The level of recognition of the symptoms of violence against women by senior year nursing and midwifery students

Background: Violence against women maintains its importance. Nursing and midwifery students should be able to identify symptoms of violence against women. Healthcare providers have received insufficient education, either before or after graduation, for identifying violence cases and for dealing with interfamilial violence against women. Aims: This study is conducted to identify nursing and midwifery students’ ability to recognise symptoms of violence against women. Methods: This cross-sectional study included nursing and midwifery students attending the Ege University, School of Nursing, the Celal Bayar University, Health School of Higher Education and Health School of Izmir Atatürk (N = 557). The convenience sampling method was used. There were 114 students who declined to participate in this study as they did not want to answer questions about violence (n = 443). Results: It was determined that 94.6% of the students were knowledgeable about violence against women. The scores obtained by students from the physical symptom sub-dimension were 8.35 ± 1.65 and from the emotional symptom sub-dimension were 11.97 ± 2.19. The total scores obtained from the scale were 20.32 ± 3.14. A statistically significant difference was found between students’ age, gender, nursing or midwifery section, being subjected to violence, receiving violence awareness training and reporting violence in the sub-dimensions and total scores of the scale (p < 0.05). Impact Statement: Having knowledge and self-confidence increased students’ awareness in identifying the symptoms of violence. Conclusion: The participant's limited ability to identify symptoms of violence is thought to result from inadequate emphasis on violence issues in the curricula. Greater emphasis should be placed on violence issues in curricula to guide students as future health care professionals. © 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group