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BOCYF Completed Project
Committee on Training Needs of Health Professionals to Respond to Family Violence
Publication: Confronting Chronic Neglect: The Education and Training of Health Professionals on Family Violence (2001)
Health professionals are often the first to encounter victims of family violence, but little is being done to educate them to deal effectively with this problem. Although curricula exist, training is not consistently offered to those who care for family violence victims. When offered, it is typically of short duration, offered at only one point in the health education program, and frequently limited to only one type of violence. The problem of elder maltreatment is a particularly neglected area in training.
To address these issues, the Board on Children, Youth, and Families established a committee to assess the training needs of health professionals with respect to the detection and referral of victims of family or acquaintance violence, including child physical and sexual abuse and neglect, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse and neglect. The committee was given the chance to review and synthesize available research on:
§ the training needs of health care providers from the various disciplines that come into contact with family or acquaintance violence, including but not limited to physicians, nurses, and social workers, and the appropriateness with which providers are receiving training;
§ available curricula for screening, detecting, and referring family and intimate partner violence in health care delivery settings, and the effectiveness of these curricula and training activities as well as outcomes associated with these interventions; and
§ existing efforts, coalitions, and initiatives intended to foster the knowledge- and skills-base of health care providers.
Where possible, the committee looked for different opportunities and settings for training, including medical schools and schools of nursing, graduate education programs for psychology and social work, clinical training, and continuing medical education. In addition, the committee examined the strengths and limitations of indicators and outcome measures, and evaluation methodologies that are commonly used to evaluate these curricula and training programs. Finally, the committee worked to address issues regarding the implementation of these programs in light of competing patient-level needs and existing barriers and system-level disincentives for screening, detecting, and referring family violence.
The study is possible with support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A final report, entitled Confronting Chronic Neglect: The Education and Training of Health Professionals on Family Violence, was released in September 2001. The final report, executive summaries, and summary “fact sheets” have been distributed to a wide range of policymakers, researchers, and other interested stakeholders.
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