Nurses' performance of trace preservation in sexual violence against women: an integrative review

Data analysis. Camila Lima Ribeiro. Ivana Cristina Vieira de Lima Maia. Joice Fabrício de Souza. Vanessa da Frota Santos. Juliana Sampaio dos Santos. Luiza Jane Eyre de Souza Vieira.

Interpretation of the results. Camila Lima Ribeiro. Ivana Cristina Vieira de Lima Maia. Joice Fabrício de Souza. Vanessa da Frota Santos. Juliana Sampaio dos Santos. Luiza Jane Eyre de Souza Vieira.

Writing and critical review of the manuscript. Camila Lima Ribeiro. Ivana Cristina Vieira de Lima Maia. Joice Fabrício de Souza. Vanessa da Frota Santos. Juliana Sampaio dos Santos. Luiza Jane Eyre de Souza Vieira.

Approval of the article’s final version. Camila Lima Ribeiro. Ivana Cristina Vieira de Lima Maia. Joice Fabrício de Souza. Vanessa da Frota Santos. Juliana Sampaio dos Santos. Luiza Jane Eyre de Souza Vieira

Responsibility for all aspects of the content and for the integrity of the published article. Camila Lima Ribeiro. Ivana Cristina Vieira de Lima Maia. Joice Fabrício de Souza. Vanessa da Frota Santos. Juliana Sampaio dos Santos. Luiza Jane Eyre de Souza Vieira.

SCIENTIFIC EDITOR

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N	Title	Authors/ year	Country	Target audience/sample	Objective	Type of study	Level of evidence
1	O enfermeiro e a preservação de vestígios frente a violência sexual contra mulher	Souza et al. (2017)¹⁵	Brazil	15 generalist nurses	To investigate the preservation of traces by the nurse during provision of care for female victims of sexual violence in an emergency service of the state of Sergipe.	Analytic and descriptive, Quantitative	Level VI
2	Preservation of Forensic Evidence by Nurses in a Prehospital Emergency Care Service in Brazil	Silva et al. (2020)¹⁶	Brazil	128 generalist nurses	To evaluate the relationship between nurses’ knowledge and performance of forensic evidence procedures.	Cross-sectional quantitative study.	Level VI
3	Defining the boundaries: How sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) balance patient care and law enforcement collaboration	Campbell et al. (2011)¹⁷	United States	11 forensic nurses	To understand how nurses who perform forensic exams in cases of sexual assault define their work with their patients, how they collaborate with law enforcement, and how they negotiate roles differentiation.	Qualitative and Quantitative	Level V
4	Forensic nursing - Global scenario and Indian perspective	Dash et al. (2016)¹⁸	India	Sample not informed, forensic nurses	To analyze the work of Forensic Nursing with victims of sexual assault in the global scenario and its perspective in India	Qualitative	Level VI
5	Original research: Giving sexual assault survivors time to decide: an exploration of the use and effects of the nonreport option	Heffron et al. (2014)¹⁹	United States	79 forensic nurses	To examine the implementation of the option of sexual assault nonreport in Texas; explore its impact on nurses who perform forensic exams in cases of sexual assault, survivors, and the criminal justice system; and identify strengths and challenges of the nonreport process.	Quantitative and Qualitative	Level V
6	Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Forensic Examinations for Immigrant Victims: A Case Study	Payne (2018)²⁰	United States	Sample not informed, forensic nurses	To analyze the action of forensic nurses who perform forensic exams in sexual assault cases involving immigrant victims in the United States.	Case study	Level VI
7	The Role of the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner in England: Nurse Experiences and Perspectives	Cowley et al. (2014)²¹	England	5 forensic nurses	To analyze the role of forensic nurses who perform forensic exams in sexual assault cases in England.	Qualitative	Level VI
8	Client Satisfaction With Nursing-led Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Services in Ontario	Du Mont et al. (2014)²²	United States	35 forensic nurses	To evaluate client satisfaction with nursing-led sexual assault and domestic violence services in Ontario	Quantitative and qualitative	Level V
9	The perception of role conflict in sexual assault nursing and its effects on care delivery	Downing and Mackin (2012)²³	United States	14 forensic nurses	To understand the perception of role conflict in sexual assault nursing and its impact on nurses’ action and care delivery.	Qualitative	Level VI
10	When There is No Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner: Emergency Nursing Care for Female Adult Sexual Assault Patients	Delgadillo (2017)²⁴	United States	Does not apply	To provide emergency nurses not specialized in the forensic area with a general view of the necessary skills to care for and treat victims of violence in the emergency service.	Theoretical text	Does not apply
11	The Medical/Legal Aspects of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Programs in Emergency Departments	Bimber (2014)²⁵	United States	Does not apply	To understand the importance of forensic nurses in the emergency service.	Theoretical text	Does not apply
12	Forensic Nursing: Focus on SANE	Cataruozolo (2015)²⁶	United States	Does not apply	To describe, in a summarized way, the forensic nursing specialty, especially nurses who perform forensic exams in sexual assault cases.	Theoretical text	Does not apply
13	Conhecimento e atuação de profissionais de saúde na preservação de vestígios forenses em pacientes vítimas de violência sexual em hospital de trauma em Aracaju	Santos et al. (2019)²⁷	Brazil	33 generalist nurses	To analyze the level of knowledge and performance of health professionals in the preservation of forensic traces when providing care for sexual assault victims at the trauma hospital of Aracaju	Analytic, descriptive and quantitative	Level VI
14	Preservação de vestígios no pré-hospitalar: papel das equipes de emergência médica em cenários forenses	Gomes (2018)²⁸	Brazil	Not informed	To present different criminogenic situations that occur in the prehospital context and the respective traces that must be preserved.	Qualitative	Level VI
15	Preservation of forensic traces by health professionals in a hospital in Northeast Brazil²⁹	De Oliveira Musse et al. (2020)²⁹	Brazil	33 generalist nurses	To describe the level of knowledge of professionals who work in the emergency unit of the Sergipe Emergency Hospital (HUSE), in the state of Sergipe, Northeastern Brazil, about the preservation of traces for forensic analysis and their abilities to implement in practice the necessary processes.	Quantitative	Level VI

Evidence Synthesis	References
Lack of human resources and training in forensic nursing to assist cases of sexual violence against women	Dash et al. (2016)¹⁸, Silva et al. (2020)¹⁶, Bimber (2014)²⁵, Souza et al. (2017)¹⁵, de Oliveira Musse et al. (2020)²⁹
Limited training of nurses to collect traces in cases of sexual violence against women	Cowley et al. (2014)²¹, Du Mont et al. (2014)²², Souza et al. (2017)¹⁵, de Oliveira Musse et al. (2020)²⁹, Santos et al. (2019)²⁷
Limited performance of trace preservation procedures in the assistance provided for female victims of sexual violence	Bimber (2014)²⁵, Souza et al. (2017)¹⁵
Conflicts between the nurse’s role in care provision and in the collection of traces for legal purposes	Campbell et al. (2011)¹⁷, Heffron et al. (2014)¹⁹, Cowley et al. (2014)²¹, Du Mont et al. (2014)²², Downing and Mackin (2012)²³
Absence of protocols or lack of standardization of the existing ones for the collection of traces in cases of sexual violence against women	Silva et al. (2020)¹⁶, Cowley et al. (2014)²¹, Souza et al. (2017)¹⁵, de Oliveira Musse et al. (2020)²⁹, Payne (2018)²⁰
Underreport of sexual assault cases	Heffron et al. (2014)¹⁹, Delgadillo (2017)²⁴, de Oliveira Musse et al. (2020)²⁹, Dash et al. (2016)¹⁸
Lack of time and fear of liability or reprisal	Silva et al. (2020)¹⁶
Absence of legal instruments to regulate the nurse’s attributions and role in the chain of evidence custody.	de Oliveira Musse et al. (2020)²⁹
Protection of the privacy of the violence victim	Cataruozolo (2015)²⁶, Gomes (2018)²⁸

[1] Source: Created by the authors.