: Preventive Strategies which identify Violence against Women (VAW) by Community Health Workers (CHW's), Nurses, and other Caregivers in their home environment

Violence against women (VAW) is a global threat. It is pervasive across all cultures and economic groups.   World-wide women living in economically disadvantaged areas are at an even greater risk. According to WHO (2013), 35% of the female population is impacted by this grave threat.  In many communities home health care is provided by CHW’s, and nurses who provide a range of skilled services. Frequently, other care givers include family members.  Developing a population –based approach to train these various care providers to recognize the warning signs of violence and identify those women who are at greater risk is of paramount importance. Some factors associated with gender-based violence include the acceptability of the culture of gender based violence in populations, a belief by women that abuse is warranted and their fault, economic disempowerment, lack of education, joint family systems, entrenched patriarchal norms and values, and a lack of availability and understanding of legal system. Recent successful interventions include group counseling, economic skills building, providing access to microcredit opportunities, and family-based models to build trust and a sense of safety and to increase dialogue between women and their partners and other family members, and between women and their health care providers. There are barriers in the early identification of VAW for example; there is research conducted that highlights that CHW’s are reticent to become involved in cases of VAW. We will discuss training programs which focus on gender equality to assess and prevent cases of VAW among home bound populations.