| dc.description.abstract | College students represent a vulnerable group for dating violence
(DV), as many of them might have few experiences on
dating relationships; therefore, they might have limited resolution
conflict skills. Researchers have consistently found
that both victimization and perpetration of DV have negative
consequences on health and well-being, including anxiety,
physical injury, and low academic performance. DV in college
campuses is a prevalent and complex issue that requires
a public health approach to be addressed. Thus, providers of
most of the student-oriented services should be engaged in
detecting and responding to DV. Although screening for DV
in different services (e.g., counseling and health care centers)
have been worldwide implemented for many universities, in
Costa Rica, it is not a common practice, leading to an inadequate
recognition of this problem and therefore failing to
address it. Indeed, little is known about the knowledge and
ability of professionals offering health and academic services
to students to recognize signs of DV. Therefore, this
descriptive qualitative study aims to address this gap by
identifying the perception of these professionals about alert
signs of DV among college students in Costa Rica. Thirtyfive
professionals from the five public universities in the
country were recruited for this study, including dentists,
nurses, counselors, physicians, psychologists, and social
workers (age = 44 + 8.5 years old, experience = 6 + 6.3
years working at the university). From a conventional content
analysis of the transcription of the interviews, two
themes emerged that map the complex interaction among
social, sexual, physical, academic, and psychological signs
of DV. Results also stressed that warning signs patterns are
different between victims and perpetrators, thus screening
criteria should consider this difference. Social, psychological,
and cybernetic alert signs are the most difficult to recognize,
as victims tend to normalize them. Perpetrators are
more likely to exhibit strong personalities, while victims are
more likely to report low academic performance. These findings
might inform to researchers about the constructs that
should be included in DV screening instruments for the
country. Results might also be used for training academic
and health care professionals working on campus services,
so they might develop the skills to identify students going
through DV experiences. | |
