Recognising and Responding to Domestic Violence
Exploring the Role of Student Dentists
What is already known about this subject:
- Dentists are in a unique position to recognise and respond to those who experience domestic violence
- Evidence suggests that there is a lack of education on domestic violence in the undergraduate level
What this study adds:
- A glimpse into the opinions of undergraduate dental students’ opinions on recognising and responding to domestic violence
- A stepping stone for future studies to integrate domestic violence education into undergraduate dental courses
Abstract
Objective: To explore how prepared James Cook University (JCU) Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) students are in identifying and managing, within a clinical setting, women who experience domestic violence.
Design: Mixed methods design, using written pre and post surveys, and focus groups to evaluate the implementation of a “Recognise and Respond” to domestic violence intervention workshop within Bachelor of Dental Surgery Course at JCU.
Setting: James Cook University, North Queensland.
Participants: 234 BDS students from in Years 3-5.
Main outcome measures: Identifying changes in perceptions, knowledge and understanding of undergraduate dental students through pre and post surveys following a “Recognise and Respond” to domestic violence brief intervention workshop. Identification of prominent themes of focus groups to investigate the clinical application and value of intervention workshop training.
Results: Findings indicate that all workshop participants developed increased knowledge, awareness and understanding regarding domestic violence and were enabled to embed this into their clinical assessment. However, further development is required in order for students to capably and confidently respond to those experiencing domestic violence.
Conclusions: This study confirms the valuable role of domestic violence intervention workshops in influencing students’ understanding and knowledge at an undergraduate level. Further skill and clinical capacity building is required to encourage application of knowledge gained. Continued research is recommended to inform the ongoing evaluation and role of the program, its associated impacts and potential to be embedded into the JCU BDS curriculum.
Results
...the key to the door so they can go and get help”
– 5th year student, focus group A
Timing of the workshop during the undergraduate dental degree
“I can’t really recall a lot of specific advice from the talks but they were very….I found them very useful, but maybe if we had greater exposure or more, caused we only had, like, the one off session.”– 5th year student, focus group A
Application of knowledge gained through the ‘Recognise and Respond’ workshop
“To be honest I didn’t remember it. I’m remembering it more everyone talking about it now but we only had, what a two hour session, in a week full of lectures…I couldn’t really remember any of the strategies that they asked us to put in place.”– 5th year student, focus group A
William Shield, Casey Burmeister, Winson Chan,
Dr. Ann Carrington, Dr. Felicity Croker
Acknowledgment: Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service
Contact: william.shield@my.jcu.edu.au
College of Medicine & Dentistry