Clinical trial NCT06299501: How Can Child Health Services Identify and Respond to Family Violence
Official title: How Can Child Health Services Identify and Respond to Family Violence - a Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess the Effectiveness of Routine Questions or Questions Posed on Indication Compared to Treatment as Usual
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Family Violence
Domestic Violence
Intimate-partner Violence
Keywords: Family violence
Domestic violence
Intimate-partner violence
Lead sponsor: Karolinska Institutet
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Jane and Dan Olsson Foundation for Scientific Purposes
name: Region Stockholm
First posted: 2024-03-07
Enrollment: 85
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Three-armed study, two intervention groups and one control group
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: Family violence has severe impacts on children's health and development. The Child Health Services (CHS) in Sweden reaches almost 100% of families with young children and provides a unique setting to facilitate identification of family violence. This study is a three-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted to assess the effectiveness of different approaches to identify family violence within CHS. Two different approaches are tested and compared to treatment as usual; 1) information about family violence at home visit when child is newborn, and questions posed to all mothers at the 6-8-week visit; 2) information about family violence at home visit when child is newborn, and questions posed to mothers on evidence based indication. Nurses who are randomized into any of the two intervention arms receive training and supervision. The outcomes of the study are related to knowledge, attitudes, and practices around identification and support in case of family violence and number of identified cases of family violence.

Detailed description: Family violence has severe impacts on children's health and development. Early identification of family violence is imperative to facilitate timely interventions. In Sweden, the Child Health Services (CHS) has a main aim to promote children's health and development and prevent ill health. The Swedish CHS program reaches almost 100% of families and includes 18 scheduled visits characterized by a health-promoting approach focusing on the child and the parents' wellbeing. The CHS offers a unique setting to identify family violence among families with young children. However, there is a paucity of knowledge on how questions about family violence should be addressed within CHS. The aim of the study is to increase knowledge of the effectiveness of an evidence-based program within the Swedish CHS to identify family violence. The specific research question is: How can practice within CHS contribute to identification of family violence on routine or indication compared to treatment as usual?

A three-armed pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted in 2017-2019 where all CHS's (n=120) in Region Stockholm were invited to participate. A total of 85 nurses from 22 CHC's participated in the trial of which 32 nurses from 10 CHS's were assigned the routine arm, 25 nurses from 5 CHS's were assigned the evidence based indication arm and 28 nurses from 7 CHS's were assigned to the treatment as usual group. Randomization was performed on CHS level so that the same approach was followed at each CHS when the first nurse was randomized. Only nurses in the routine and indication groups received training and supervision. The group that was assigned treatment as usual was offered the same training after the study was completed. The nurses completed questionnaires on the outcome knowledge, attitudes, and practices to identify and deal with family violence at three time points. Nurses in the two intervention groups also documented their practices and any identified cases of family violence during the intervention.

The findings of the study can contribute to knowledge on how children exposed to family violence can be identified and adequate measures be put in place.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Registered nurse
* Working in any of the Child Health Services in the Stockholm Region

Exclusion Criteria:

* None

Primary outcomes:
measure: Knowledge, attitudes and practices
timeFrame: Measured before randomization, within two weeks after training and six months post-training.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Number of cases of family violence
timeFrame: Documentation covers the intervention phase (6 months)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Stockholm
country: Sweden
facility: Central Child Health Care (Centrala barnhälsovården)
Study officials:
affiliation: Karolinska Institutet
name: Lene Lindberg
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: