The male nursing students' childhood traumas and attitudes toward violence: A cross-sectional study in Turkey

Abstract

Context: To prevent domestic violence against women, it is critical to identify men's attitudes toward violence itself. Aims: This study aimed to examine the relationship between the experience of childhood trauma and attitudes toward violence in male nursing students. Methods: This study included 276 male nursing students. Data were collected using a descriptive information form, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form (CTQ-SF) and the Attitudes toward Violence Scale (ATVS). Results: Participants' mean age was 21.61 ± 2.01, 47.5% of them experienced violence, and 31.2% witnessed it. They had low levels of childhood trauma and negative attitudes toward violence. There was a weak-positive relationship between their ATVS mean scores and the mean emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse subscale scores (CTQ-SF) (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Nursing training programs should include courses on violence and its perception in society to increase awareness. Because childhood trauma negatively affects the violence perception, there should be support programs provided to students who have experienced it.