The effect of a domestic violence course on nursing students’ recognition of violence symptoms against women and their attitudes toward violence

Özet

Objectives: This study was conducted to explore the impact of a domestic violence course on nursing students’ knowledge of domestic violence against women, their ability to recognize signs of violence, and their attitudes toward combating domestic violence against women. Methods: This study used pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design with control groups and was conducted between September 2015 and December 2017 in the nursing department of a university in İstanbul. Participants in the intervention group attended a Domestic Violence Course (for 2 hours a week for 14 weeks; totaling 28 class hours). Study data were gathered using the Domestic Violence Against Women Test of Knowledge, the Scale for Recognizing the Signs of Violence, and the Attitudes Toward Domestic Violence Scale during both pre-training and post-training. Data collected from a total of 200 study participants (intervention=100; control group=100) were the evaluated. Results: An examination of the findings of the study demonstrates that participants in both the intervention and the control group displayed significantly higher scores (p<0.05) in their knowledge about domestic violence against women after the training compared to their scores prior to the intervention. The participants in the intervention group displayed significantly higher levels in recognizing signs of physical violence (p<0.05) and in identifying the signs of emotional violence (p<0.01) after they had received the education compared to their scores before the intervention. The intervention group’s attitudes were also found to be significantly different before and after the education (p<0.05). Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that a domestic violence course may increase nursing students’ knowledge of domestic violence against women, as well as increase their ability to recognize signs of violence. Such a course may also be effective for developing positive attitudes toward combating domestic violence against women. Therefore, a domestic violence course should be included in nursing curricula.