Gaps in Medical Students' Competencies to Deal With Intimate Partner Violence in Key Mozambican Medical Schools.

Beatriz Manuel,Kristien Roelens,Martin Valcke,Armindo Tiago,Ines Keygnaert

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2019.00204

Abstract

Purpose: The researchers aimed to identify the gaps in competencies designed to help medical students to deal with Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in key Mozambican medical schools curricula.Method: A survey was administered to 3rd and 6th-year medical students (N387), enrolled in five medical schools in Mozambique. The instrument focused on mapping students' perceived mastery of their knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to IPV.Results: In total, 387 medical students (RR 66%) participated in the survey. The overall mean perceived mastery of IPV competence was 36.18 (SD = 24.52) for knowledge, 32.01 (SD = 27.37) for skills, and 43.47 (SD = 27.58) for attitudes. Though 6th-year students reported a significantly higher mastery level, it is still below a mastery-learning benchmark of 80%.Conclusions: Medical students report critically low levels in their mastery of IPV- related competencies. This implies a need for a more comprehensive approach to developing knowledge, skills, and attitudes to deal with the victims of IPV.

Highlights

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) focuses on violence committed in a present or past relationship
The results point at a weak overall mastery of IPV competencies, in particular in IPV knowledge [F(1) = 19.89, p < 0.05, d = 0.4] and IPV skills [F(1) = 21.26, p < 0.05, d = 0.4], and at the level of the IPV competence components, while suggesting differences related to background variables
IPV is a global public health issue, which seems hardly addressed in medical curricula as we found in a previous study on global IPV medical curricula

Summary

Introduction

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) focuses on violence committed in a present or past relationship. IPV is an enduring problem in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We focus on IPV prevalence in SSA. Are medical doctors adequately trained to understand and cope with IPV? This introduces the setting to analyze students’ perceived mastery of IPV competencies aligned with recognizing and dealing with IPV in Mozambican medical schools. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Intimate Partner Violence as “any behavior within an intimate relationship that leads to physical, psychological or Medical Students’ Competences in IPV sexual harm to those in that relationship” [1]. Zacarias [3] stressed that males can be victims of IPV

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