Screening for and Disclosure of Domestic Violence during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of the PRICOV-19 Cross-Sectional Study in 33 Countries

Elizaveta Fomenko (), Ines Keygnaert (), Esther Van Poel, Claire Collins, Raquel Gómez Bravo, Päivi Korhonen, Merja K. Laine, Liubove Murauskiene, Athina Tatsioni and Sara Willems
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Elizaveta Fomenko: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Ines Keygnaert: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Esther Van Poel: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Claire Collins: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Raquel Gómez Bravo: Centre Hospitalier Neuropsychiatrique, Rehaklinik, L-9002 Ettelbruck, Luxembourg
Päivi Korhonen: Department of General Practice, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, 20521 Turku, Finland
Merja K. Laine: Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Liubove Murauskiene: Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LT-01513 Vilnius, Lithuania
Athina Tatsioni: Research Unit for General Medicine and Primary Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Sara Willems: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic left no one untouched, and reports of domestic violence (DV) increased during the crisis. DV victims rarely seek professional help, yet when they do so, they often disclose it to their general practitioner (GP), with whom they have a trusting relationship. GPs rarely screen and hence rarely take the initiative to discuss DV with patients, although victims indicate that offering this opportunity would facilitate their disclosure. This paper aims to describe the frequency of screening for DV by GPs and disclosure of DV by patients to the GP during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify key elements that could potentially explain differences in screening for and disclosure of DV. The PRICOV-19 data of 4295 GP practices from 33 countries were included in the analyses, with practices nested in countries. Two stepwise forward clustered ordinal logistic regressions were performed. Only 11% of the GPs reported (much) more disclosure of DV by patients during COVID-19, and 12% reported having screened for DV (much). Most significant associations with screening for and disclosure of DV concerned general (pro)active communication. However, (pro)active communication was performed less frequently for DV than for health conditions, which might indicate that GPs are insufficiently aware of the general magnitude of DV and its impact on patients and society, and its approach/management. Thus, professional education and training for GPs about DV seems highly and urgently needed.

Keywords: domestic violence; screening; disclosure; general practitioner; primary health care; COVID-19; PRICOV-19; infectious diseases; quality of care; equity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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