Effectiveness of nurses training in routine screening of violence against women with mental illness: A randomized controlled trail.

BACKGROUND: Globally, people with mental illness are highly vulnerable to various forms of abuse. Yet, research on routine screening of violence by mental health professionals is limited. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of training on nurses' attitudes towards routine screening and confidence in implementing routine screening of violence among women with mental illness. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial design was adopted for the present study. The participants of this study were 68 nurses randomly assigned to either experimental or control group (34 in each group). The experimental group was provided eight interactive sessions based on a Nursing Module on abuse among women with mental illness. The assessments were done in both groups at baseline, after the intervention, at three months and at six months. All assessments were self-rated questionnaires to assess nurses' attitudes and confidence in implementing routine screening of violence attitudes. RESULTS: The experimental group showed a statistically significant improvement in the attitudes and confidence in implementing routine screening of abuse in women with mental illness (p < 0.05) than the control group. Repeated measures of analysis also revealed statistically significant differences related to attitude and confidence in implementing routine screening of abuse between the groups and within the experimental group at different time points of assessment (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study concluded that training based on a nursing module improved nurses' attitudes and confidence to conduct routine screening of violence among women with mental illness. However, further studies are necessary to clarify whether the training is effective in implementing in nursing practice.