Nursing students' attitudes towards victims of domestic violence as predicted by selected individual and relationship variables

Abstract

Abused women are frequent users of health care services. Yet, battered women often do not identify the health care delivery system as a resource. The present study surveyed 155 female associate and baccalaureate degree nursing students from three mid-Atlantic universities in order to examine how selected personal and relationship variables affected their attitudes toward battered women.

It was hypothesized that those students who had an early exposure to family violence combined with high levels of egalitarianism and perceived control over life events would be more sympathetic toward battered women than those who did not. Instruments used to measure the chosen variables included the Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale, the Conflict Tactics Scale, the Family Violence Scale, the Perceived Control Scale, and the Inventory of Beliefs about Wife-Beating. Data were collected via anonymous self-report questionnaires and analyzed through the use of correlation and hierarchical regression procedures.

Nursing students with more egalitarian sex role beliefs and perception of control over their life events were more sympathetic to battered wives than those students with more traditional sex role attitudes and less perceived control over their life. Sex role egalitarianism was found to be the best predictor of attitudes toward victims of domestic violence. Contrary to expectations, there appeared to be little relationship between the level of violence experienced by students in their families of origin or in their current relationships and sympathy for battered wives.

Findings from this study will add to the current nursing knowledge base regarding attitudes of one group of health care professionals toward victims of domestic violence by exploring those attitudes and by identifying which of the chosen variables was most predictive of those attitudes. Implications for nursing education include an examination of the impact of gender issues on personal and professional behavior as well as the importance of empowering nursing students through the use of a competency based practice model.