Intimate partner violence and COVID-19: first-line health care responses and difficulties during the COVID-19 crisis

Within the framework of the Belgian research project IPV-DACOVID (Belspo Brain.be), the objectives of the study presented in this communication are twofold: (1) to identify the instruments and actions implemented in the field of intimate partner violence treatment during the periods of COVID-19 crisis confinement and deconfinement. (2) To collect results concerning the perceptions of witnesses from the primary social network and professionals who were directly confronted with the during the covid crisis. By using multi-methods (survey, files analysis and semi-structured interviews) and multi-focal (interdisciplinary sample) approach, the communication will apprehend the different implications of the COVID on professional practices in the field of treatment of violence between partners in French-speaking Belgium. It will present the changes in practices, the innovations and the new devices which have been developed in response to the covid-19 crisis, as well as their maintenance or abandonment in the post-pandemic period.
The study help to objectify the profiles of IPV situations during crisis period and offer initial indications on the effectiveness, efficiency and relevance of the measures taken in relation to situations of violence. The combination of these methods has captured the multiple experiences of professionals: their receptivity to the resources and political measures that have been put in place during and after confinement; the methods of the interventions (innovations developed in the practices); their expectations, needs and recommendations as a professional for the management of violence between partners. This contribution is complementary to the other qualitative and quantitative analyses presented in this panel to evaluate the changes in practices, innovations and new devices that were provoked or developed by the covid-19 crisis.