Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title:  Experiences of being screened for intimate partner viole nce during pregnancy: a 
qualitative study of women in Japan  
 
Version: 0 Date: 05 May 2017 
 
Reviewer:  Kelsey L.  Hegarty  
 
Reviewer’s report:  
 
This paper is an area of great importance to Women's Health as IPV screening and the barriers 
are integral to a public health approach to this issues. I feel however that the Background and 
Discussion needs to have updated refernces as there are quite a number of studies looking at 
barriers to discussing IPV from health settings that have not been included. Sprague has 
summarised some of these issues but there are some more recent references that needs to be 
included including systematic reviews a bout face to face screening versus online. In particular I 
found the use of reference 23 unusual.  
 
The data collection methods and analysis was clear.  
 
The results need to include how many  women were approached. Were only 48 women elgibile 
who went to the  antenatal clinic in 3 months?? Out of how many who attended? How did those 
who paricipate differ from the ones who didnt? and the statement in the disucssion about how 
they were similar to pregnant women in Japan needs to be backed up by data if you keep it 
included. For this qualiative work it is not important that they are representative or generalisable 
rather that a diverse sample was included.  
 
The themes derived seem sound and are illustrated on the whole by quotes although it might 
have been good to  include some in the difficulty or optimality or were these part of the survey?  
 
In discussion there are some statements that are not backed up by evidence e.g. that screenig 
improves the relationship between husband and wife.  
 
Under possible problems for I PV screening new data should be placed back in results.  
 
Limitations section shoudl nto be talking about generlisability if we are talking about the 
interview data?  
 
Needs page numbers  
 
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 the 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.  
 
Not relevant to this manuscript  
 
Quality of wri tten 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 gain o r 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 salary 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 I have no competing interests  
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. 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 av ailable 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