Health professionals are often the first point of contact for victims of gender-based violence (GBV) seeking assistance and it is essential that nursing students are trained to recognise and treat the issue appropriately.
UWC’s nursing programme includes two modules in particular – Gender-Based Violence and Psychiatric Nursing Science – that enable students to engage with affected communities.
Nursing student Jeremy Tarr says, “The overall aims of these modules are to enable us to be socially responsive citizens and to participate in the management of persons who have been affected by gender-based violence and other vulnerable population groups.
“It’s important to underline that sexual violence doesn’t only affect women. Men are beating men and women are beating men as well. We also want to move from the common media focus of male on female violence.”
The fourth-year students at UWC’s School of Nursing do not just study GBV, they decided to do something about it. They conducted a fundraising campaign to help create awareness and support for various projects.
They managed to raise more than R100 000 which was donated to community centres, including Hagar House and Balula House in Fisantekraal, Belhar Lighthouse Family Church as well as the UWC Gender Equity Unit. The funds will be used for the training of women and volunteers, and to support food stability programmes.
Tarr, who served on the organising committee for the campaign and has worked in a hospital trauma unit, says as representatives of the School of Nursing, the students wanted to contribute to the financial needs of the victims they had seen in their training.
UWC’s nursing programme includes two modules in particular – Gender-Based Violence and Psychiatric Nursing Science – that enable students to engage with affected communities.
Nursing student Jeremy Tarr says, “The overall aims of these modules are to enable us to be socially responsive citizens and to participate in the management of persons who have been affected by gender-based violence and other vulnerable population groups.
“It’s important to underline that sexual violence doesn’t only affect women. Men are beating men and women are beating men as well. We also want to move from the common media focus of male on female violence.”
The fourth-year students at UWC’s School of Nursing do not just study GBV, they decided to do something about it. They conducted a fundraising campaign to help create awareness and support for various projects.
They managed to raise more than R100 000 which was donated to community centres, including Hagar House and Balula House in Fisantekraal, Belhar Lighthouse Family Church as well as the UWC Gender Equity Unit. The funds will be used for the training of women and volunteers, and to support food stability programmes.
Tarr, who served on the organising committee for the campaign and has worked in a hospital trauma unit, says as representatives of the School of Nursing, the students wanted to contribute to the financial needs of the victims they had seen in their training.
