Lessons from implementing the iHEAL program in diverse health care contexts: Drivers of success and implications for scale up
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Overview
iHEAL is a woman-led, health promotion intervention for women who are or have experienced IPV that is delivered by Registered Nurses (over 6-7 months). The program foregrounds women’s health, safety and well-being, and is tailored to the woman’s priorities, needs, and context. iHEAL is one of few interventions to show sustained benefits for both safety and health outcomes, with potential to strengthen health system responses for IPV survivors. Using concepts from implementation science and an exploratory mixed methods approach, our primary aim was to identify the conditions and resources needed to support implementation of iHEAL in ways that maintained its fidelity and benefits for women. We will discuss key lessons from this project and consider the implications for scaling up complex, trauma- and violence-informed IPV interventions, including iHEAL.
Speakers
Dr. Marilyn Ford-Gilboe
Dr. Marilyn Ford-Gilboe, RN, PhD, FAAN, FCAHS, FCAN is a Distinguished University Professor and Women’s Health Research Chair in Rural Health, Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Western University. For the past 30 years, her research and community work have focused on identifying, preventing, and reducing the harmful (and often long-term) health, social and economic consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV), particularly among women facing inequities or barriers to support. Her recent research has developed and tested trauma-and violence-informed interventions that have been shown to improve the health, safety and well-being of women who have experienced IPV, both technology-based applications and community-based F2F nursing interventions. Current work is examining how to successfully integrate, scale and sustain effective interventions in order to improve services, policies and community responses for women who have experienced violence. Her ongoing research on the measurement of IPV (Composite Abuse Scale Revised – Short Form) has been taken up nationally and internationally, creating opportunities to better assess the complexity of IPV globally.
Dr. Caitlin Burd
Dr. Caitlin Burd, PhD, is a Research Associate in the Arthur Labatt's School of Nursing at Western University. Through her work as a relief Residential Counsellor at a women's shelter in Ontario, Canada, she developed a passion for supporting women and children experiencing abuse, and a desire to further her understanding of the systems involved in addressing intimate partner violence in Canada. Her broad research interests center on issues related to violence against women and gender inequality, intersectionality, and problem-setting in Canadian public policy. Caitlin's doctoral work focuses on analyzing the framing of intimate partner violence, and preventative solutions, in Canadian policy to develop ways to strength en Canada's approach to addressing violence.
