Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Research Article

Using a Delphi Method to Develop Competencies: The Case of Domestic Violence

¹Scientist, Violence and Health Research Program, Women’s College Research Institute, Women’s College Hospital, Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 790 Bay St., 7th floor, Toronto, ON, M5G 1N8, Canada

²Associate Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Director, Emergency Management Support, Public Health Ontario | Santé publique Ontario, 1075 Bay Street, 11th Floor | 1075, rue Bay, 11ième étage, Toronto, ON M5S 2B2, Canada

*Corresponding Author:

Dr. Robin Mason, PhD, Scientist
Violence and Health Research Program
Women’s College Research Institute
Women’s College Hospital
Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health and
Department of Psychiatry University of Toronto, 790 Bay St.
7th floor, Toronto, ON, M5G 1N8, Canada
Tel: 416-351-3732 ext. 2764
Fax: 416-351-3746
E-mail: robin.mason@wchospital.ca

Received date: December 28, 2011; Accepted date: February 13, 2012; Published date: February 15, 2012

Citation: Mason R, Schwartz B (2012) Using a Delphi Method to Develop Competencies: The Case of Domestic Violence. J Community Med Health Edu 2:124. doi:10.4172/jcmhe.1000124

Copyright: © 2012 Mason R, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Background: The past decades have occasioned an explosion of research on Domestic Violence and the health care response. It has become clear that abused women are frequently seen in emergency departments, yet despite the research, the prevalence of the issue among patients, its serious health consequences, and the need for training acknowledged by numerous medical organizations, there is no standardized curriculum for training health care providers, nor an articulated set of competencies to guide curricular development.

Objectives: To develop evidence-based competencies on Domestic Violence relevant to health care providers, particularly those in emergency department settings.

Methods: Following a modified Delphi process, we completed a literature review for the years 2001-2006 to determine evidence-based practices. Next, an expert panel extracted relevant competencies from the reviewed literature. The competencies were confirmed through consultation with 66 stakeholders across the province of Ontario.

Results: Forty-four respondents provided concrete feedback on the competencies, confirming their importance and validity.

Conclusion: This paper describes a comprehensive methodological approach to the challenge of developing competencies in DV relevant to health care providers practicing in emergency department settings. The development of competencies is an important first step in the development of a common, standardized, evidence-based medical curriculum.

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