Future health-professionals: Attitudes, perceived severity, and willingness to intervene in intimate partner violence cases

Abstract

Background/objective: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health problem for which many victims attend to healthcare centers to alleviate the results of violence. The present study aimed to explore the relation between IPV attitudes and willingness to intervene in cases of IPV by future health professionals, considering the influence of perceived severity of IPV in this relation. Method: The sample was composed of 432 students (M = 22.89, SD = 6.36) of psychology (52.60%), nursing (26.20%), and medicine (21.20%). Sexism, IPV acceptance, perceived severity, and willingness to intervene in IPV cases were assessed. Results: The results displayed low sexism (M = 0.61, SD = 0.59) and acceptance of IPV (M = 1.05, SD = 0.06), high perceived severity (M = 9.62, SD = 0.60), and moderate willingness to intervene in cases of IPV (M = 5.20, SD = 1.16). Moreover, a conceptual model showed that more sexist attitudes were related to more acceptance of IPV, decreased perceived severity of IPV, and consequently, the willingness to intervene in cases of IPV. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of addressing the attitudinal and perceptive barriers of future healthcare professionals to detect and attend early to IPV from healthcare centers