CDA Essentials 2018 • Volume 5 • Issue 4

CDA at W ork VEGA Project: New Tools for Recognizing and Responding to Family Violence Drs. Harriett MacMillan and Nadine Wathen are family violence researchers and the leads on the VEGA Project, an initiative funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada that develops evidence-based resources to support health and social service providers in recognizing and responding to family violence. ➲ Improving care for people exposed to family violence The VEGA (Violence, Evidence, Guidance and Action) Project ( projectvega.ca ) provides guidance, curriculum, and tools to educate and assist health and social service providers to recognize and respond safely to people experiencing family violence. With a focus on child maltreatment, children’s exposure to intimate partner violence and intimate partner violence in adults, VEGA collaborates with 22 national health and social service organizations, including CDA, to identify what’s useful at the point-of-care, and what’s needed for primary and continuing professional education. VEGA aims to change attitudes and teach skills rooted in evidence-based and practical knowledge about family violence. ➲ Trauma- and violence-informed care At its first national meeting with its 22 partner organizations, VEGA identified where the knowledge gaps are for providers in responding to family violence. For example, providers lacked a foundational knowledge base about family violence and were looking for ways to develop “real world” practice competencies and a safe approach to engaging with people about violence. VEGA addresses the issue of how to both effectively educate a broad range of different health and social service providers, and, crucially, how to provide approaches that can be adapted to the realities of different practice settings (e.g., working in a rural dental office versus an urban tertiary care hospital). The core of VEGA guidance on recognizing and responding safely to family violence integrates current best evidence with practice- oriented advice, such as the World Health Organization’s LIVES protocol: Listen, Inquire about needs and concerns, Validate, Enhance safety, Support. Given the importance of understanding the impact of trauma and violence, including harm caused by the conditions of people’s lives, and even the systems providing services, VEGA has integrated what they term a Trauma- and Violence-Informed Care (TVIC) approach to all resources, tools and curricula. ➲ Barriers to involvement In addition to uncertainties about the best way to engage patients on the issue of family violence, an additional challenge facing dental providers is a work environment that may lack space for confidential discussions, particularly when pediatric patients are accompanied by a caregiver. Providers may also hesitate to engage patients on the issue of family violence if they are uncertain about their legal obligations, especially with respect to mandatory reporting to child welfare authorities when children are suspected of being at risk. For example, providers may be unclear about what they need to document and how, or when and how to initiate reporting. a Dr. MacMillan Dr. Wathen Additional Resources neighboursfriendsandfamilies.ca provides resources for detecting and responding to signs of woman abuse. makeitourbusiness.ca provides resources to help employers meet their obligations to address domestic violence in the workplace. cwrp.ca/help provides contact information for reporting suspected childmaltreatment, and available parent and family support services in each province and territory. hotpeachpages.net provides domestic violence information and an international directory of agencies in over 110 languages. futureswithoutviolence.org provides programs, policies and campaigns that empower individuals and organizations to end violence against women. 18 | 2018 | Issue 4