A Scoping Review on the Use of Experiential Learning in Professional Education on Intimate Partner Violence

Aurora Allison; Ambereen Weerahandi; Torri Johnson; Jennifer Koshan; Georgina Bagstad; Carla Ferreira; Angelique Jenney; Breanne A Krut; Krista Wollny

doi:10.1007/s10896-023-00552-4

A Scoping Review on the Use of Experiential Learning in Professional Education on Intimate Partner Violence

J Fam Violence. 2023 May 4:1-20. doi: 10.1007/s10896-023-00552-4. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Aurora Allison¹, Ambereen Weerahandi², Torri Johnson², Jennifer Koshan¹, Georgina Bagstad², Carla Ferreira³, Angelique Jenney⁴, Breanne A Krut², Krista Wollny²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Law, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB Canada.
² Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary, Drive NW, PF 3239, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 Canada.
³ School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Canada.
⁴ Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB Canada.

Abstract

Purpose: Intimate partner violence (IPV) involves any form of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse including controlling behaviors by an intimate partner. Front line service workers such as social workers, nurses, lawyers, and physicians are often the first professionals to come into contact with individuals experiencing IPV but are often inadequately prepared to respond appropriately as IPV education is highly variable. Experiential learning (EL), also known as learning by doing, has gained much attention from educators; however, the extent and type of EL strategies used to teach IPV competencies has not yet been explored. Our aim was to extract what is known from the literature about the use of EL strategies to teach IPV competencies to front line service providers.

Methods: We conducted a search from May 2021 through November 2021. Reviewers independently screened citations in duplicate using pre-determined eligibility criteria. Data collected included study demographics (publication year, country, etc.), study participants, and information about the IPV EL.

Results: Of 5216 identified studies, 61 were included. Medicine and nursing represented the majority of learners in the included literature. Graduate students were the targeted learners in 48% of articles. Low fidelity EL was used most frequently in 48% of the articles; and role play was the EL mode most frequently utilized (39%) overall.

Conclusions: This scoping review provides a comprehensive overview of the limited literature on how EL is used to teach IPV competencies and identifies significant gaps related to the lack of intersectional analysis within educational interventions.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10896-023-00552-4.

Keywords: Education; Experiential learning; Front line worker; Intimate partner violence; Simulation.

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