Happy, Healthy Women, Not Just Survivors is a joint advocacy initiative between the Australian Women's Coalition (AWC), the Australian Federation of Medical Women (AFMW) and the Victorian Medical Women's Society (VMWS).  Following on from the recent national summit, a briefing paper has been released that provides the background information, evidence and educational resources to inform and highlight the issues that need to be addressed to safely and effectively meet the needs of sexual violence survivors over a lifetime.

Sexual violence is a common experience for women in Australia, with 1 in 3 reporting sequal violence over their lifetimes and 1 in 10 reporting penetrative or attempted penetrative sexual abuse. Significant health consequences result over a lifetime, and with domestic violence, sexual violence is responsible for the greatest burden of disease for women aged 18-45 years. In site of this, women who experience sexual violence are reluctant to access healthcare services. There is a critical dissonance between survivors' needs and service provision.

Click here to download the briefing paper Happy, Healthy Women, Not Just Survivors.
Click here to view the cover letter for the paper.

Dr Jan Coles is conducting a research project which investigates how GPs recognise child abuse in practice. The research explores how GPs respond to child abuse and the decision making process involved. The GP’s experiences of reporting to child protection services will also be documented. The aim of the study is to

· Better understand how GPs recognise and respond to child abuse in clinical practice
· To describe the reporting experiences of GPs

The study has ethics approval from Monash University. The RACGP National Research and Evaluation Committee was approached but approval was not required as all participants will be from Victoria.

The project is funded by a RACGP Family Medical Care, Education and Research Grant.

A plain language explanation is available from This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for your information.

Dr Jan Coles’ background is as a general practitioner. She currently works in academic general practice and for Child Abuse Prevention
Research Australia (formerly NRCPCA). 

GPs who are interested in participating can contact Jan for more information on 9501 5512 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Jan Coles
Senior Research Fellow, Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia
Senior Lecturer, Department of General Practice, Monash University
Building 1
270 Ferntree Gully Rd
Notting Hill
Victoria 3168
AUSTRALIA

http://www.nrcpca.monash.org/

The VMWS Marvellous Medical Women project documents the stories of medical women from the Victorian Medical Women’s Society who graduated from 1930-1970.

The aim of the study is to understand the experience of women in medicine, their career and personal choices. The project will document the careers of medical women, their achievements and challenges, preserving their stories for future generations of medical women.

Ethics approval for this project was granted by the Monash University Standing Committee for Ethics in Research on Humans.  To find out more about the project please contact Dr Jan Coles or Dr Jillian Tomlinson.