Educating nurses on intervention in and prevention of intimate partner violence : a systematic review

Abstract

In South Africa, a woman is killed by a male partner every six hours, making South Africa’s intimate femicide rate the highest, globally. Nurses are in a unique position to identify, assist and support women who are at risk or who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) when such women seek help. Unfortunately, nurses often fail to use this critical opportunity to break the cycle of violence because of a lack of confidence, skills and support systems. The purpose of the systematic review was to appraise learning needs and curricula of nurse education on intervention and prevention of intimate partner violence. A selection of electronic databases for the period 2009-2014 was used as data sources. The systematic review involved a computerised search of the selected databases to identify and assess published studies on nurse education curricula and learning programmes on intimate partner violence intervention and prevention. Of the 1 446 identified studies, 56 studies were initially identified for review and then reduced to 14 after excluding studies that did not meet the selection criteria. These articles were critically appraised with the use of a set of qualitative criteria. Studies reviewed identified the need for training nurses on their roles and responsibilities on IPV intervention and prevention and developing their core competencies in this domain. Studies also indicated the skills needed by nurse educators in the education and training of student nurses on IPV intervention and prevention. The key aspects of IPV curricula content that were positively accepted by nurses included knowledge, attitudinal and skills components, as well as environmental-, management- and systems components. A limitation of the study was the exclusion of domestic violence. While intimate partner violence and domestic violence overlap, it may well be that in the literature some studies may have focused on domestic violence prevention and intervention.The outcomes of this review gives insight into how nurse education and professional development can be structured in local- and international health care education settings for IPV intervention and prevention. Recommendations are offered for curriculum design and development for nurse educators and nurse education on IPV intervention and prevention. The findings of the study could contribute to developing nurse education curricula in local and international contexts to prevent and intervene in IPV as a global public health care phenomenon.