Female and Male Medical Students’ Exposure to Violence: Impact on Well Being and Perceived Capacity to Help Battered Women

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on domestic violence in several ways. First, the analysis explicitly models the endogeneity of the decision to leave. Second, the sample of abuse victims is nationally representative and includes both women who temporarily leave and women who never leave their abusers. Finally, the analyses test the prediction that the mere presence of shelters will decrease violence within intact relationships. While the results do not support this hypothesis, this may be due to the imperfect (state-level) measure of support services used.

Lifetime intimate partner violence exposure, attitudes and comfort among Canadian health professions students

“…While prior work has shown that female medical students were more likely than their male counterparts to report prior IPV exposure, [ 18 ] this finding did not achieve statistical significance in our study. Interestingly, the school reporting the highest rates of IPV (Medicine) was also the group with the highest percentage of male students.…”

“…[ 11 , 14 ] Medical students with personal histories of violence express concern about their future efficacy in aiding patients who have had similar experiences. [ 18 ] Nonetheless, students who report histories of abuse favor IPV training. [ 19 ] In order to provide effective learner-centered curricula, educators need to understand the potential extent of IPV exposure among students.…”

“…The prevalence of IPV among US medical students is between 6-12% for women [ 18 , 19 ] and 7% for men[ 27 , 28 ] In a US study of nursing students, 8% reported experiencing IPV[ 29 ] Among practicing physicians and nurses in Ontario, nearly 50% reported either personally experiencing or witnessing a close friend or relative experience abuse. [ 16 ] Thus, it is also probable that some proportion of Canadian students will have been exposed to IPV, [ 11 , 14 , 18 ] but to our knowledge, rates have not been reported in the literature.…”

Intimate partner violence at a tertiary institution

“…Medical schools need to have appropriate support mechanisms in place for victims and potential victims of IPV, and students should be given a list of local resources. According to Ambuel et al, [14] students need to be allowed to process their feelings and experiences within their academic spaces. There should be a safe environment that fosters open, respectful sharing of experiences and ideas, appropriate supervision, and encouragement of responsible selfcare including access to psychotherapy and support groups.…”

“…Broader institutional and policy changes should also be implemented in academic programmes to enable early detection and management. [14]…”