Online Professional Education for Physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals on Domestic Violence

We applied for this project because we believe that addressing intimate partner violence (IPV) within the healthcare sector is crucial for improving patient outcomes and ensuring effective treatme...

We hoped to contribute by bridging this educational gap, ensuring that physiotherapists receive the necessary tools to identify and support domestic violence victims effectively. This would not only enhance their professional competencies but also improve the overall health outcomes for their patients. By implementing this project, we aimed to achieve several key objectives. Firstly, we were trying to enhance physiotherapists' skills in identifying and responding to domestic violence victims, ensuring they can offer appropriate support and additional help and resources to their patients. Secondly, we wanted to increase awareness towards DV victims among healthcare professionals, fostering a more supportive and informed healthcare environment. Thirdly, we strive to improve patient outcomes by addressing the barriers to treatment that Dv victims often face. Our goal was to empower physiotherapists with the necessary knowledge and tools to recognize and address DV victims effectively, leading to a lot better healthcare services and improved recovery rates for affected individuals.

Firstly, we did a four-part Report on Physiotherapy and Domestic Violence: Overview of the literature; Overview of Physiotherapy Curricula; Survey results and Policy overview. We conducted research to understand the current attitudes and knowledge of healthcare professionals, particularly physiotherapists, regarding DV in each partner country. In this, we did desktop research to see what the literature had to say about the topic. We conducted a survey in each of the partner countries to find out the knowledge of phyiotherapists about DV. We also analyzed the existing education curriculas to identify gaps related to DV training. This includes the curriculars that are in place and the opportunities that exist for professionals to improve the training content. We also did a Policy recommendations on physiotherapy and domestic violence to highlight the main gaps identified by the report and propose viable solutions, based on the curriculum, literature review and also survey. It also includes recommendations for unifying the physiotherapists’ training across EU. The policy recommendations are addressed to health care and education policy makers in charge of regulating health care training on vocational and higher education level, and to VET training providers in charge of carrying out health care education, especially to physiotherapists, to suggest improvements in the existing training programs. Secondly, we did a Training Program for physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals working with victims of violence Based on this research, we developed a specialized training program tailored to the diverse regional and specialty backgrounds of physiotherapists. The Trainig program has 5 sections: Section 1: Introduction The guide first delves into the complex dynamics of DV and IPV relationships . Section 2: The Consequences of Violence Section 2 investigates the far-reaching consequences of violence. Section 3: Identification of Victims in Physiotherapy Settings This section equips physiotherapists with the knowledge and tools needed to identify potential victims of DV, IPV, and GBV within physiotherapy settings. Section 4: How to Help. Section 5: Fine-Tuning Your Response to Victims of Violence Focuses on healthcare professionals' responsibilities. Thirdly, we did a Online Training Course (MOOC) We designed an accredited online course (MOOC), Abuse Recognition & Support in Healthcare: A Quick Guide for Physiotherapists, that can be used for physiotherapy students or as continuing education programs for physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals. This course provides comprehensive training on recognizing and responding to DV victims, ensuring that physiotherapists and other healthcare workers are better equipped to support victims. To course consists of 4 modules: 1.Types of violence & its consequences 2. Identification of victims in physiotherapy settings 3. How to help 4. Fine-tuning your response to victims of violence The course gives 1 ECTS.

The Report on Physiotherapy and Domestic Violence in 4 parts and the Training Program for physiotherapists and other health care professionals working with victims of violence can be found and downloaded on our webpage: https://opep-dv.eu/ The report and Training program have been sent to all the universities and hospitals that are collaborating with us. Also, we have disseminated them bout in national and international channels. We also have a playlist available with Estonian, Greek, Spanish, Turkish, and Russian subtitles. The playlist contains all the lectures that were featured in MOOC. Online training course: We ran the MOOC called: Abuse Recognition & Support in Healthcare: A Quick Guide for Physiotherapists, 4 times in the time of the project. Once, a pilot in English, where we had registered 114 participants from all the partner countries, ran in Spring 2024. We had very good feedback from it, but many Estonians said that if it were in Estonian, it would have even more participants. We decided to also translate the whole MOOC into Estonian. Then, in autumn, we relaunched the course in Estonian, where we had 169 Estonian participants. In Estonian, the course will be running again in Tartu Health Care College and also in Tartu University, The Institute of Sport Sciences and Physiotherapy. In Cyprus, the course was carried out by the University of Nicosia, which is a good partner to MIGS. In December, the course launched in Cyprus at the University of Nicosia, both in Greek and in English. They also decided to translate their whole course to Greek. In English there were 67 registered participants and in Greek 159 registered participants. Our Spanish partner has given the MOOC to Tecnocampus and will introduce the course as a part of its MOOC curriculum. They are now organizing all to offer it along the 2025. The Greek partner UWAH has had the opportunity to give the MOOC to educational institutions in Heraklion, Crete (such as MBS College and IEK AKMI). IEK AKMI has shown interest in incorporating the course into their programs, while MBS College started running the course on 26/1/2025.