A survey on violence education: a report of the STFM Violence Education Task Force

A national survey of all family practice residency directors was undertaken to assess programs' current efforts in the area of violence education. The survey also investigated directors' views about particular types of violence and beliefs about how involved family practice residency programs should be in educating physicians in these areas. The majority of respondents (59%) indicated that violence education was represented "not at all" or "very little" in their formal curricula. However, there was significantly more teaching about specific types of violence, with child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, and rape receiving the greatest amount of national teaching efforts. The results of the survey suggest that awareness of particular aspects of violence creates teaching activity about those topics in family practice residency programs.