Companion Animal Care Articles from All-Creatures.org

Veterinarians Get Training to Respond to Domestic Violence

From National Link Coalition
February 2024

Veterinary professionals have a key role in facilitating multi-agency collaboration to prevent and respond to domestic violence in situations where animals may be directly or indirectly involved.

Researchers at Australia’s University of Melbourne, where others alreay have urged veterinarians to respond to suspected child abuse and child sexual abuse have expanded Link involvement by conducting a pilot program on training practitioners to recognize, respond and refer victims of domstic violence.

The authors, based in the university’s veterinary and medical schools and Melbourne’s eDVOS domestic violence service agency, argue that ‘veterinary professionals have a key role in facilitating multi-agency collaboration to prevent and respond to domestic violence in situations where animals may be directly or indirectly involved.” Despite their position as “potential touchpoints” for victims, however, many veterinarians feel they lack the confidence and capacity to respond.

A pilot “3-R’s” training program was tested on 65 veterinary professionals. Upon completion, participants reported marked improvements in their ability to recognize, respond, and refer survivors. The most significant improvement was seen in participants’ self-reportedly ability to respond appropriately to suspicions of domestic violence.

The study suggested that veterinary professionals may be an underutilized intervention point for survivors with animals. They noted that pets are often one of the few valued souorces of trust and companionship for a victim, especially when they have been isolated from friends, famiy, and community as a deliberate tactic of abuse.

“Domestic violence is a significant and persistent problem across all societies, and veterinarians’ interacitons with citizens prsent a unique opportunity to create robust intrvention points for victim-survivors with animals,” they wrote. “With animal ownership, DV, and animal abuse as a form of DV being common across the globe, the likelihood that a veteranian (or other veterinary professional) will come into contact with both humans and animals experience abuse is, by defintion, likely to be high.”

The Vet-3R’s training consisted of five 2.5-hour slide presentations with informatl discussion to challenge the myths around domestic violence, desfcfribe The Link and explain how to safely and appropriately respond and refer human victims.

See the full report: Peterson, R., Boller, E., Kim,, Y., Hammond, K., Y& Diemer, K. (2024). What can veterinaryt professionals do? Measuring the effect of one domestic violence training pilot program on veterinary professionals’ capacity to recognize, response and refer human vitims of domestic violence.

Read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE - What an veterinary professionals do? Measuring the effrect of one domestic violence training pilot program on veterinary professionals' capacity to recognize, respond, and refer human victims of domestic violence.

 

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