Women’s Aid has today (7th November 2024) launched a report of an independent evaluation conducted by CES, examining a pilot maternity project delivered by Women’s Aid in partnership with The Rotunda, The National Maternity Hospital, The Coombe Hospital and Cork University Maternity Hospital.
The pilot maternity project developed and delivered specialist training to nearly 350 maternity care staff. In parallel, regular specially designed hospital-based awareness campaigns increased visibility of the issue and built understanding of the signs of domestic abuse during pregnancy.
A dedicated one to one support service in the three Dublin maternity hospitals also provided ‘same day’ support upon referral to 379 victims of domestic abuse.
As part of the evaluation of the project, a survey with pregnant women subjected to domestic violence found that most said that fear, shame and concern about having children taken away, stopped them from asking maternity staff for help.
Most women were also in favour of regular screening for domestic abuse during a woman’s journey throughout pregnancy.
CES found that the model of co-designed training and awareness addressing domestic abuse needs funding to be replicated and expanded across maternity settings and potentially other areas of the health service. The evaluation also provided important analysis and recommendations for participating hospitals to support improvements in data collection and tracking of enquiries about abuse, as well as disclosures and referrals of abuse survivors-victims internally
This pilot project demonstrated great potential for improving maternity services response to domestic violence and abuse. Evaluation of the early impacts of the project indicate that it has had a positive effect on awareness of domestic violence for both staff and women accessing maternity care, increased staff preparedness and confidence to ask and respond to disclosures and improved the speed and type of support provided to women referred to Women’s Aid for urgent assistance
CES Project Specialist Dr Jennifer Hanratty says,
“Our independent evaluation has found that the project has had a positive effect on awareness of domestic violence and abuse for both staff and women using services. This pilot project demonstrated great potential for improving maternity services response to domestic violence and abuse.
The evaluation also uncovered major challenges for maternity services in the recording and monitoring of Domestic Violence and Abuse screening and referrals offered to women. These issues need to be addressed at both local and national level to enable the project to have impact at scale.”
The Executive summary is available here
The Evaluation report is available here
