SAFE PROJECT EXPANDED
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Project Leader
Dr Minerva Kyei-Onanijiriminerva.kyeionanjiri@unimelb.edu.au
+61 3 8344 8585
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Project Head
Professor Kelsey Hegarty+61 3 8344 4992
Project Details
The University of Melbourne, in collaboration with The Royal Women’s Hospital, has received Commonwealth National Partnership funding for an expansion of the System Audit Family Violence Evaluation (SAFE) Project.
Professor Kelsey Hegarty, Director, is overseeing the project and will provide expert support to hospitals and health services. Dr Minerva Kyei-Onanjiri is managing the project; she will provide advice and support to participating hospitals and health services, and assist them to navigate the implementation of the SAFE/SAFE Lite Tool. This work will be conducted over 2023 and 2024.
Information about the original SAFE Project can be found below.
We are now recruiting 20 new hospitals and health services to participate in the SAFE Project Expanded and inviting all sites who participated in the original SAFE Project to also be part of this exciting work. Recruitment is being conducted via an expression of interest (EOI) process.The EOI form and further information about participation can be found here.
Participating sites will receive $5,000 each to support staff administer or re-administer the purpose designed System Audit Tool. Recruitment is being conducted via an Expression of Interest process (EOI) described below.
Responsibilities for Participating Sites
Participating hospitals and health services will administer (or re-administer) the SAFE Tool, or SAFE Lite Tool (for small rural sites). These are System Audit Tools and they provide a mechanism for whole-of-hospital evaluation concerning identification and response to patients and staff who experience domestic and family violence across three broad areas: Patient, Staff and Organisation.
Data collection includes: audits of clinical files and policies, review of documentation and training, assessment of hospital culture and environment and review of collaborative arrangements.
Participating sites are required to collect data, populate the SAFE/SAFE lite Tool, and provide the completed Tool to the University of Melbourne. Note that the SAFE Tool and SAFE Lite Tool are provided to participating hospitals and health services as an Excel Form (interactive excel file).
Work to administer the SAFE/SAFE Lite Tools at participating sites will be conducted during 2023 and 2024.
Opportunities and Benefits for Participating Sites
Participating organisations will contribute to building the evidence base for a whole-of-hospital approach to responding to family violence thereby informing policy and practice and advocacy for the ongoing sustainability of domestic and family violence programs within the hospital and health service setting.
A final report will be disseminated broadly. This will present results in a de-identified manner and provide an overall summary of the findings and recommendations as appropriate.
Participating hospitals will also receive an individual confidential organisational report that includes their final audit findings. This allows hospitals to understand the contribution of the Strengthening Hospital Responses to Family Violence (SHRFV) program and why the results have or have not occurred. Further, this is an opportunity for hospitals to gain a deeper understanding of which components of the SHRFV program have had the greatest impact in their service, as well as providing practice recommendations for further resourcing, development and action.
Hospitals and health services who would like to participate in the SAFE Project Expanded, including those who were part of the original SAFE Project (2019-21), should complete and submit the expression of interest form below.
Depending on interest, organisations may also be required to participate in an interview as part of the recruitment process. Organisations will be assessed on their capacity to effectively implement and collect data using the SAFE/SAFE Lite Tool, including the level of organisational and leadership support for the research project.
Researchers
Kelsey Hegarty
Minerva Kyei-Onanijiri