Intimate partner violence in Saudi Arabia: A topic of growing interest

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a sensitive, growing, and preventable health issue that affects many people around the world with significant physical and psychological impacts. Factors associated with an increased risk of perpetrating violence include low education, child maltreatment and exposure to violence in the family, attitudes accepting of violence, and gender inequality. However, encounters between victims exposed to IPV and healthcare providers are often not satisfactory, and therefore, several barriers preventing healthcare providers from responding to IPV have been documented. More efforts are needed at different levels to implement preventive measures and to improve the detection and management of IPV victims, especially at front-line health settings like family practices and emergency care services. Several interventions have been suggested to improve the healthcare responses to IPV, including developing protocols, training of health professionals to raise the awareness of providers, transferring know-how, and convincing them to respond to IPV.