RATES of domestic abuse are higher among nurses, midwives, and healthcare support workers than the general population in the UK, initial findings from the Nursing and Midwifery professionals’ Experiences of Domestic Abuse (NAMED) study have revealed.
In a survey of 204 professionals, 96% of whom were female, conducted in the summer of 2025 and funded by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Foundation, 98% of respondents said they had experienced psychological and emotional abuse from a partner, ex-partner, or family member, with 37% experiencing it in the past 12 months.
Further, 75% had experienced physical violence and abuse, 74% had experienced financial and economic abuse, and 56% had experienced sexual violence and abuse.
Alison Gregory, lead author of the NAMED study, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, explained that previous research in the sphere of domestic abused has focused on healthcare responses, overlooking the experiences of nursing and midwifery professionals.
When presenting the NAMED study initial findings in an online webinar on 20th April 2026, she said: “In the midst of this, there’s been very little focus on healthcare professionals themselves.”
Unique Barriers to Help-Seeking in Healthcare Settings
Gregory also noted that nurses, midwives, and healthcare support workers’ experiences of domestic abuse were found to be “tipping over” into experiences of work.
Of reported abusers, 44% worked in the same workplace or work environment as the survivor and 35% had a profession-based power or authority over the survivor’s role.
Researchers identified a breadth of ways in which the impact of domestic abuse manifested at work, based on survey responses.
For example, 81% of survivors reported finding it difficult to concentrate at work, 77% lost confidence in their ability to do their job, and 62% had taken time off work as a direct result of the abuse they were subjected to.
Reported barriers facing healthcare professionals included shame, medicalising the abuser or their behaviours, judgement surrounding professional relationships, ‘knowing too much’ about how survivors are (mis)treated by services, concerns around confidentiality and anonymity, and more.
Abuse also triggered acute mental illness in some cases, with one in eight respondents reporting they had previously tried to take their own life.
Domestic Abuse Training and Support
Researchers also heard testimonies of positive responses from people in the workplace, but experts called for an improvement in processes.
Gregory highlighted the need for stand-alone, consistent, and clear domestic abuse training in healthcare settings, as her research in the field continues.
She said: “I need workplaces to give a message to survivors that they know that healthcare professionals experience [domestic abuse] at a higher rate than the general population.”
Gregory also warned that the prevalence of domestic abuse among nurses and midwives is “absolutely” a global issue: “This is not specific to the UK – this is worldwide.”
The RCN Foundation today announced a domestic abuse fund that provides hardship grants to survivors, open to applications from nurses, nursing associates, midwives, and healthcare support works.
Featured image: Rawpixel.com on Adobe Stock
