Domestic Violence Awareness Month is October

Posted by Carolyn Martin on October 1st, 2015 Posted in: News from NLM, Public Health

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Domestic violence is any pattern of mistreatment or abusive behavior as a means to gain control or maintain control of a family or household member. This abuse can be in the form of physical harm, sexual manipulation, intimidation, financial dependence. Domestic violence can happen to anyone at all stages of life and across all educational and socioeconomic backgrounds.  Abusive relationships not only have a traumatic effect on the victim and those around them but domestic violence also has a huge impact on both an economical and a societal level nationally and internationally.  Working together to bring awareness, information, and public policy are just some of the ways to work towards the prevention of this global epidemic.

Health Services Research Information Central (HSRIC) page has recently posted a new topic page on domestic violence with all kinds of links to information including data, webinars, and education that you may want to consider including in a library subject guide especially if you have students doing any kind of research projects.  This topic page is also informative for clinicians as well as other health and community professionals.

The National Library of Medicine has a new traveling exhibit, “Confronting Violence, Improving Women’s Lives”.  The exhibition is currently on display at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. Confronting Violence tells a story that is unfamiliar to most. In fact, within the scholarly community, no one has written about this chapter in history.

For many, the anti-domestic violence movement came into focus during the 1985 Surgeon General’s Workshop on Violence and Public Health or with the passage of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act. Yet, for years prior, nurse reformers were working on the front lines in shelters and emergency rooms across the country. They conducted studies, analyzed data and developed protocols for identification and treatment of patients who had experienced domestic violence.

This vanguard of nurses had their work cut out. Until the late 1970s, medicine as a whole had largely dismissed or failed to acknowledge domestic violence as a significant health issue. Nurses pushed the larger medical community to identify victims of battering, adequately respond to victims’ needs and work towards prevention. Confronting Violence chronicles the experiences of these passionate, persistent nurses, who changed the medical profession and dramatically improved services to victims of domestic violence in the latter half of the 20th century; they developed best practices for care based on research and their professional experience and took part in activism to put domestic violence on the map as a national public health concern. The work continues today, as individuals from all walks of life and organizations draw upon the lessons of the past to develop innovative and creative approaches to supporting survivors and preventing domestic violence. Everyone can make a difference.

“The National Library of Medicine creates exhibitions and companion Web sites to inform the public about raising awareness of our rich collections,” said NLM Acting Director Betsy Humphreys. “Confronting Violence: Improving Women’s Lives, tells a powerful and important story drawing largely from the NLM’s History of Nursing and Domestic violence Collection.” This collection includes a selection of reports, journal articles and manuscripts, and artifacts such as buttons, posters and photographs from the first generation of nurse activists, like Daniel Sheridan and Jacquelyn Campbell. It also features the stories and objects of some of today’s activists and community organizations.

The online exhibition incorporates a Digital Gallery of videos about domestic violence from the NLM’s collection. Education resources are also featured in the online exhibition, including K-12 lesson plans, a higher education module; an online activity and a robust selection of resources including K-12 suggested readings. In addition, the web feature, Related Resources at NLM, includes a selection of published articles on domestic violence and forensic nursing available through PubMed Central.

The traveling banner adaptation of Confronting Violence, Improving Women’s Lives will be traveling to 50 sites across the country over the next four years. Please visit the Traveling Exhibition Services Web site to see the tour itinerary and find this exhibition near you.