Background: Women are at greater risk of experiencing violence from an intimate partner during pregnancy and the post-partum period, with 1 in 6 experiencing violence. During the perinatal period, women also access health care services more than at any other time in their life so midwives and other health care providers (HCP's) are ideally placed to address domestic and family violence (DFV). However, recognition of the role of health in detecting and responding to DFV is still emerging.

Aims: This qualitative study examined women's experiences of a large tertiary maternity services in detecting and responding to DFV. The voices of women who have experienced DFV are foregrounded in this study to highlight facilitators, barriers, and recommendations for improving detection and response to DFV in the context of maternity services.

Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 women who had received maternity care and given birth within the past five years and were currently engaged with the local community domestic violence women's support service. Interviews were conducted by a trained qualitative researcher, transcribed verbatim, de-identified and thematically analysed.

Results: Based on preliminary analyses of interviews with the women, 5 main themes to emerge revealed: (1) “Clued-in” health care professionals are required for skilled questioning, (2) Benefits of DFV-trained specialists, (3) Organizational barriers to ‘safe space’ creation, (4) Linkages with external agencies and informal support, and finally, (5) Universal and targeted information for DFV awareness-raising.

Conclusions: The present study identifies enablers, challenges, and recommendations for improving detection and response to DFV in the context of maternity services from the perspective of women who have experienced DFV. The feasibility of a newly developed Trauma and Violence Informed Care framework has been used in this study by evaluating the current DFV response of maternity services. The findings of the research project contribute to improving the capacity of health professionals and the wider healthcare services to best meet the needs of vulnerable women and families with DFV.