Using Primary Care to Address Violence against Women in Intimate Partner Relationships: Professional Training Needs

Unified, prevention- and community-oriented, Cuba's National Health System is well positioned to address social problems such as gender violence against women. It is sometimes taken for granted that family doctors, family nurses and psychologists in the health system should be able to deal with such cases. However, some studies among these professionals have revealed misconceptions about intimate partner violence, an insufficient understanding of its causes, and greater tolerance of psychological violence than of physical and sexual violence. Cuba needs to train family doctors and clinical psychologists who are knowledgeable about the subject so that they can take part in the development and implementation of intersectoral education and prevention policies and programs, provide assistance to women who have been victims of violence, and work together with community members to create support networks that serve as monitoring mechanisms. Primary care is the ideal setting for raising awareness of the need for greater intersectoral action to systematically address violence against women. KEYWORDS Professional training, doctors, clinical psychologists, gender, spousal abuse, domestic violence, family violence, family relationships, Cuba.