“Holy Cow, Does That Ever Open Up a Can of Worms”: Health Care Providers’ Experiences of Inquiring About Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Primary care health care providers (HCPs) are likely to treat numerous women who are victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). In this study, we used interpretative phenomenological analysis to analyze semistructured interviews with nine HCPs (six family physicians and three nurse practitioners) in Ontario, Canada. Findings center on how HCPs interpret and make sense of their experiences inquiring about and receiving abuse disclosures. Overarching themes that we identified were asking and disclosure as a journey and disengaging in order to engage. Our findings underscore the importance of training HCPs to respond flexibly to sensitive situations.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. We thank the health care providers who shared with us their experiences and their time; Dr. Charlene Senn for commenting on an earlier version of this article; and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.