Should we be concerned? A qualitative study of educators’ perceptions of medical student wellbeing in domestic violence training

Abstract

Introduction

Domestic violence (DV) is common in the Australian community so it is likely that there will be medical students who are affected personally by DV. Some of these students may find DV training confronting or even re-traumatising. A trauma-informed medical education (TIME) framework utilising trauma-informed care principles may minimise this risk to students. We aimed to explore educators’ perceptions of student well-being in Australian medical school DV training.

Method

This descriptive qualitative study interviewed 13 educators with experience teaching DV in Australian medical schools using an interpretivist methodology and a TIME framework. Interview data was thematically analysed to identify themes.

Results

Four key themes included (1) educators thrown in at the deep end; (2) keeping students emotionally safe; (3) a trauma-informed learning environment and; (4) challenges of student DV disclosures. Few of the participants had received training in DV. Educators used methods such as trigger warnings and ground rules to improve student’s emotional safety. Experienced educators dealt with disclosures of DV by students which led to role confusion.

Discussion

There is a need for increased training of medical educators that includes awareness and implementation of TIME principles when training medical students in DV as well as increased supports and resources for educators.

Keywords:

• Domestic violence
• family violence
• trauma-informed medical education
• wellbeing
• medical school

Acknowledgements

Prof Clare Delaney, Assoc/Prof Gabrielle Brand, Dr Alexandra Baum, Dr Vanassa Ratnasingam.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, JN, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive external funding.

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Margaret Neil

Jennifer Margaret Neil, MBBS(Hons), FRACGP, MClinEd, is Curriculum and Assessment Lead at the Monash University Department of General Practice.

Christopher Barton

Christopher Barton, BSc, MMedSci, PhD, is a primary care scientist and Associate Professor at Monash University Department of General Practice.

Kelsey Hegarty

Kelsey Hegarty, MBBS, FRACGP, DRANZCOG, PhD, is chair of family violence prevention at The University of Melbourne and The Royal Women’s Hospital.