Development of an evidence-based domestic violence guideline: supporting perinatal women-centred care in Japan.
OBJECTIVE
to develop an evidenced-based, women-centred care clinical guideline designed to assist midwives and other health-care providers in Japanese hospitals, clinics and midwifery offices, in identifying and supporting potential or actual perinatal victims of domestic violence.


METHODS
systematic review and critical appraisal of extant research; structured assessment of clinical guideline development.


METHODS
systematic and comprehensive literature search. Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) was used to assess the guideline development for purposes of assuring methodological quality.


RESULTS
electronic searches of medical and nursing databases between February and December 2003 retrieved 2392 articles. Selected as evidence were 157 articles yielding 28 recommendations aligned to clinical assessment questions.


CONCLUSIONS
using expert consensus and external reviews, recommendations were generated that provided the at-risk perinatal group with the best possible practice available to prevent further harm.


CONCLUSIONS
the evidenced-based clinical guideline fosters a supportive environment for educating health-care providers on domestic violence, and to improve clinic access for at-risk perinatal women. Information on domestic violence and a negotiated midwife-client safety plan can be initiated for potential or actual victims of domestic violence, and is achieved through understanding the risks of the woman and her fetus or baby, while respecting the woman's intention.
Horiuchi
Shigeko
S
St. Luke's College of Nursing, Tokyo, Japan. shigeko-horiuchi@sicn.ac.jp
Yaju
Yukari
Y
Kataoka
Yaeko
Y
Grace Eto
Hiromi
H
Matsumoto
Naoko
N
D000328:Adult; D018585:Battered Women / Q000193:education; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006287:Health Planning Guidelines; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000458:organization & administration; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012944:Social Support; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology