Significant gaps found in professionals identifying sexual, domestic violence

Queensland health professionals are failing to detect intimate partner sexual violence in victims and need specific training to identify risks, a review has found, amid calls to change the data system to better log injuries.

The Domestic and Family Violence Death Review and Advisory Board this year reviewed 50 deaths arising from 35 domestic and family violence related cases where there was evidence of intimate partner sexual violence.

The board, which began the review after the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce recommended a study of recent cases, said there needed to be a review of Queensland’s current risk assessments in professionals who interact with victims.

An Australian woman has been killed every four days in 2024.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

“The review identified significant gaps and needs in addressing intimate partner sexual violence within the context of domestic and family violence,” board chair and deputy state coroner Stephanie Gallagher said.

“Current risk assessments lack nuanced measures for detecting intimate partner sexual violence, often limited to single questions about sexual assault, which fail to capture behaviours like image-based sexual abuse, reproductive coercion, and sexual coercion.

“To improve identification, assessments should incorporate multiple, behaviourally specific, and open-ended questions.”

In 2023-24, there were 16 domestic violence homicides in Queensland, resulting in the deaths of 19 people, mostly in metro or inner regional areas. Two of the 19 homicide victims and one of the 16 homicide offenders identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island.

Offenders ranged in ages, but more were in their 30s or 50s, with pending or finalised separation a factor in many of the deaths. Assault with a sharp weapon was the most used form of violence, followed by neglect, or failing to provide the necessities of life, the report read.

The board made a series of recommendations for the Attorney-General, including accessible and linked datasets in health systems to identify intimate partner sexual violence.

“When data from the health system is inaccessible or missing, it can be a barrier to preventing violence,” the report read.

While the board acknowledged Queensland Health had progressed replacing paper-based medical records with electronic medical records, regional and rural services maintained hard copy documents, which were required to stay onsite with the patient. This technological gap could result in inconsistencies in data collection, the board said.

It also noted the need to ensure data about the context of injury was consistently recorded. Information about injuries in Queensland can be recorded by the type of physical injury a person presents with to the emergency department or upon admission, but not the context in which it occurred, with domestic abuse not categorised in the same way as physical or sexual abuse.

“Further, as paper-based systems are replaced, embedding triggers to consistently flag referrals and in-depth risk assessments for patients presenting with injury in context of DFV or IPSV is needed,” the report said.

A need for programs focusing on stopping sexual violence by men was also recommended, with calls for funding to be bolstered with extended sessions. More research on suicide within domestic and family violence cases was also highlighted.

Future areas of research for the board included filicide and arson in domestic violence, with the board noting the deaths of Hannah Clarke and her children, and Doreen Langham.

The report said there had been 183 domestic and family violence homicides in Queensland between July 2016 and June 2024, and while numbers fluctuated each year, there had been no significant decrease in several years.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).