Increasing nurses' knowledge and skills for enhanced response to intimate partner violence

Background: A theoretically based intimate partner violence in-service program was developed, implemented, and evaluated among public health nurses. Methods: A two-phase, mixed-methods design was used. Phase 1 used qualitative methods for content development of the in-service program. Phase 2 used a one-group pretest-posttest design to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Results: In Phase 1, nurses perceived a need for knowledge about community intimate partner violence prevention resources and enhancement of interviewing skills. In Phase 2, no significant difference was noted in level of intimate partner violence knowledge between pretest and posttest (p < .107). However, a significant difference in skill level was noted between pretest and posttest (p < .003). Conclusions: Results support the use of an in-service program as an effective method of enhancing the intimate partner violence clinical skills of nurses.