Domestic violence and child maltreatment awareness among medical students at King Abdulaziz University Hospital

BACKGROUND: Violence is a critical public health problem resulting in more than 1 million yearly deaths. Clinical examination of the victim by a trained physician is vital for abuse discovery. OBJECTIVE: The present study evaluated the medical students’ awareness levels about the concept of violence with the help of a questionnaire. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive study and was conducted among 243 medical students from the Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, from December 2018 to March 2019. RESULTS: In our study, medical students showed good awareness of the concept of child violence, general violence, and female violence. The Internet was the primary source of knowledge about violence among female students, while the male students used social media. Almost three-fourths of the medical students wanted more information or training about violence. The male and female students shared a significant difference of opinion for a few categories like the concept of violence toward husbands, prevalence of violence, sources of knowledge, and having enough time to study violence. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the medical students’ current knowledge and attitude toward violence need to be better. Facing real-life situations can improve their awareness. Further, adding knowledge about violence to the curriculum would help the students to learn and deal with violent cases.