Project 416729

Over the course of their lives nearly 1 in 4 women living in Canada experience sexual violence. While these experiences can have significant effects on survivors' mental and physical wellbeing, sensitive and compassionate care from well-informed physicians can help to mitigate these negative health outcomes. Unfortunately, medical learners report receiving little by way of formal training around trauma; as a result of the lack of attention paid to training health care providers to respond to trauma, misinformation and stigma around sexual violence persists in health care. In order to begin addressing barriers that prevent survivors from seeking or receiving appropriate medical care, this project aims to take stock of what medical learners are thinking and learning about trauma related to sexual violence. To understand the scope and implications of the formal education students receive about trauma and sexual violence, I'll analyze academic curriculum and institutional policy documents at Canadian medical schools, including those that respond to recent research documenting the abuse of medical learners themselves. Next, I'll interview medical residents across the country to understand how their pre-existing beliefs, medical education, and professional experiences with sexual violence the informal aspects of their training once they begin practice. Finally, I'll interview community and institutional stakeholders with an interest in medical education to identify opportunities and barriers to developing and improving medical curricula around trauma and sexual violence. The knowledge that emerges from this research will spur the development of training about trauma for medical learners in all stages of their education, ultimately helping to better align medical practice with best practices identified in transdisciplinary trauma research.