Prenatal screening for intimate partner violence: A qualitative meta-synthesis

The aim of this meta-synthesis was to glean an understanding of healthcare providers' experience with prenatal screening for intimate partner violence (IPV). Prenatal screening guidelines for IPV are in place; however, a gap exists between these recommendations and providers' practices. Noblit and Hare's (1988) approach to synthesizing qualitative research studies was utilized. Eight research reports were identified and produced a sample of 142 experienced women's healthcare providers from the United States, New Zealand, and Sweden. The synthesis revealed five overarching themes: (1) therapeutic relationship, (2) understanding what she is not saying, (3) presence of partner, (4) variations of how and when to discuss, and (5) “lost in the maze” of disclosure. When analyzed as a whole, the five themes contribute to a lack of universal screening for IPV. Given that IPV is a social problem with long-term negative sequela, providers are poised to identify women during the perinatal timeframe to ensure adequate referrals and services to stop the cycle of violence.