Effect of an intimate partner violence educational program on the attitudes of nurses

Objective: To examine the effect of an intimate partner violence (IPV) educational program on the attitudes of nurses toward victims. Design: A quasi-experimental study utilizing a pretest and posttest. Setting: An urban health care system. Participants: Fifty-two inpatient nurses completed both the pretest and posttest. Intervention: One-hour and 3-hour IPV educational programs. Main outcome measures: Change in attitude was determined by scores from the Public Health Nurses' Response to Women Who Are Abused (PHNR), a standardized questionnaire that measures nurses' reactions to an IPV scenario. Parallel forms, each with a different scenario, were administered before and 2 months after the 1-hour and 3-hour educational sessions. Scores were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance followed by multiple comparisons with Bonferroni adjustments. Results: Nurses' PHNR scores increased significantly after attending the 1-hour session if they had previous IVP education and after the 3-hour session if they had no previous IVP education. Conclusion: Educational offerings should be tailored for nurses. For nurses with previous IVP education, offer a 1-hour update. For nurses with no previous IVP education, provide a 3-hour educational session. Further study is needed to determine if change in nurses' attitudes translates into improved screening, identification, and intervention for IPV victims.