Maternity care professionals’ preparedness for and experiences of screening and responding to disclosures of domestic violence in the peripartum period: a protocol for a qualitative evidence synthesis

Background Maternity care professionals, such as midwives, public health nurses, doctors, and social workers, are in the unique position of having regular contact with women in the peripartum period. They are well-placed to recognise and respond to disclosures of domestic violence, however many lack confidence and feel unprepared for this in practice. While there are screening tools used for enquiry about domestic violence in pregnancy, there are variations in the tools used, the frequency and timing of enquiry, and the response/referral pathways across professions. Research exists on the role of health care professionals such as midwives, doctors, and nurses with regards to domestic violence, however little is understood about the collective and shared experience of maternity care professionals who screen for and respond to domestic violence in the peripartum period. Methods A qualitative evidence synthesis of maternity care professionals’ preparedness for and experiences of screening and responding to disclosures of domestic violence in the peripartum period will be conducted. Qualitative studies of any design, and mixed method and other design studies where qualitative data can be extracted will be considered for inclusion. A systematic search of the following electronic bibliographic databases will be conducted: ASSIA, CINAHL, EMBASE, Maternity and Infant Care, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and SocINDEX. The Critical Skills Appraisal Programme (CASP) qualitative studies tool will be used to assess methodological quality of included studies. Data synthesis will involve three sequential stages, coding, development of descriptive themes and generation of analytical themes. Confidence in findings will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation-Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research (GRADE-CERQual) tool. Discussion This QES will provide a deeper understanding of maternity care professionals’ preparedness for and experiences of screening and responding to domestic violence disclosures in the peripartum period. The findings will, potentially, identify what aspects of education and preparedness work well and what might be improved. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: This is a QES and so ethical approval is not required I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Deidentified research data will be made publicly available when the QES is completed and published.