RESUMO
Objective: This paper aims to determine the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of 3rd year medical students towards violence against women. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted among 224 third year medical students of 3 medical schools in Metro Manila using the pre-tested and validated Knowledge, Attitudes & Perceptions Towards Violence Against Women (KAP- VAW) questionnaire for health professionals. Results: Only the more obvious physical signs of injury were associated with the more readily identifiable forms of abuse- physical and sexual- while subjective somatic complaints, mental and psychological signs and symptoms were less likely associated with VAW. Verbal and economic abuse were hardly known forms of abuse. The more commonly perceived reason for a woman to remain in an abusive relationship was due to her emotional dependence, while a variety of negative characteristics were enumerated to explain the abusive husbands behavior- egotism, sadism, insecurity and jealousy. Despite the fact that almost all the students (99.2 percent) expressed a positive attitude towards the abused woman, only 24.8 percent felt they were ready to actually handle such cases. Conclusion: Although medical students were aware of the impact of violence against women and seemed eager to learn more while in medical school, there was some hesitancy in actually managing such cases as they felt they didnt know enough, thus it is highly recommended that the medical curriculum include training modules on wife abuse.
