Highlighting DV Outreach: Conference Summaries from the New Year

Student-led UCSF Violence Prevention Conference "Patients and Providers: A Partnership to End Violence"

On Saturday, January 21, 2006, the UCSF Chapter of Student Health Professionals for Social Responsibility presented its annual Violence Prevention Conference, a one unit full-day course that students can take for credit. This year's conference theme was "Patients and Providers: A Partnership to End Violence" and was open to faculty, students, and members of the Bay Area Community. This year's conference goals were: (1) to reach dental, pharmacy, nursing, medical, and physical therapy students, (2) to lead concrete skill-building sessions on how to assess for violence in clinic, (3) to encourage dialogue between the schools to foster collaboration and learn how they can complement each others work, (4) to inform students about larger scale efforts aimed to reach the general public and enact change, (5) to highlight special topics on violence through sessions led by community and academic leaders, (6) to educate future providers about community resources at their disposal, (7) to provide practical, pocket-type resources for use in their future clinical careers, and (8) to showcase survivorship as a motivator to enact change.

The conference was a great success. Attendance reached just shy of 100 people, including Bay Area health professional students, faculty, and community providers. The student organizing committee was composed of students from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and dentistry and was able to recruit attendees and presenters from all five disciplines. Funders included the UCSF Chancellor's Endowment Fund, the UCSF's Center of Excellence in Women's Health, Look to End Abuse Permanently (LEAP), the UCSF School of Nursing, and the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

The day began with an introductory talk by Aruna Venkatesan, a second year UCSF medical student. This led into a one hour talk by Brian O'Connor from the FVPF, highlighting innovative public awareness marketing strategies that have been implemented and shown to change the way the American public views DV and that foster healthy relationships.

This led into a two-part section on how to assess for violence in clinic as a health care provider. Five health care providers from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and physical therapy served on a panel, sharing stories from their own practice and discussing why and how they approach the topic of violence from their profession. This panel then led into smaller, field-specific breakout sessions teaching how to assess for violence. Attendees formed pairs and role-played a patient-provider encounter.

The lunch break highlighted works of art from survivors and witnesses of violence. The organizations Woman, Inc., Drawbridge, and Silence Speaks graciously loaned art for display.

The afternoon led off with a keynote speech by Dr. Barbara Gerber on how health care providers can best address DV. Small group sessions followed and addressed special topics in violence from community and academic leaders.

Finally, the day ended with a survivor panel of UCSF students. This was by far the most memorable part of the day, serving as a motivating factor for everyone to apply what they learned at the conference to their future practice. This panel enabled the conference to reach people beyond those who attended the full day's conference, since students came just to hear their friends speak on the panel. People stayed afterwards for over an hour to talk to the panelists, and the panel actually consisted of a dialogue between panelists and audience members.

The conference was very well-received. Pharmacy students told organizers afterwards that beforehand they did not see the role for pharmacists in addressing this epidemic, but now they see concrete steps they can take when working as community pharmacists. One attendee shared that the health care provider panel was the first conference panel he has attended in recent years that taught him something useful. Paper evaluations submitted by student attendees indicated that students were very moved to action by all of the conference sessions, especially the survivor panel, and felt that they were actually given tools that they can use in the future. Many students felt determined to initiate action within their health professional school after the conference. Comments included the following: that students would now always look for signs of abuse in their patients, that the survivor panel left them breathless, and that the panel showed them that people within their own community as well as those from other backgrounds are all affected by violence. The conference painted real faces to the statistics they had heard about in class.

For more information on the UCSF conference or advice on how to conduct a similar conference at your academic institution, please email Aruna Venkatesan at arunavenk@gmail.com.

Ending Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking in the 21st Century

The first ever "Ending Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking in the 21st Century" conference took place on Monday, February 13, 2006 at the new UCSF Mission Bay Convention Center in San Francisco. The conference was met with phenomenal attendance--it was sold out well before the conference date. The goal of the symposium was to inspire solutions to the challenges of domestic violence and human trafficking. The conference was designed to provide information about violence against women through speeches, panels, and workshops led by national and international leaders in the field. The event provided a platform for education, demonstrated the compelling need, motivated individual action, and encouraged investment in community solutions. The conference both brought attention to the issues nationally and internationally, while focusing on how to take action locally. The partners for this conference were The University of California San Francisco Center of Excellence in Women's Health, Family Violence Prevention Fund, Partners Ending Domestic Abuse, San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium, Vital Voices, Mills College, and the International Museum of Women. UCSF students were also encouraged to get involved; conference planners provided volunteer positions in exchange for a waiver of conference registration fees. For more information, including conference agenda, please visit http://www.ucsf.edu/coe/news_dvsummit.html.

Perhaps the most unique aspects of the conference were the diverse audience in attendance and the diverse disciplines which contributed to the dialogue of the day. Attendees ranged from international experts in domestic violence and trafficking to concerned health care providers who have never received formal training on the subject to interested members of the Bay Area community. The day headed off with a powerful keynote speaker followed by an interdisciplinary panel of leaders including the San Francisco District Attorney, a corporate leader, the president of the Family Violence Prevention Fund, an international trafficking expert, a health maintenance organization leader, and a well-known television correspondent. Afternoon panels highlighted specific topics such as developing community responses to violence, international approaches to trafficking, the health care system and domestic violence, faith-based responses to domestic violence, children who witness abuse, and changing public attitudes and behaviors. Each panel was headlined by experts with diverse backgrounds to generate a discussion with hopes of inspiring action. The conference also served as a springboard to a March 31st leadership academy at Mills College, whose goal it is to create a network of exemplary leaders and foster further work concerning violence against women.

Health Students and Faculty Against Domestic Violence is a monthly listserv aimed to network health students and faculty from across the country who are interested in improving the health sector response to domestic violence. To subscribe visit http://www.endabuse.org/programs/healthcare/, click on 'Read More' under Join Monthly Listservs , and click on 'Subscribe' under Health Students and Faculty Against Domestic Violence Listserv.

We encourage you to use this listserv to announce upcoming events you are planning or to pose questions to the group. To post an announcement or ask a question, send an e-mail to arunavenk@gmail.com.

The listserv is moderated by Aruna Venkatesan, Health Intern with the Family Violence Prevention Fund and Second Year Medical Student at the University of California, San Francisco

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