Family Violence and Public Health Education

Abstract

The public health approach has advanced our understanding of family violence and our capacity to develop, implement, and disseminate successful intervention and prevention strategies. To ensure successful public health responses to family violence, emerging public health professionals must be trained to become competent in the field. Boston University School of Public Health has developed a course to help build a critical mass of practitioners. This article describes the content and initial experience with the course, the use of teaching assistants as partners in the educational process, and recommendations for future initiatives in training public health and other health professionals.