Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 2011 Beliefs and attitudes of final-year nursing students on honour crimes: a cross-sectional study M. CAN1 MD & T. EDIRNE2 MD 1 Assistant Professor at the Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Balikesir, Balikesir, and 2 Assistant Professor at the Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Pamukkale, Denizli, Turkey Keywords: attitudes, domestic violence, gender-based violence, honour crimes, nursing students Correspondence: T. Edirne Pamukkale Universitesi Tip Fakültesi Aile Hekimligi Anabilim Dal? 20100 Denizli Turkey E-mail: tameredirne@yahoo.com Accessible summary · Health providers often share the same stigmatizing attitudes as the population at large. · As a key point of contact between the patient, community and the health and social welfare system, nurses have a vital role in recognizing, treating and preventing violence. · This study supports the belief that gender may influence male and female nurses' perceptions and tolerance towards honour crimes. Abstract Accepted for publication: 10 March 2011 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2011.01732.x The purpose of this study was to evaluate perceptions of nursing students about honour crimes and examine their beliefs about inquiring information from the victims of honour crimes. A questionnaire including demographic data was administered to a sample of 225 male and female final-year students in a nursing school. Among them, we found that significantly more male students than female students justify honour crimes. Although the majority of both male and female nursing students believed that asking for honour crimes is useful, significantly more male than female nursing stu- dents were against screening for honour crimes. This study supports the belief that gender has an influence on nurses' perceptions, attitudes and tolerance of honour crimes. Introduction Violence, in the form of physical, sexual or emotional, against women is a widespread public health problem in Turkey and the lifetime prevalence of domestic violence (DV) ranges from 34% to 58.7% (Alper et al. 2005, Civi et al. 2005, Kocacik et al. 2007, PM, Prime Ministry General Directorate on the Status and Problems of Women 2009). While DV is 42% nationwide, it varies considerably between regions, especially between the western and eastern parts of Turkey. Nearly one out of two women living in the Eastern Anatolia region, where this study was conducted, reported having been exposed to physical vio- lence (Turkish National Maternal Mortality Study 2005). Even in the most developed societies, DV is widely present, deeply affecting the relationship between men and women (Benagiano & Schei 2004, Cook & Dickens 2009). In many parts of the world, violence is expressed in different manners according to cultural and historical cir- cumstances. One example is crime against women commit- ted in the name of honour. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to fully analyse the various conceptualizations of 'honour' and honour-related violence, the term 'honour crimes' includes any act of violence usually against women to either prevent or repair perceived violations of male or family 'honour'. Consequently, male family members receive support for punishing their female kin and at