Hurt Healers: The Implications for Nurses as Victims of Intimate Partner Violence in Their Care of Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate Partner Violence (IVP) will affect a significant proportion of health care staff and it is
likely that its impact will not be confined to the home. The effects of IVP are likely to affect the
victim in their work environment including the risk of the perpetrator’s continued harassment of
them at work by telephone, texting or personal visits. In 2014 in the UK, the concern of IVP was
embedded in the public health agenda with recent Guidelines on Domestic Abuse published by
the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, making it clear that health professionals have a
duty to routinely screen and create an environment to enable the disclosure of IVP by their
patients. Listening and responding to disclosures of IVP can be distressing, but particularly when
the health professional has or is dealing with their own abuse. No other health body nationally is
collecting data on health professionals who are or who have been victims of domestic violence
and the impact on them personally and professionally. The research outlined in this Abstract is
perhaps both timely and unique.