the survey was to assess the differences in disclosure by the type of violence to better plan the role of health services in identifying and disclosing violence.MethodsA validated, anonymous screening questionnaire (NorAQ) for the identification of female victims of violence was offered to all postpartum women at a single maternity unit over a three-month period in 2014. Response rate was 80% (1018 respondents). Chi square test was used for statistical analysis (p<0.05 significant).ResultsThere are differences in disclosure by type of violence. Nearly half (41.5%) of violence by health care services was not reported, compared to 33.7% physical, 23.4% psychological, and 32.5% sexual that was reported. The percentage of violence in intimate partnership reported to health care staff is low (9.3% to 20.8%), but almost half of the violence experienced by heath care services (44%) is reported. Intimate partnership violence is more often reported to the physician than to the psychologist or social worker. Violence in health care service is reported also to nurses.ConclusionsDisclosure enables various institutions to start with the procedures aimed at protecting victims against violence. Health workers should continuously encourage women to speak about violence rather than asking about it only once. It is also important that such inquiries are made on different levels of health care system and by different health care professions, since there are differences to whom women are willing to disclose violence.

The role of health services in encouraging disclosure of violence against women

Slovenian Journal of Public Health

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

VLOGA ZDRAVSTVENIH USTANOV PRI SPODBUJANJU RAZKRITJA NASILJA NAD ŽENSKAMI

IntroductionThe aim of the survey was to assess the differences in disclosure by the type of violence to better plan the role of health services in identifying...

Period of life	Physical violence	Psychological violence	Sexual violence	Violence by health care system	Any type of violence
Before the age of 18	22.4	14.8	6.1	2.7	31.2
In adulthood	9.5	14.1	2.0	10.1	19.1
During pregnancy	1.0	3.2	0.0	5.8	9.2
Whenever	29.2	26.1	7.6	16.1	46.9

% of disclosure	Physical violence (N=13)	Psychological violence (N=21)	Sexual violence (N=7)	Violence by health care system (N=29)
Physician	46.2	28.6	42.9	65.5
Nurse	/	4.8	/	27.6
Psychologist	38.5	57.1	42.9	3.4
Social worker	15.4	9.5	14.7	3.4

% of seeking help	Physical violence (N=256)	Psychological violence (N=225)	Sexual violence (N=76)	Violence by health care system (N=148)
No, since it did not cause much suffering	70.7	55.6	44.7	83.8
No, although I suffered a lot	18.4	24.0	30.3	11.5
Yes, I sought help	10.9	20.4	25.0	4.7

% of disclosure	Physical violence	Psychological violence	Sexual violence	Violence by health care system
No	33.7	23.4	32.5	41.5
Yes, partly	21.8	29.4	26.0	10.2
Yes, everything	44.4	47.2	41.6	48.3

% of disclosure	Physical violence	Psychological violence	Sexual violence	Violence by health care system
No	90.7	79.2	80.4	56.0
Yes, he already knew	2.3	2.8	3.9	8.3
Yes, when he asked about it	2.9	7.3	9.8	10.7
Yes, I told it of my own will	4.1	10.7	5.9	25.0

The role of health services in encouraging disclosure of violence against women

Article Category: Original scientific article

Published Online: Oct 09, 2017

Page range: 220 - 226

Received: Jan 26, 2017

Accepted: Jul 06, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sjph-2017-0030

Keywords
disclosure, differences by type of violence, encouraging disclosure of violence in health care

© 2017 National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Incidence of individual types of violence in various periods of life.

Reporting violence to health care staff.

Seeking help after experiencing violence.

Disclosure to anyone.

Disclosing violence to a health worker.

The role of health services in encouraging disclosure of violence against women

Article Category: Original scientific article

Published Online: Oct 09, 2017

Page range: 220 - 226

Received: Jan 26, 2017

Accepted: Jul 06, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sjph-2017-0030

Keywordsdisclosure, differences by type of violence, encouraging disclosure of violence in health care

© 2017 National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Incidence of individual types of violence in various periods of life.

Reporting violence to health care staff.

Seeking help after experiencing violence.

Disclosure to anyone.

Disclosing violence to a health worker.

Keywords
disclosure, differences by type of violence, encouraging disclosure of violence in health care