Dentistry students and practitioners across Australia will now be equipped with the skills they need to recognise and respond to patients harmed by domestic and sexual violence thanks to a range of industry-leading tools developed by James Cook University.
Officially launched last week by experts from JCU’s Dentistry and Social Work fields, the educational videos and related documents cover several role-playing scenarios, the use of trauma-informed care, legal and ethical considerations, working with First Nations Australians, and how to avoid unintended consequences when providing assistance to victim-survivors.
JCU Dentistry Adjunct Associate Professor Felicity Croker said that as a significant number of JCU students had treated patients with indicators of domestic and sexual violence (DSV), additional skills were needed to deal with those scenarios.
“One of the things we hope has come out of the launch of these resources is that we’ll also be able to bring on board the clinical supervisors, dentists in practice and make it available to other dental schools,” she said.
“JCU had the first embedded domestic and sexual violence program in a dentistry course in Australia because students found that when they went on placement, they were seeing patients who had experienced DSV and were unsure how to respond.”
The JCU program now extends to third year Dentistry students onwards and is also used by JCU-affiliated dental practitioners, with the Australian Dental Council having since made it a graduate requirement that all students have competency in recognising, assessing, and responding to domestic and family violence.
JCU Social Work Senior Lecturer Dr Ann Carrington said dentists were in a unique position and had to manage what could be an awkward environment for victim-survivors to speak up and seek support.
“We want students and practitioners to be able to listen in, make some risk assessments, and build the perfect tools to address DSV where necessary, but dentistry can be a really triggering experience for survivors of trauma,” she said.
“Once they’ve made the appropriate referrals that the patient may ask for, the next step is then considering what that does for their practice with the patient and how can all parties work together in a way that minimises the possibility of further traumatisation.
“It’s really about helping students and practitioners see how they can do that.”
Dr Carrington said the resources also covered trauma-informed practice, which takes into account the potentially triggering nature of victim-survivors having to recount their experience and gives advice on how students and practitioners can address the matter sensitively moving forward.
JCU Dentistry graduate Dr Alex Dancyger said the resources were a game-changer.
“As a JCU Dental student I learnt the content but had limited exposure to patients who had experienced DSV,” she said.
“However, after graduating, without a supervisor to turn to and working rurally and with more clinical experience, I really value the resources.
“You see a variety of things, which can include DSV. Having resources to help navigate these delicate situations gives me confidence in helping my patients, especially as a new graduate when everything is new.”
The JCU resource suite was funded by a Keeping Women Safe from Violence grant from the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General.
For more information, head to
