Perception of violence against women among future health professionals in an industrial township

Abstract

Background:There is a growing concern that medical education does not prepare the future health professional to effectively deal with violence against women. Against this background, the present study was undertaken.Aims:To elicit perception of violence against women among medical and nursing students, and study the association of these perceptions with certain demographic and social variables.Settings and Design:The study was conducted among students of a Medical College and a Nursing College both located at Pune, India. A cross-sectional descriptive study design was used to elicit the perceptions of the study subjects toward violence against women.Materials and Methods:A random sample of 125 medical and 125 nursing students was selected. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were employed. Qualitative data collection was done by focus group discussions with key persons such as dean and faculty of medical and nursing colleges. The syllabi of medical and nursing colleges were also reviewed for any topic related to domestic violence.Statistical analysis:The WHO/CDC Statistical and Epidemiology Software Package was used for data entry and statistical analysis. Various associations were explored by nonparametric tests (Mann-Whitney) for ordinal data and by Chi-square and ODDS ratio (with 95% confidence intervals), for categorical data.Results:Overall 35.6% (95% CI 29.1%–42.6%) of the study participants had witnessed/were aware of violence against women among their family/acquaintances. This awareness was significantly more among female respondents (OR=2.65, 95% CI 1.37–5.16), Chi Sq=9.81, df=1, P=0.001. Other socioeconomic variables such as urban/rural background, education, and income were not associated with perception about family violence. Majority (>80%) agreed/strongly agreed that social agencies should do more to help battered women. Course content on violence against women was lacking in both medical and nursing syllabi.Conclusions:Female participants were generally more perceptive about the issue. Medical and nursing syllabi should incorporate strategies for dealing with violence against women.

The effect of a course on violence against women on the attitudes of student midwives and nurses towards domestic violence against women, their occupational roles in addressing violence, and their abilities to recognize the signs of violence

“…Sabancıoğulları et al found that students wanted to receive training and have more knowledge relevant to violence against women. Another study of students and nurses found that almost all of the participants had insufficient knowledge of violence against women, and they requested training on this subject …”

“…Another study of students and nurses found that almost all of the participants had insufficient knowledge of violence against women, and they requested training on this subject. 11,14,17,19,30,31 The average pretest and posttest scores on the attitude towards violence scale among students in the experimental and control groups were compared, and the posttest averages of students in the experimental group were lower than the pretest averages. In other words, there was a greater decrease in traditional attitudes towards violence among students who took the course on violence against women than among the students who did not take the course.…”

“…Against Women Scale: This scale, which was developed by Baysan-Arabacı and Karadağlı, 7 consists of 31 true or false questions. To evaluate responses to items on the scale, "1" point is given to responses of "true" and "0" points are given to responses of "false" for the positively worded items (1,3,4,5,6,7,10,12,16,17,18,20,21,22,24,25,26,27,28,29), while "0" points were given to responses of "true" and "1" point was given to responses of "false" for the negatively worded items (2,6,8,9,11,13,14,15,19,23,30,31). The total score can be obtained by summing the scores on all the items.…”

Combatting Intimate Partner Violence: Representations of Social and Healthcare Personnel Working with Gender-Based Violence Interventions

“…In particular, a specific professional background is essential in detecting seemingly invisible and unsuspected gender violence [ 35 , 36 , 37 ], as well as when assisting men in acknowledging the causes and effects of their actions and inviting them to find new strategies to express their negative emotions [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”

“…The interviewers were able to comprehend the innovativeness and specificity of the interviewees’ contributions, allowing them to add and expand upon novel research findings. They were required to demonstrate reflective competence, to suspend any judgments, and to maintain an active and stimulating attitude toward the interlocutor [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ].…”