The effect of a domestic violence interclerkship on the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of third-year medical students.

Purpose: To determine whether participation in an intensive domestic violence interclerkship (DVI) improved the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of two successive cohorts of students at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Method: The authors measured the knowledge, attitudes, and skills pertaining to domestic violence of third-year students in the classes of 1997 and 1998 using a validated written examination administered before, immediately after, and six months after participation in a 3.5-day or two-day DVI, respectively; they compared the scores using paired t-tests.