2023-11-24 13:13:27
While the High Authority for Health has recommended since 2019 that professionals systematically ask their patients if they are experiencing or have experienced violence, only 3% of them say they have been questioned in the last 18 months.
Only 3% of women say they have been questioned by their general practitioner about possible domestic violence over the last 18 months, according to a study published Friday, November 24 by the High Authority for Health (HAS), which recommends asking “systematically» patients, to better identify victims.
Since 2019, HAS has recommended primary care healthcare professionals (general practitioners, gynecologists, pediatricians, emergency doctors, midwives, etc.) to ask all their patients if they are experiencing or have experienced violence, even in the absence of warning signs.
Facilitate dialogue
The issue is “make it easier for victims to speak by normalizing the subject», Recalls the public authority in a press release. According to this barometer carried out with the BVA institute in October 2022 then in October 2023, out of 1000 women, 891 of whom had consulted a general practitioner over the last 18 months, the practices of doctors “stagnate» et this recommendation remains “too little implementation”, while the women are “very supportive», continues the HAS.
In 2022 as in 2023, only 14% of women who consulted a general practitioner during the period remembered being asked about their relationship with their partner. And a very small minority, i.e. 3% of respondents, said they had “was directly questioned about possible domestic violence» suffered. Within this sample, one in five women reported experiencing or having already experienced violence from their partner, whether physical, verbal, psychological or sexual. And 2% said they were currently experiencing them, 18% had been victims of them in the past. “On average in France, it is estimated that 3 to 4 women out of 10 could be victims of domestic violence among the patients of a general practitioner”specifies the HAS.
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«Contrary to the fears of some professionals, 96% of the women surveyed consider that systematic questioning is a good thing» (48% a very good thing, 48% rather a good thing), observes the HAS. Some of them indicated that they might feel embarrassed (23%), judged (15%) or shocked (13%) by this type of question, but most “still declare to be in favor of it“. Resources on domestic violence are still insufficiently available in practices: only 28% of the panel “remembers seeing it», a slightly larger proportion (38%) among those who have already been victims. The survey was carried out online on a representative sample of 1,000 French women over 18 years old, between September 29 and October 6, 2023.
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