Response of Health Professions to Domestic Violence in Emergency Departments (From International Victimology, P 277-284, 1996, Chris Sumner, Mark Israel, et al., eds. - See NCJ-169474)

• NCJ Number: 169502
• Author(s): G Roberts
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

This article reports on a study concerning the education about domestic violence of doctors and nurses in the Emergency Department of the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

Abstract

Studies have shown that detection rates for victims of domestic violence by doctors in hospital emergency departments are very low. These low rates have been attributed to inappropriate attitudes of health professionals toward victims of crime. The study reported in this article concerned an education program designed to lessen negative attitudes and increase knowledge about domestic violence among doctors and nurses at the Emergency Department of the Royal Brisbane Hospital. Findings of the study included: (1) Generally, doctors and nurses had very good knowledge about the extent of domestic violence in the Australian community and knowledge that at least some forms of domestic violence were highly accepted; (2) Nurses had greater knowledge that perpetrators may come from higher socioeconomic groups; and (3) Both doctors and nurses had strong beliefs that domestic violence was a behavioral pattern that could be changed, but nurses' beliefs that they could do something to stop domestic violence changed significantly after education. This finding indicated that nurses may be more proactive than doctors in the management of domestic violence victims. The article concludes that attitudes towards domestic violence were a function of profession rather than gender. References