Introduction:
Domestic violence includes wide range of violations, which affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels and can happen to anyone. It effects on the well-being of the whole family and results in serious physical, mental, sexual- and reproductive health problems. It is a public health issue that needs to be addressed with social and healthcare professionals playing an essential role in prevention and early intervention. These professionals need more education and easily accessible tools to identify and intervene in domestic violence. In order to address these needs, Erasmus+ funded project “DOMINO – Educational mobile application for prevention of Domestic Violence” was developed with the aim to provide knowledge and education for current and future social- and healthcare professionals by developing an educational DOMINO mobile application for prevention and early intervention of domestic violence. The aim of the current study, which is part of the project, was to explore and describe social- and healthcare professionals’ educational needs on domestic violence and its prevention.

Material and Methods:
Qualitative study approach was used to get to obtain the perceptions and in-depth picture of the social- and healthcare professionals’ educational needs on domestic violence and its prevention. In order to obtain useful material, two panel discussions were conducted in Finland, Greece and Portugal among professionals and higher education teachers in the field of social and health care during summer-autumn, 2021. Total number of participants were 31 (Finland n=12, Greece n=12, Portugal n=7). The transcribed data were analyzed by thematic content analysis.

Results:
Participants’ perceptions of domestic violence and its prevention were that domestic violence is a multidimensional phenomenon, which has various consequences for several aspects of life. Professionals told also to have difficulties addressing their concern of domestic violence due to absence of knowledge and tools. Education, intervention, and strategies were seen as solutions to prevent domestic violence. Education was seen to be most important one. Also, professionals’ communication and situation management skills as well as national and international strategies were mentioned as valuable methods. Educational needs for prevention of domestic violence were expressed based on content, methods and practices, such as service system and legislation. Participants suggested multidisciplinary methods for sufficient education. Especially, digital learning methods were seen significant and useful.

Conclusions:
The findings of the current study highlight the social- and healthcare professionals’ need for education about domestic violence and its prevention. There is also a growing demand of online education as well as mobile learning, which is available and accessible for all interested stakeholders. The results of this study provided insights for the design of an open access online DOMINO course (5 ECTS) on this important topic, which can be used for training purposes by all interested stakeholders (see: https://domino.turkuamk.fi/domino-course/). In addition, a DOMINO mobile application available in English, Greek, Portuguese, Latvian, Finnish and Swedish has been developed to allow further accessibility (in Google Play store: DOMINO – stop domestic violence).