Response of Sudanese doctors to domestic violence

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the awareness, and response of the Sudanese doctors to domestic violence.

METHODS: The study was carried out among the doctors of the Police University Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to all doctors who were attendants at the hospital, one morning in July 2002. The information required from the surveyed doctors included their familiarity, and views on domestic violence as a health problem, number of cases of abuse encountered, barriers to diagnose or screen cases, their views on intervention beyond physical treatment and if they had been taught or trained in domestic violence.

RESULTS: Out of 142 doctors who received the questionnaires, 102 returned it giving a response rate of 71.8%. The respondent's ages ranged from 25-54 years; 53 were female (51.9%); and 32 (31.3%) had experience of more than 10 years. Forty-three doctors (42.1%) had a fair knowledge of the concept of domestic violence, 28 (27.4%) viewed it as a worthwhile health problem and 21 (20.5%) reported encountering 1-2 cases in the last year. Barriers to screen cases included a lack of knowledge and training, insufficient time at clinics and fear of problems with perpetrators. The female gender and long professional experience had positive correlations with a better knowledge regarding violence and the desire to intervene beyond physical treatment (P<0.005).

CONCLUSION: Our study indicated clearly the missing role of the medial profession in recognition and helping the victims of domestic violence. The authors discussed several suggestions to promote the role of doctors in addressing this problem.