Intimate Partner Violence Prevention

STOP Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

STOP IPV is a multi-component, collaborative program, jointly supported by CHOP and Lutheran Settlement House (LSH). STOP IPV is designed to address intimate partner violence and teen dating violence, while also considering the impact of child abuse and community violence on individuals and families.

More than 15.5 million children in the US are exposed to intimate partner violence annually, with established adverse effects related to poor health, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Read more about intimate partner violence and domestic violence.

Because of this evidence, STOP IPV aims to support screening by pediatric healthcare providers in order to identify families experiencing intimate partner violence and minimize the adverse effects of childhood intimate partner violence exposure. Through training, education, and awareness raising, STOP IPV works to strengthen CHOP’s trauma-informed response to this important issue.

The program was developed by the Institute for Safe Families and the LSH’s Bilingual Domestic Violence Program and is currently maintained at CHOP, Jefferson Torresdale and Jefferson Frankford Hospital through LSH.

Program Details

How STOP IPV Works

The program works to create a culture within CHOP where inquiring about intimate partner violence exposure is routine and disclosure results in appropriate responses and referrals to services.

By providing families with access to an on-site intimate partner violence specialist, STOP IPV at CHOP enhances the potential likelihood and benefits of routinely inquiring about intimate partner violence, and provides children and families with further support as needed. 

Laminated screening cards – currently available in English, Spanish, Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, Farsi, French, Khmer, Nepali, Portuguese, Swahili, and Vietnamese – enable healthcare providers to conduct non-verbal screening with patients’ caregivers, enhancing safety for caregivers and ensuring that inquiry is conducted systematically and sensitively. 

Through STOP IPV, CHOP patients and families have access to on-site IPV specialists who, while primarily based at the Karabots Pediatric Care Center and the Emergency Department, are available to CHOP patient families and clinicians hospital-wide.

In addition to providing direct support to families, the IPV specialists support CHOP clinicians through trainings and case consultations, and policy advocacy.

STOP IPV provides free and confidential counseling and support, which is maintained through LSH. CHOP clinical staff can contact a CHOP-based IPV specialist for help if:

• Staff have a question or suspicion about a patient or family member and would like case consultation
• Staff or someone they know is experiencing intimate partner violence or family violence
• Staff are interested in education, training, or materials for their own use or use by their department

The CHOP IPV Task Force, comprised of a multidisciplinary group of 40 members from across the institution, meets regularly to ensure the continued promotion of IPV education, awareness, and screening practices throughout the hospital.

Finally, the specialists are also available to provide crisis and on-going support CHOP staff and employees are personally affected by intimate partner violence. CHOP staff who are interested in getting help can reach out directly to the IPV team.

The Community We Serve

Presently, we serve all CHOP patients and patient families who are referred by a clinical staff member. We also serve CHOP staff through self-referrals.

STOP IPV Impact

In 2019, nearly 30,000 CHOP patient caregivers were screened for IPV in the CHOP ED, and a total of 252 individuals were identified and referred for IPV support across sites. Since 2017, the STOP IPV team has screened more than 90,000 families and provided over 500 referrals to LSH.

Staff training is also a vital component of the program. IPV specialists train healthcare professionals across CHOP on topics such as the effects of intimate partner violence on children and ways to respond in the pediatric setting. Program staff routinely provide in-person training to CHOP employees in diverse roles including residents and trainees, security guards, and clinical teams across inpatient and outpatient units. Beginning in 2017, information regarding the resources related to IPV were included in the bi-annual mandatory education training required of all CHOP employees and a new hospital policy was created to guide hospital-wide efforts. In 2019, IPV advocates provided 151 case consultations and 57 trainings to providers.

Towards a Replicable Model

STOP IPV provides a comprehensive model for incorporating intimate partner violence prevention into routine pediatric practice through education and training of physicians, social workers, nurses, and other staff, along with expert clinical consultation and linkage to community-based parenting education programs for referrals.  

STOP IPV is available at other Philadelphia area-based pediatric and adult healthcare institutions. CHOP is collaborating on a workgroup comprised of staff from LSH, Einstein Medical Center, and Jefferson Health to clarify and refine outcomes of the program and develop standardized evaluation activities across all clinical sites.

Of note, CHOP has developed and implemented a novel electronic health record-based referral system that streamlines the referral process to the IPV specialist and maintains the confidentiality and safety for those who disclose IPV. Currently, 30-35% percent of caregivers are routinely receiving IPV screening in the ED, while screening rates at the Karabots Pediatric Care Center are over 50%. Efforts are currently underway to replicate this screening and referral process beyond these settings, throughout the CHOP network.

Recommended Resources

 Relevant Publications

• Cruz M, Cruz PB, Weirich C, McGorty R, McColgan MD. Referral Patterns and Service Utilization in a Pediatric Hospital-wide Intimate Partner Violence Program. Child Abuse & Neglect, 2013. 37(8):511-519.
• Ellen S, Taylor DR, Cruz M. Pediatrics in the Community: Behind The Screen: Responding to Intimate Partner Violence. Pediatrics in Review, 2012. 33:374-375. 
• McColgan MD, Cruz M, McKee J, Dempsey SH, Davis MB, Barry P, Yoder AL, Giardino AP.  Results of a Multifaceted Intimate Partner Violence Training Program for Pediatric Residents. Child Abuse & Neglect, 2010. 34(4):275-283.
• Smith SG, Zhang X, Basile KC, Merrick MT, Wang J, Kresnow M, Chen J. National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2015 Data Brief. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Thackeray JD, Hibbard R, Dowd MD, Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention. Intimate Partner Violence: The role of the Pediatrician. Pediatrics, 2010.125(5):1094–1100.

CHOP Publications on Intimate Partner Violence

• Forke CM, Catallozzi M, Localio R, Grisso JAnn, Wiebe DJ, Fein JA. Intergenerational Effects of Witnessing Domestic Violence: Health of the Witnesses and their Children. Preventative Medicine Reports, 2019.
• Forke CM, Myers RK, Localio RA, Wiebe DJ, Fein JA, Grisso JAnn, Catallozzi M. Intimate Partner Violence: Childhood Witnessing and Subsequent Experiences of College Undergraduates. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2019.
• Mancheno C, Aumaier B, Murray A. Screening for Intimate Partner Violence in a Pediatric ED: A Quality Improvement Initiative. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2020.
• Schilling S, Murray A, Mollen CJ, Wedin T, Fein JA, PV S. Pediatric Emergency Department and Primary Care Provider Attitudes on Assessing Childhood Adversity. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2019;35(8):527-532.