20 Men can be victims too
Matter for discussion submitted by the RCN Ethics Forum
That this meeting of RCN Congress discusses the lack of awareness of, and resources for, male victims of domestic violence
Work led by the RCN Nursing Development Committee.
The debate at Congress 2008 focused on the issue of nurses' lack of understanding about the issue of male victims of domestic violence. It highlighted the increase in the numbers of people coming through Acute and Mental Health Services who have admitted to have suffered some form of domestic violence.
The whole area of male victims of domestic violence is one which is ignored or not recognised as a statistic of abuse. RCN Congress debated the need for further exploratory work to be done on the issue of male victims and how nurses and other health care professionals could be better equipped to deal with this in a variety of settings.
The RCN is preparing an e-publication for all health care professionals who come into contact with victims of domestic abuse or are family or friends of victims of domestic violence.
The publication, Domestic Abuse, will include a specific section on issues around male victims. The publication is due for completion in 2009 and will provide information and guidance that will be of value to members, the general public, and organisations such as the police, social services and charities.
In March - World Woman's Health Day - a conference was at RCN HQ which looked at the topic of domestic violence and a consultative exercise was carried out with members. The issue of male victims of domestic violence was also raised and discussed at this event.
Plans are underway for the placement of journal articles to highlight the whole matter of male victims of domestic violence. Work will also commence on identifying good practice in all four UK countries.