How teaching on the care of the victim of sexual violence alters undergraduate medical students' awareness of the key issues involved in patient care and their attitudes to such patients

Kieran M. Kennedy, Akke Vellinga, Niamh Bonner, Brian Stewart, Deirdre McGrath

Sexual violence is known to be highly prevalent, albeit the majority of incidents are not reported to the authorities. It is therefore likely that medical students will encounter very many patients who have experienced sexual violence during their postgraduate careers, although this history may never be disclosed to them. Numerous highly regarded sources have advocated for the inclusion of instruction on the care of the victim of sexual violence in undergraduate medical curricula. Moreover, there has been a call for research to measure the effectiveness of educational strategies addressing the issue of sexual violence at undergraduate level. We present an evaluation of the effectiveness of a reproducible teaching session on care of the victim of sexual violence appropriate for undergraduate medical students, looking specifically at alterations in students' awareness of the key issues involved in patient care and their attitudes to such patients. This research demonstrates that such an educational intervention significantly enhances undergraduate medical students' awareness of the issues involved in patient care and their insight in to myths surrounding sexual violence.