Health System Violence Intervention Programme Evaluation

Family violence poses a significant health risk for people in Aotearoa New Zealand and has been identified as a priority issue for Māori. Health consequences of family violence occur across the lifespan. As those who experience violence seek health care more often than individuals who have not experienced abuse, healthcare professionals are well-placed to offer support and respond to identified health and safety concerns.

This evaluation project monitors Te Whatu Ora responses to the Ministry of Health (MOH) Violence Intervention Programme (VIP) initiative.

VIP aims to increase the responsiveness of the health system to the needs of women, children and whānau at risk of family violence. By working collaboratively with Te Whatu Ora staff and the national VIP team, the evaluation team supports a culture of learning to increase the consistency and quality of service delivery.

Supporting the vision of Te Aorerekura, the National Strategy and Action Plan to eliminate family and sexual violence, the evaluation team met (November 2024) to identify the uaratanga (values) and tikanga (actions) that guide our mahi.

Uaratanga

The values that guide our mahi are:

• Whanaungatanga – building and maintaining trusted and genuine relationships that are mutually supportive and beneficial to the VIP kaupapa
• Pono – being genuine, truthful, transparent and working with integrity
• Whakamana – working to uplift the mana of those around us
• Manaakitanga – being respectful of others and leading with care, aroha and warmth/compassion
• Kotahitanga – working in solidarity towards a common goal, understanding our shared kaupapa and vision
• Taonga tuku iho – nurturing and caring for treasures handed down from our ancestors; recognising each person's unique strengths, contributions and skills.

Tikanga

How we evidence our principles and values in our actions; tika; being true to ourselves, correct, right, appropriate, authentic, demonstrated through, for example:

• Attentive, caring, empathetic communication styles
• Strengths-based feedback and approaches/avoiding deficit narratives and victim-blaming explanations
• Appreciation of challenges faced by coordinators, managers, and kaimahi involved across VIP
• Promoting innovative responses that encourage growth and opportunity for improvement
• Positive role modelling
• Sharing data-informed and evidence-based insights
• Tuakana/Teinamodelling to build capability and capacity
• Socialising our Kaupapa to engage and encourage partnership, participation and contribution

Over time, the evaluation project has supported three key activities outlined below (infrastructure assessment, improvement cycles and clinical audit).

Health system infrastructure assessment

Assess your VIP against indicators of an ideal programme using the VIP Delphi Tool (2022).

A brief video is available outlining how to use the Delphi tool and an information pack is available below under ‘Resources’.

Model for improvement PDSA cycles

Framed within the Model for Improvement, Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles provide a mechanism to test and build upon small changes. You can use the VIP PDSA worksheet to document your cycles. Check out ‘Resources’ for more instructions.

Clinical snapshot audit

The nationally standardised snapshot clinical audits measure service delivery and inform improvements. De-identified intimate partner violence and child abuse and neglect assessment, identification and referral or consultation indicators are entered into a secure website.

For details about the process for 2024, follow the link in ‘Resources’ below.