Stop violence for health

Medical staff and doctors are among the first individuals approached by victims of domestic violence. It is often their reaction that determines whether and how the victim will deal with the situation. We therefore focused on the comprehensive education of key professions (teachers and students of health care and medical schools); we also focused on the prevention of domestic violence and on research.
In cooperation with our partner university, we created an educational module including e-learning materials, instructional videos for non-medical healthcare professions (nurses, paramedics) and an educational manual. Teachers and students were trained, with the possibility of training and consultations. The educational module was then offered to other schools, students, hospitals and health care professions. We have trained many more health professionals than originally planned. In the field of prevention, we led a campaign to increase the motivation of women at risk of violence to seek professional help. We have also succeeded in introducing the topic of domestic violence in the curriculum of the Medical College in Prague and elaborating materials of this focus for the school’s website.
Our accredited seminars generated great interest; next year these activities will also be supported by the Ministry of Health. The training module and the manual are available to other institutes of higher education and secondary schools. Awareness of the issue has increased, for example the ROSA organisation has seen a 20% increase in the number of clients. The number of clients sent by healthcare facilities has increased as well.