Gender violence in nursing students during their dating relationships

Aim: To determine the prevalence of gender violence (GV) suffered by student nurses and to identify its relationship with some sociodemographic and personal variables (social support and self-esteem) and their perception about their role as primary care providers. Design: Cross-sectional study. Location: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (University of Oviedo). Participants: Nursing students. Main measurements: The CUVINO questionnaire was used. It measures 42 behavioral indicators and 8 GV factors and allows to identify technical and perceived violence during courtship and other related situations. The level of social self-esteem, support and variables related with the nursing role were also measured. Results: Using the standard of "zero tolerance", 85.8% suffered technical violence, mainly by "detachment" and "coercion" (73.3%), while almost 1 in 5 also suffered "physical" violence (18.3%). A lower percentage (9.0%) reported having been really ill-treated, perception related to the global proportion of students who felt trapped (31.7%, P <.001), felt fear (13.8%, P <.001) and a further delay in breaking the relationship (13.2 months vs. 3.6; P <.05). Suffering technical violence was associated with less social support (P <.05) and less social self-esteem (P <.01). Academic training in GV improves recognition. Conclusions: The prevalence of GV situations between student nurses is very high and recognition is poor. Academic training could improve the perception of the problem, thus it would be desirable to strengthen its inclusion in the university curriculum, together with specific skills training. (C) 2012 Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.