Protocol: A systematic review of qualitative studies exploring service providers’ and practitioners’ experiences and attitudes of responding to parents and their children who are victims/survivors or perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse (IPVA).

Abstract

Review question
Q1: What are the factors that influence individual service provider response to parents who are victims/survivors and/or perpetrators of IPVA and their exposed children?

Q2: What are the factors that influence the way in which agencies work together in response to parents who are victims, survivors and/or perpetrators of IPVA and their exposed children?

Searches
We will search the international literature using electronic databases: MEDLINE (OVID), PsychoINFO (OVID), CINAHL (EBSCO), Scopus, Applied Social Science Index and Abstract (ASSIA) (ProQuest). Searches will be limited to publication dates ranging from of 2004-2022 to capture literature that is relevant to current legislation, such as the Children Act (2004), The Care Act (2014), the Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations (2021) and the Domestic Abuse Act (2021), which is the context in which service providers operate.

Types of study to be included
The review will include qualitative studies using narrative data to report approaches to service provision for adults and children affected by IPVA. Studies with at least some qualitative data collection, analysis, and reporting will be included. Studies including only quantitative methods, analysis and reporting will be excluded.

Condition or domain being studied
The condition being studied is Professional Practice in relation to Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse (IPVA) when it includes working with parents and children (up to 18 years of age) who experience IPVA. We will include papers which discuss factors including, but not limited to, the primary mandate of service providers, core components of working with affected parents and their children (as determined by models of service provision, processes, enablers, constraints and outcomes at individual, organisational and systems level), and service providers’ staff perceptions of service delivery.

Participants/population
Study participants will be practitioners, professionals and managers in adult social care, child social care, the police, primary care, A&E, mental health teams, services involved in Multi Agency Risk Assessments (MARACs), voluntary organisations offering specialist services to parents and/or child victims/survivors and/or perpetrators of intimate violence and abuse and any other relevant service reported in included papers. Specialist services include the provision of housing for, and counselling of, adults and children affected by IPVA. Peer support groups where a practitioner does not provide the intervention would be excluded.

Intervention(s), exposure(s)
The review will look for service responses/interventions related to parental IPVA. The Domestic Abuse Act of 2021 defines domestic violence as “physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse, psychological, and/or emotional or other abuse. It does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct”.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/17/contents/enacted

Comparator(s)/control
Not applicable