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Domestic
Violence Update
by
Becky Sisk, (c) January 29, 2003
Domestic
Violence occurs "When spouses, intimate partners, or dates
use physical violence, threats, emotional abuse, harassment,
or stalking to control the behavior of their partners
(American Bar Association, 2002)." Victims and perpetrators
can be of any age and from any religion or socioeconomic
class. Most victims in heterosexual relationships are
female. Most perpetrators are males who have
witnessed domestic violence as a
child.
More
than 650,000 violent crimes in 2000 were committed by someone
with whom the victim was intimate (National Advisory Council
on Violence Against Women, 2002). The incidence of same
sex domestic violence averages 13,740 for males and 16,900 for
females.
Traditionally,
the relationships within a family have been considered
personal. Now, however, domestic violence is considered
a crime (4Woman.go, 2002). Domestic violence can
take many forms (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence,
2003):
-
Physical
abuse - physical attack or battering
-
Sexual
abuse - unwanted sexual activity
-
Economic
abuse - withholding money; restricting from employment
-
Emotional
(psychological) abuse - verbal abuse, harassment, excessive
possessiveness, isolation from friends and family, destruction
of personal property
Assessment
of Domestic Violence
How
can you tell if domestic violence is occurring in a family (Women's
Issues and Social Empowerment, 1998a)? Consider domestic
violence
if:
-
The victim
has obvious physical injuries.
-
The
victim shows signs of depression or suicidal ideas.
-
The
victim has a history of poor health or medical problems.
-
The
victim expresses confusion, indecisiveness, or anxiety.
-
There
is a history of domestic violence in the victim's family of
origin.
-
The
victim has a lack of control over his or her own finances or
frequently seeks financial help.
Nursing
Interventions:
In
personal encounters with domestic violence victims:
-
Accept
the victim and listen to his or her concerns.
-
Believe
what the victim says.
-
Find
a safe environment for the victim and children (safe house).
-
Assure
the victim that domestic violence is not the norm and that
one does not need to stay in the situation.
-
Provide
information on community resources; refer to support systems.
-
Assure
the victim of confidentiality.
-
Assist
the victim in making his or her own decisions.
To
work within your community against domestic violence (National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2003):
-
Get
your local media involved.
-
Go
to community leaders.
-
Involve
educators.
-
Seek
funding for programs.
-
Go
to the grassroots.
-
Target
education to children and teenagers as well as possible
perpetrators and victims.
-
Target
all information providers, small local community
papers as well as metropolitan newspapers.
-
Build
coalitions between educators, service providers, media, community-service
organizations, and faith-based programs.
-
Evaluate
your efforts and revise them if they are ineffective.
Working
with families experiencing domestic violence is complex. Do not
blame the victim. Assuming an antagonistic view to the perpetrator
is likewise not helpful. The Duluth Domestic Abuse
Intervention
Project (Women's Issues and Social
Empowerment, 1998b) is based on a
theoretical model of power and control, where coercion,
threats, intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, and other
behaviors reflect an imbalance of power in the relationship. Interventions
are geared at negotiating, using non-threatening behavior, respect,
trust, and other positive behaviors to take control and power out of
the relationship. The process is documented in Pence et al. (1993)
and Shepard & Pence (1999).
References:
4Woman.gov
(2002). Violence against women. Retrieved January
25,
2003. http://www.4woman.gov/violence/index.cfm.
American
Bar Association (2002). Multidisciplinary responses to
domestic
violence. Retrieved January 25, 2003.
http://www.abanet.org/domviol/mrdv/identify.html
National
Advisory Council on Violence Against Women (2002).
Toolkit
to End Violence. Retrieved January 25, 2003.
http://toolkit.ncjrs.org/
Pence,
E. et al. (1993). Education groups for men who
batter: The
Duluth
Model. New York: Springer.
Shepherd,
M.F., & Pence, E.L. (1999). Coordinating community
responses
to domestic violence: Lessons from the Duluth model.
Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Women's
Issues and Social Empowerment (1998a). Interpreting the
signs
of domestic violence. Retrieved January 25, 2003.
http://wise.infoxchange.netau/DVIM/DVSigns.htm
Women's
Issues and Social Empowerment (1998b). The Duluth
Domestic
Abuse Intervention Project. Retrieved January 25, 2003.
http://wise.infoxchange.netau/DVIM/DAIP.htm |
