Aim: The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the identified supports required by midwives’ when they perform antenatal enquiry of Domestic Violence (DV).
Background: Affecting one in three women, DV is a global public health issue. During the antenatal period midwives have a unique opportunity to identify and support women experiencing DV.
Design: Systematic review of qualitative research peer-review publications from the year 2000 until September 2020.
Method: CINAHL, Scopus, Ovid Emcare, Ovid Embase, psycINFO and Medline were searched.
Findings: Four themes were uncovered, ‘being afraid of the answer’; ‘navigating the gap’; ‘more time is key’ and ‘asking the difficult question’.
Discussion: Midwives’ recognise the need for increased educational and institutional supports when screening for DV during the antenatal period. In confirmed cases of DV, midwives fear for both the woman’s and their own safety. With time constraints being the most consistent barrier identified the midwives’ acknowledged continuity of care (COC) models support increased time with women. Other barriers include poor referral pathways, language difficulties and varied cultural practices highlighting midwives require more educational supports. Asking questions around DV proves difficult so the midwives suggested different health promotion strategies may be of assistance.
Conclusions: This systematic review highlights the need for emotional supports, education and resources dedicated to midwives screening for DV in antenatal settings. With no clear consensus among midwives, more research is required to investigate the best process for DV screening during the antenatal period to fully inform midwifery education, policy, and practice.

Keywords: Domestic violence, intimate partner violence, family violence, midwife/midwives