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To make it easier for victims of domestic violence to speak out, the High Authority for Health issued a recommendation several years ago inviting health professionals to question them on the subject. On the occasion of the international day against violence against women, the health authority takes stock of the subject.
In 2019, the High Authority for Health (HAS) made public a recommendation entitled “Identification of women victims of violence within the couple“. She recommends that primary care health professionals ask all their patients if they are experiencing or have experienced violence in the past, even in the absence of warning signs. Four years later, she published a study on the subject.
A recommendation “still too little implemented”
The objective of this recommendation is to “normalize the subject” and to free the “words of victims, in order to ensure earlier treatment” we can read on the HAS website. Unfortunately, if the initiative is welcomed by the women themselves, it remains “still too little implemented“while on average, it is estimated that”three to four women out of ten could be victims of domestic violence among the patients of a general practitioner“, who obviously do not spontaneously broach the subject during a consultation.
What are the obstacles to discussion on the subject?
If victims do not spontaneously talk about this problem, doctors are not more talkative. According to the HAS, this is due to several reasons: a lack of understanding of the phenomenon of control, a feeling of helplessness or discouragement, a fear of deterioration of the relationship with the patient, etc.
A study, carried out on 1000 women in October 2022 and October 2023, revealed by the health authority on November 24, shows that practices are hardly changing. “In 2022 as in 2023, few women say they have been asked by their general practitioner about their relationship with their partner (14%), and even fewer say they have been directly questioned about possible domestic violence (3%). Among the respondents, one in five women nevertheless report suffering or having suffered violence (physical, verbal, psychological, sexual, etc.) from their partner. notes the HAS.
Tools exist to help professionals
Contrary to what doctors may think, women are overwhelmingly in favor of these questions. 96% of them consider that a “systematic questioning by the doctor is a good thing“and for nine out of ten women, addressing this subject in consultation is”important, legitimate and reassuring“.
To help professionals, HAS reiterates its commitment to the issue and emphasizes the importance of this questioning, by making various documents available to healthcare professionals to facilitate dialogue.