Overview of Presentation

For my educational topic, I decided to focus on adult victims of intimate partner violence
(IPV). I selected this subset of abuse victims because, in my opinion, they are double oppressed
(a major focus of Paulo Freires work). Not only are they oppressed while subjected to violence
at home, they are often subjected to negative judgement, opinions, and treatment while
attempting to seek care for their injuries. People generally feel sympathetic when the victim of
abuse is a child, elderly, or classified as a vulnerable person (disabled). However, when the
victim is perceived as a capable, healthy individual they may be looked down upon. I identified
the need for this educational topic in the emergency room that I work in, after observing
numerous healthcare workers and law enforcement personnel demonstrating uncaring behaviors
towards a female adult assault victim, because of the patients refusal to report. In addition, our
ER abuse screening tools are infrequently used and presented to patients in a manner that does
not reflect its importance. According to the Centers for Disease Control, over half of female
patients suffering from injuries, other that motor vehicle collisions, present to the ER due to a
form of IPV (Breiding, Chen, & Black, 2014). Sullivan (2014) reported IPV victims seek ER
care approximately 6-10 times before the abuse is identified and/or disclosed. Thats
approximately 6-10 times medical professionals have failed this patient.
My educational project consisted of a website and/or printed materials with the aim of
defining IPV, identifying contributing risk factors to IPV, and an action steps the healthcare
provider should take. Paulo Freires theory of critical pedagogy was the framework for my
presentation. In his theory, Freire discussed the usage of praxis. The praxis consists of:
reflection-seeing the problem lived by the client, theory-analyzing the contributing factor, and
action-acting on the situation (Freire, 1968). I used each section of Freires methodology as a

learning section tab in my website. I discussed risk factors, warnings signs, and when disclosure
of abuse to the authorities is mandatory. I utilized ER staff and 7 nursing/paramedic students
visiting the ER for clinicals (after asking permission from ER management and the nursing
clinical professors). In addition to using the praxis for teaching about abuse victims, I viewed the
potential students as partners in the educational process. They were willing to participate in my
project; therefore, I allowed them to choose which manner the material was presented to them. I
offered options as follows: visiting the website, reading a printed copy of the website material, or
a verbal discussion. Freire believed that students should be active participants in their learning,
being able to have an open dialogue with their instructor. This method reduces the banking of
information environment and creates one where it is problem-posing instead (Freire, 1968).
Self-reflection
I believe the project went well. It was somewhat difficult to prepare the educational
material with the intent of not banking information but creating a dialogue with the student. It
is difficult to have a dialogue when dealing with time constraints and providing teaching via
electronic devices and printed material. The majority of the students chose to view the website
and discuss the material after reading. No one chose verbal instructions. This further
strengthened Freires belief that students do not want to be lectured at. The degree of
engagement varied in the process. I felt more of an enthusiasm to learn from the nursing and
paramedic students versus nurses that I would describe as competent in their practice. The
students did achieve the learning goals that I established. I am aware of this because I
administered a pre and posttest. It was actually the same test. However, the participants scored
better on the posttest and were able to verbalize why an answer was correct or incorrect. The
website worked well. In addition, the topic fit perfectly with the oppression discussed in Freires

model. Conversely, the printed material portion did not go as well as planned. When using the
printed material, the participants missed out on the website videos provided as part of the
educational tool. Therefore, they missed out on education. I am not sure how I could alter or
change this issue. Lastly, I felt lost without being able to utilize PowerPoint. When PowerPoint is
taken away as a format, it limits the educators options.
What I would like to change next time, is the setting in which the teaching was
administered. I spread the teaching out over several days due to limited number of participants
available each day. Also, I would like to be able to have the ability to create an online assessment
tool. This would eliminate the need to print out copies and evaluate the results by hand. I
previously considered myself very knowledgeable about this topic. Yet, I learned so much new
information. For example, I was not aware that there are situations when healthcare workers are
mandated to report IPVviolence with weapon involvement and when children are exposed. I
experienced the cycle of learning Freire spoke of, in which, the student learns from the teacher
and the teacher learns from the student. I am likely to use Freires praxis model and critical
pedagogy for future teaching. I am in agreement with his beliefs and interested in empowering
learners. It is my belief that empowered learners are not only active participants, they are vested
participants.

References
Breiding, M. J., Chen, J., & Black, M. C. (2014). Intimate partner violence in the United States
2010. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for
Disease Control.
Freire, P. (1968). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Seabury Press
Sullivan, T. (2014). Triage challenges: Recognizing intimate partner violence. Journal of
Emergency Nursing, 40(6), 632-633. doi:
http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2079/10.1016/j.jen.2014.08.010