MOZAIC

Location: Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Grantholder: Dr Susan Bewley, Clinical Director, Women's Health Services, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Award: £679,313
Start date: 01/04/2004

A theory based evaluation of a multi-agency domestic violence service based in the Women’s Maternity and Sexual Health Services at Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust

The intervention encompassed domestic violence training provided to the service's healthcare practitioners to enable them to conduct routine domestic violence enquiries. Women who disclosed abuse were offered a referral to MOZAIC Women’s Well-Being Project, a hospital based domestic violence advocacy service which is part of the 170 Community Project in New Cross, south London. Male patients attending the sexual health clinics who disclosed partner violence were offered a contact card with information about local and national sources of help.

The findings were presented by the evaluation team from Kings College London's Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery at a conference in 2007 chaired by Christine Mann (Independent Domestic Violence Consultant and former Department of Health Coordinator for Domestic Violence). Christine contextualised the project in terms of the extent of domestic violence in the UK, associated health consequences, costs to the NHS and the contribution that healthcare services can make to supporting those affected.

Key findings include: the changes in health practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes and practices; how differences in professional cultures between maternity and sexual health staff impacted on implementation; decreases in the levels of violent and controlling behaviour and injuries sustained amongst women six months after using the MOZAIC intervention; and the cost effectiveness of providing the service.

It is the first evaluation of a domestic violence intervention based in a sexual health clinic, and the first evaluation to involve the screening of male patients.

The MOZAIC project has paved the way for new services including Stepping Stones, a counselling service for MOZAIC clients, and the implementation of REACH, an Independent Domestic Violence Advocacy Service based in accident and emergency at St Thomas’.

Publications
Evaluation of an innovative multiagency domestic violence service
Evaluation of an innovative multiagency domestic violence service (Spanish version)
A copy of the full evaluation report and summaries launched in September 2007 can be found at: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/nursing/research/violence