Attitudes of University Students Towards Domestic Violence Against Women

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of university studentstowards domestic violence against women.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on students attending the School ofNursing and School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation at a university in Turkey. Thestudy was conducted between February 2015 and May 2015. The study was conducted on415 volunteer students without resorting to the sampling selection method. Data werecollected using a Personal Information Form and The Scale of Attitude Toward DomesticViolence. The data were analysed using frequencies, means, standard deviations,independent t-tests and ANOVA.Results: The mean of attitude scores of university students toward domestic violence were23.13 ± 6.66 and were affected by variables such as gender, and whether the questionsshould be asked to women who experienced domestic violence such as: “Does your partnerhave justified reasons for applying domestic violence against women?” and “Shoulddomestic violence against women be shared by others?” and “Does domestic violenceagainst women bother you?” (p<0.05).Conclusion: In this study, the mean of attitude scores of university students towarddomestic violence were found to be low and their attitudes toward domestic violence werefound to be unfavorable. It was suggested that education programs (seminars andconferences) consisting of information, guidance, stimulation and prevention beorganized to reach out to university students who are interested in domestic violenceagainst women