Public health services

You can download this report as a PDF or find all of the report's information included on this page:

Notes for interpreting results presented in this report

This report presents a summary of the 2019-20 Census findings for respondents who indicated that they held a role within Public Health Services (n=565), in the broader workforce that intersects with family violence in Victoria. The broader workforce is defined as those who are sometimes in contact with victim survivors or perpetrators of family violence and are required to deal with the impacts of family violence, despite this not being a significant focus of their role.

Results have been suppressed where the number of respondents is fewer than 10, and caution should be applied when interpreting results where the number of respondents is low. Care should also be taken with extrapolating results to the population. Results presented as percentages throughout the report may not add up to 100% (particularly where displayed in chart form) due to rounding, or where participants were able to select more than one response.

Although the survey was an attempted census of all people in the broader workforce, to aid the interpretation of results, the researchers have treated the survey responses as though they have been obtained from a random sample of the workforce. Accordingly, the data presented in this document can be interpreted as having up to a +/- 5% margin of error at the 95% level of statistical confidence.

Gender
- 87% identify as female
- 13% identify as male
- 0% self-described
Age
- 23% are aged 18-34 years
- 55% are aged 35-54 years
- 23% are aged 55+
Years of experience in role
- 35% have less than 5 years experience working their current role
- 26% have 5-10 years experience working their current role
- 38% have more than 10 years experience working their current role
Total annual income
- 34% earned $91,000 or above
- 30% earned between $71,000 to $90,000
- 24% earned between %51,000 to $70,000
- 12% earned less than %51,000
Education completed
- 8% completed Year 11 or below (includes certificate I/II/NFD)
- 20% completed Year 12
- 14% completed Certificate I-IV
- 12% completed Diploma or Advanced Diploma
- 55% completed Bachelor's Degree
- 27% completed Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate
- 32% completed Postgraduate Degree
- 1% completed PhD
(Multiple responses permitted)
- 24% are in contact with individuals who are experiencing or at risk of family violence, at least weekly
- 15% are in contact with individuals who are perpetrating or at risk of perpetrating family violence, at least weekly
Identifying family violence
- 21% are very or extremely confident identifying adults that may be experiencing or at risk of family violence.
- 22% are very or extremely confident identifying children and young people that may be experiencing or at risk of family violence.
- 15% are very or extremely confident identifying individuals that may be perpetrating or at risk of perpetrating family violence.
Responding to disclosures of family violence
- 32% are very or extremely confident responding appropriately to an adult disclosing, identified as experiencing, or at risk of family violence.
- 29% are very or extremely confident responding appropriately to children and young people disclosing, identified as experiencing, or at risk of family violence.
- 15% are very or extremely confident responding appropriately to an individual's disclosure that they are perpetrating, or at risk of perpetrating family violence.
Top 3 barriers
- 43% I haven’t had sufficient training
- 35% I am not familiar with referral options
- 23% I am not confident dealing with cultural or language barriers that may exist
Furthermore
- 7% N/A – I have not yet been required to respond to family violence
- 25% N/A – I have not experienced any barriers
71% feel that they have enough support in their role to respond to family violence if or when they identify it.

Top 3 sources of additional support that would increase confidence in relation to:

Family violence
- Collaboration with other service providers (45%)
- Improved organisation policies, procedures and practice guidance (45%).
- Shadowing experienced practitioners (41%).
Primary prevention of family violence
- Information sharing and collaboration with other service providers (46%)
- Organisation policies, procedures and practice guidance (39%)
- Mentoring/ Peer support (36%)
- 63% understand that they are required to undertake family violence training as part of their role
- 67% have completed training in at least one topic in relation to family violence prevention and response
- 18% are confident that they have had enough training and experience in relation to family violence response to perform their role effectively
- 13% are confident that they have had enough training and experience in relation to primary prevention of family violence to perform their role effectively
Top 3 topics in which further training is desired
- 60% Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM)
- 51% Family violence safety planning
- 51% Legal issues for family violence
Furthermore
- 6% did not wish to complete training in any of the listed topics
Top 3 barriers
- 49% Lack of time
- 36% Cost of study
- 33% Not aware of any training that exists
Furthermore
- 7% N/A – I have good access to training
- 4% N/A – I don't require access to such training
- 3% N/A – I have not experienced any barriers to such training
- <1% Not interested in further training as past experiences have been negative / not useful
- 1% do not experience work-related stress
- 67% experience low or moderate levels of work-related stress; and
- 32% experience high, very high or severe levels of work-related stress
Top 3 causes of work-related stress
- High volume of work/high demands (91%)
- Poor management or organisational issues (46%)
- Vicarious trauma (28%)
Resistance or backlash
- 10% often/always experience resistance or backlash in undertaking your work
Access to support
- 91% Yes – support if I encounter cases of family violence or disclosures
- 52% Yes – support if I encounter resistance or backlash
- 6% No
Furthermore
- 58% find this support to be very or extremely effective

Updated 6 September 2021