Construction and validation of VIRGINIA: gender-based violence vignettes

Abstract

Violence against women is one of the most frequent violations in the world and the data on its prevalence calls attention to a public health problem. For this reason, the necessity of the many devices on women's protection network working effectively is primordial. Some obstacles may prevent the full functioning of the services, such as the professional's difficulty on recognizing the need of intervention in a situation of violence; the absence of this subject in training; the feeling of lack responsibility for professionals; the lack of knowledge about the service network; and incorrect personal conceptions about the phenomenon. Thus, the present study seeks to elaborate and validate a vignette tool to ascertain the attitudes and beliefs of protection services' professionals. The first methodological step will be the systematic review on gender-based violence and vignettes, followed by their elaboration phase. From then on, the instrument will be evaluated by specialists (n=12) in the areas of construction and validation of vignettes, gender-based violence and women's rights. Quantitative data from the assessment of judges will be ranked according to their rate of agreement and reliability and the suggestions analyzed one by one. With the vignettes adjusted, it is planned to apply a pilot test with 10 professionals in the women's protection network, followed by the analysis of the data generated there. Finally, there will be the application of the instrument for college students and protection services' professionals (n= 100), in order to measure their perception of the topic. It is expected that the vignette instrument should be able to accurately measure attitudes, behaviors and conceptions about gender-based violence. (AU)