Table 1 Topics included in the interviewer’s guide

Professional experience

1. Can you tell me a bit about your work and how long you’ve been doing it?

2. Is there a specific organization you work for, or a specific community you serve?

Challenges and barriers

1. How has your work in identifying, caring for, and/or supporting IPV survivors changed during COVID-19?

    i. What challenges arose?

    ii. How are the changes in care you’ve observed during this pandemic similar or dissimilar to changes you may have observed during prior periods of stress, such as a natural disaster or economic downturn?

2. How, if at all, did the pandemic exacerbate existing vulnerabilities within the network of individuals and organizations that identify, care for, and/or support IPV survivors?

3. What barriers to accessing care or resources did COVID-19 create for individuals experiencing IPV?

Adaptations and innovations

1. How have the challenges you identified been addressed?

    i. What adaptations were made? What innovations emerged?

    ii. Were any pre-existing practices/tools repurposed? If so, how?

    iii. Do you believe any of these adaptations will remain long-term? If so, which ones and why? If not, why not?

2. How has COVID-19 affected the screening process for IPV?

    i. What does virtual screening (i.e. telemedicine) look like?

    ii. How has in-person screening (i.e. ED visits) changed?

Broader implications

1. Do you think federal, state, or local government could have done more to predict or address the increase in IPV during COVID-19? Do you think private or non-profit organizations could have done more to predict or address the increase in IPV during COVID-19?

2. How can government and private or non-profit organizations work together in the future, and what role should each play?

3. How do you think COVID-19 has heightened inequalities in the access to and quality of IPV care and resources?

4. How has COVID-19 impacted services outside of healthcare?

5. How has COVID-19 impacted the coordination and cooperation between providers working in diverse sectors of IPV care (i.e. health care, social work, housing aid, legal services)? Do you believe any of these changes will endure?

Lessons learned

1. What are the lessons you’ve learned from COVID-19? How can they be applied going forward, in “normal” times or periods of stress?

2. What is the advice you’d offer to individuals experiencing IPV? What are the most effective resources they can access during this time?

3. What advice would you give to individuals who suspect IPV in a patient or social acquaintance?

4. If you could go back to the beginning of the pandemic and make one change, what would it be? What resources would you ask for if you could have anything?