Citation

Toprak Ergonen A, Salacin S, Karademir S, Gursel Y, Musal B. J. Fam. Violence 2007; 22(6): 441-447.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10896-007-9098-7

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

International health institutions emphasize the necessity of including the topic of domestic violence which is accepted as a health problem worldwide, into the training of physicians. The fact that physicians should diagnose domestic violence victims who over the years were either neglected or overlooked is also mentioned. The present study aims to measure the effectiveness of the interactive domestic violence course given to Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine (DEUFM) Year V students, with tests implemented before and after the course. The same students were given the same test during Year VI (internship). The students’ average knowledge scores were found respectively as follows: pretest 78.66  10.54, second test 94.13  3.95 and third test 89.65  7.48. There was a statistically significant difference between tests’ average scores. It was observed that, after the course, 4 out of 19 students (21.1%) changed their answers from no to yes for the question Have you ever been a victim of physical domestic violence? A statistically significant difference was found between pre-course answers and the after course answers given to this question. This study showed that the course on domestic violence increased students’ knowledge level and awareness on this issue. Considering that average knowledge level will decrease over time and aiming to improve future physicians’ approach to domestic violence cases, addition of other interactive educational methods to Year V’s course program and proposal of an advanced training session to Year VI’s curriculum are being planned.