CITYnews halifax / By Natasha O’Neill
The last several months has shown that violence against women is a critical issue in Nova Scotia, yet a new study says that many health care professionals have inadequate knowledge to address the epidemic.
Researchers from Dalhousie University conducted a first-of-its-kind in-depth study that asks how prepared health care staff and policy professionals are to address the ongoing violence against women in the province. Led by Dr. Alexa Yakubovich, the data points to an overwhelming lack of ability for staff to address the crisis due to it not being a goal within their team or because they don’t have the knowledge of what to do.
Since October, seven women have been killed in Nova Scotia in incidents of intimate partner violence, according to police. In five of the seven homicides, the perpetrator then killed himself.
Coming from a wide variety of backgrounds in health care, researchers surveyed 1,649 people. The poll was given online through a specific link, meaning only vetted professionals could respond.
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It was conducted from November 2023 to February 2024, months before a violent streak against women. The province’s top RCMP officer previously told CityNews that this stretch is unlike anything he’s ever seen before.
“I’ve been in the province here for the past 18 years with the RCMP, and during those 18 years I’ve never seen this level of violence or number of deaths in such a short time frame,” Chief Supt. Dan Morrow, officer in charge of criminal operations for the Nova Scotia RCMP, said.
Over 90 per cent of participants worked in areas of high priority to addressing violence against women, such as mental health and addiction spaces.
Yet, 35 per cent reported that addressing domestic or sexualized violence was a part of their team’s goals.
“Even without systematic screening procedures in place, nearly one in two participants reported they saw recent cases of violence in their work but lacked the appropriate knowledge and resources to respond effectively,” the study reads.
Despite seeing a case of intimate partner violence in the last six months, there is a lack of direction to address the crisis. (Study)
Domestic violence, intimate partner violence, sexualized violence and child abuse were the most common forms addressed by respondents’ teams.
Participants said violence against women was not relevant in the type of work they did, even though half of the respondents worked as sexual assault nurses or in violence prevention or intervention spaces.
Other factors included a lack of awareness or education around violence or leadership support, the study reads.
Most participants (62 per cent) said they knew nothing or little about the crisis in Nova Scotia. Nearly half (43 per cent) of people said they didn’t even know which organizations or resources were available to refer victims to. Despite this, many people did say they received some sort of training to screen for domestic or sexualized violence; however, over a third (39 per cent) said they got this after the mass shooting in 2020.
One of the reasons the researchers chose Nova Scotia is because the province is at a unique — but bleak — moment compared to other places across the country.
The province has been the epicentre of several high-profile violence against women cases including the 2020 mass shooting. It also has an annual provincial femicide rate higher than the national average.
Despite ongoing pressure from the public and organizations, and the Mass Casualty Commission report, the province continues to see high levels of violence against women, and the researchers say it’s clear health professionals need more support.
“Our findings outline the gaps that need to be addressed to take up provincial and national-level recommendations to strengthen health system and intersectoral responses to VAW in one of Canada’s most impacted provinces, Nova Scotia, while also demonstrating the import of doing so,” it concludes.
Some of the reasons health care professionals noted about addressing violence against women. (Study)
