JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The optimal educational approach for preparing health professionals with the knowledge and skills to effectively recognize and respond to family violence, including child maltreatment and intimate partner violence, remains unclear. The Violence, Evidence, Guidance, and Action (VEGA) Family Violence Education Resources are a novel intervention that can be completed via self-directed learning or in a workshop format; both focus on improving health professional preparedness to address family violence.

Objective:

This protocol outlines two mixed method studies designed to generate initial estimates of the effectiveness of VEGA’s educational approaches as adjuncts to standard health professional education.

Methods:

The RISE with Residents and RISE with Veteran Service Providers (henceforth “RISE with Veterans”) research studies utilize embedded experimental mixed method research designs. The quantitative strand for each study follows the principles of a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT). For RISE with Residents, 80 postgraduate medical trainees will be recruited; for RISE with Veterans, 80 health professionals who work/have worked with Veterans (or their family members) of the Canadian military or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in a direct service capacity, will be recruited. Participants will complete quantitative assessments at baseline, post-intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. A sub-set of participants from each arm will undergo a qualitative semi-structured interview with the aim of describing participants’ perceptions of the value and impact of each VEGA modality, as well as research burden. Scores on potential outcome measures will be mapped to excerpts of qualitative data via a mixed methods joint display to aid in the interpretation of findings.

Results:

As of July 14th, 2023, we consented 71 individuals to participate in the RISE with Residents study; data collection will be completed in August 2023. As of July 14th, 2023, we consented 30 individuals in the RISE with Veterans study; enrollment will continue into the Fall of 2023 and data collection will be completed in January 2024. For both studies, no data analysis has taken place at the time of manuscript submission. We expect that results for both studies will be submitted for peer-reviewed publication in the Spring/Summer of 2024.

Conclusions:

Reducing the impacts of family violence remains a pressing public health challenge. Both research projects will provide a valuable methodological contribution about the feasibility of trial methods in health professions education focused on family violence. They will also contribute to education science about the differences in the effectiveness of self-directed versus facilitator-led learning strategies. Clinical Trial: The protocol for each study was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (RISE with Residents: NCT05490121; RISE with Veterans: NCT05490004).