SUPPORTING VICTIMS OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE WITH COGNITIVE DIVERSITY: GAPS IN TRADITIONAL CURRICULUM

Resumo

Gender-based violence (GBV) primary prevention has been recognized as a crucial dimension in professionals’ work in several areas of education, social work, psychology, medical and nurse sciences as well as in the judicial system. However, a detailed analysis of curricula established at undergraduate levels usually shows the absence of providing students with the knowledge and specific skills to deal with gender-based violence victims, namely when involving more vulnerable groups, such as those with cognitive diversity. In this way, more initiatives are needed in this field to fill the gap in professionals' training skills in order to improve the quality of services and give more adequate responses to victims. In this way, the project ATHENA BEGIN was designed to provide evidence-based material for professionals who deal with victims of GBV with cognitive diversity, using a set of complementary methodologies. This paper presents the main findings of the Project ATHENA BEGIN highlighting the empirical data collected and the prominent professional training needs.