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Review: Researching domestic violence and abuse in healthcare settings: Challenges and issues

This timely paper, borne from years of experience in the field, highlights the complexities inherent in researching domestic violence and abuse (DVA) and provides valuable insight regarding key considerations for prospective researchers intending to study this important topic. There is no doubt that DVA is a worldwide problem resulting in negative health outcomes for thousands of victims. Nurses and healthcare professionals by virtue of their positioning within healthcare settings are ideally placed to respond sensitively and effectively towards individuals who present DVA-related trauma (either physical or psychological). It is this safe context and the trustworthiness of the individuals who work within it which makes this a supportive environment for DVA victims. However, there remain several challenges with staff preparedness. These include conceptual ambiguity regarding the meaning of DVA, lack of resources and training, and also the reality that some caregivers experience DVA given its pervasiveness. Clearly, context, safety, sensitivity and trust are key considerations in fostering therapeutic relationships where DVA victimisation is suspected. The paper under review wisely suggests that these same elements relate to the conduct of DVA research. Issues of large-scale study design, whilst useful, decontextualise DVA and its inextricable link with the identity and biography of the person who is experiencing it. DVA is a complex phenomenon that commands greater sensitivity towards its contextual embeddedness. The incorporation of broader methodological approaches, qualitative methods in particular, as suggested in this paper, is both timely and essential. There are many hidden elements to DVA (e.g. persons not recognising it, not reporting it, etc.) which potentially prevent help seeking. Qualitative methodological approaches are advantageous in elucidating such nuances within the DVA experience, and can appreciate both individual and life contexts, and the issues and challenges which influence both. The use of alternative methodologies such as narrative biographical methods have already been demonstrated to unearth new understandings about how (male) victims account for DVA victimisation