Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Making connections across silos: intimate partner violence, mental health, and substance 
use 
 
Version: 0 Date: 04 Mar 2016  
 
Reviewer: Susan Jack  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Thank you first for creating this innovative education system on a t opic that creates a clinical 
challenge for health care providers working with women and families exposed to IPV. This 
paper will be an invaluable contribution to the literature.  
1. To focus on strengths and empowerment, would you consider changing the wo rd "victims" 
to "survivors" in your abstract/paper?  
 
2. On page 6 -lines 15 -17, the information about # of participants e.g 8 from VAW shelters, 4 
from VAW counselling etc is unclear. What is clear is that there were 52 workshops. It is 
clear that there we re approximately 25 participants in each of the 52 workshops (is this a 
true mean, can you put a range too?). But the information in parentheses is unclear -- was 
this the breakdown and mix of participants you tried to achieve in each of the 52 
workshops? OR were 8 of the workshops with VAW shelters, 4 workshops with counselling 
agencies etc?  
 
3. Can you provide information on the educators - e.g. who facilitated the workshops, what 
were their credentials to do so etc?  
 
4. Was this evaluation informed by a fo rmal research design e.g. was it intended to be a 
concurrent mixed methods study?  
 
5. You present data from the open ended questions on the survey - yet in your design section 
you do not describe your method of coding/analyzing/synthesizing this narrative or more 
qualitative data. I think this would be helpful, just to ensure the reader that you were not 
"cherry picking" quotes.  
 
6. Please double check manuscript to ensure that when you have already started to use an 
acronym that you then consistently use it  throughout the rest of the paper e.g. page 7, line 
22, you could use VAW for "violence against women" shelters. The same issue for 
IPV/intimate partner violence also occurs.  
 
7. The results clearly indicated increases in knowledge and changes on the compet encies. I am 
interested in if you measured any improvements in skills (other than self -rated competency 
scores) - increased skill in initiating a conversation, increased skill in helping during 
distress. From the online modules, is there any way to measure  changes in skill?  
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in t he manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of  written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received  reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an  
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this  
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gai n or lose  
financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the  
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salar y from an organization that 
holds  or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below.  If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journa l. I understand that my name will be included  
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report  
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors'  
responses. I agree for my  report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons  
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments  
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as confidential comments  
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal