Final Year Nursing Students’ Attitudes Toward Violence Against Women: A Pilot Study in Tallinn Health Care College, Estonia

Abstract Aim: The aim of this study was to research final year nursing students’ attitudes toward violence against women. Background: The topic has not been studied before in the context of Estonian higher education colleges of health care, and the attitudes of nursing students towards violence against women (VAW) are not known, so there is no effective input for changing the content quality of the curriculum. Methods: Cross-sectional survey design was used. Results: The pilot study found that many respondents had personal experience with various types of violence. Over 90% of final year nursing students disagree with the negative myths and stereotypes prevalent in society regarding VAW. 90.8% of the respondents consider that VAW issues are not dealt with sufficiently in Estonian society and 47% of the respondents found that they do not know how to properly provide help to victims of violence, as they lack knowledge, skills, and experience. It was also noted that future nurses, would need more training on violence in order to provide professional help. The research subjects indicated that there could be a specific subject in curriculum that deals with different types of violence, identifying the victim, intervention and providing professional nursing care, and network cooperation. Conclusions: The present pilot study raises the need to research nursing students’ attitudes toward VAW with a larger sample and with a better designed questionnaire. Necessary to develop subject of violence should be included in the nursing curricula by integrating it into existing courses. Implications for nursing: Raising health students’ awareness and skills about violence will help to provide the best possible support and assistance to victims of violence.