Thesis (M. A. (Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Intimate partner violence among heterosexual couples seem to be on the rise with men as victims of female perpetrated violence. Recent research on this phenomenon indicates that partner violence against men is a social and health problem that is hidden and unspoken of in most societies. The current study was aimed at exploring men’s non-disclosure of intimate partner violence at Ga-Masemola, Sekhukhune District in Limpopo Province. Qualitative research methodology and exploratory research design were applied to successfully explore men’s non-disclosure of IPV. The target population of this study was heterosexual male victims of ages 18 and above. Non-probability sampling of blended convenience sampling and snowball sampling were employed. Data was collected using a semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions and was analysed through thematic analysis of qualitative data. The results of the study have revealed that male victims of partner violence hide their situations. Determinants of non-disclosure were found to include men’s own personal feelings of fear to disclose, masculinity factors, societal expectations and cultural norms, which negatively affect men’s decisions to disclose. Help-seeking behaviour of male victims remains a huge challenge for most male victims. Due to fear of ridicule, disbelief and false accusations, abused men seem to lack courage to seek help. The shocking outcome is that most victims appear to lack knowledge of services available for them. The study recommends that public education, advocacy and appropriate gender-sensitive intervention programmes be implemented to overcome the effects of violence and to prevent further victimisation.

The study of policy implementation has recently garnered research and federal attention highlighting the importance of implementation in achieving desired policy and program outcomes (Durlak & DuPre, 2008; Meyers, Durlak & Wandersman, 2012; National Institutes of Health, 2013). Psychology is one discipline that is well poised to guide the study of policy implementation as it can inform the creation, development, and outcomes associated with the introduction of a policy (Esses & Dovidio, 2011; Fischhoff, 1990). Given that batterer intervention programs (BIPs) have been developed to prevent future intimate partner violence (IPV) and improve victim safety, ensuring these programs have successfully implemented state standards for practice is immensely important. Despite the widespread use of state standards to guide BIP practices (Maiuro & Eberle, 2008), only one study (Boal, 2010) has assessed the extent to which BIPs comply with standards and no research has evaluated program responses to standards or the process by which implementation occurs. Given this, the current study focused on four areas of inquiry: (1) program compliance with state standards; (2) current and former BIP representatives' response to standards, including the social psychological constructs of actual control, perceived control, retrospective accounts of attitude change, absoluteness, and legitimacy; (3) program compliance as it relates to these responses; and (4) the process of implementing standards. In order to address these topics, key program representatives were assessed using a sequential mixed-methods design, which consisted of a preliminary quantitative phase (i.e., Phase One) (n = 35, response rate = 74%) and principal qualitative phase (i.e., Phase Two) (current providers: n = 13, response rate = 87%; former providers: n = 5, response rate = 100%) (Morgan, 1998). Findings from Phase One indicate that programs complied with 75% of the assessed components of standards. Phase Two findings suggest that participants primarily voiced experiences with the standards consistent with a lack of actual control, perceived control, and legitimacy. Contrary to hypotheses a statistically reliable difference in actual control, perceived control, and legitimacy were not detected across high and low compliance participants. Participants retrospectively described responses to the standards consistent with changing and maintaining negative attitudes towards the standards (31% and 31% respectively) and as hypothesized, those who shifted negative initial attitudes to be positive (i.e., a proxy for rationalization) were primarily from high compliance programs (75%) and those who maintained negative attitudes (i.e., a proxy for reactance) were all from low compliance programs (100%). While participants generally perceived the standards as primarily absolute, this construct did not differentiate those who changed and maintained negative attitudes as predicted. Participants' utilized diverse strategies to implement the standards and have changed or attempted to change many program characteristics to better comply with state standards. Participants have experienced diverse enablers to compliance (e.g., positive community collaborations; participation in the research process) and barriers to compliance (e.g., negative or lack of community collaborations; challenges understanding the standards) while attempting to implement standards. Suggestions to better facilitate compliance aligned with the enablers and barriers and centered on the need for positive information-sharing relationships among providers. Finally, former providers tended to disagree that the standards were the primary reason for program closure. Together, these findings provide valuable insight into the manifestation of common social psychological constructs during the policy implementation process, as well as information regarding the logistics of implementation. The information gathered in this study can be applied to better understand the role of actual control, perceived control, retrospective accounts of attitude change, absoluteness, and legitimacy, as they are experienced in the real world in relation to an actual policy. This extends the study of these constructs out of a laboratory and experimental context and suggests aspects of these constructs that may be relevant in applied settings. Further, data regarding the policy implementation process is useful to inform policymakers about the diverse steps that can be taken to assist implementation efforts and increase compliance.

The role of pregnant adolescents as perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) is not well understood. Socioecological factors associated with IPV (physical assault and injury, and psychological aggression) perpetrated by pregnant adolescents and the association between IPV and attitudes toward the use of physical punishment to discipline children were examined among 246 pregnant adolescents. Pregnant adolescents were more likely to report perpetrating both physical assault (24%) and psychological aggression (52.7%) than being the recipient (12.2% and 38.6%, respectively) and having been physically injured (7%) than inflicting injury (4.1%). Risk factors for perpetrating physical assault included prior assault by partner, being African American, exposure to community violence, being in trouble with the police, and multiple lifetime drug use. IPV perpetrators had more favorable attitudes toward the use of physical punishment. Interventions should address IPV and parenting attitudes in young couples to maximize the health and safety of both mother and unborn child.

One of the most common community responses to intimate partner violence is batterer intervention programs (BIPs), which are aimed at ending perpetrators' violent behavior. Unfortunately, however, the success rates of BIPs are questionable (Aldarondo, 2002; Gondolf, 2002) and we do not know what factors of the program facilitate decreases in abusive behavior when this does occur. Specifically, it is unknown whether and how individual characteristics interact with intervention group dynamics to facilitate change. To better understand this gap in the literature, this study investigated the relationship between social support, group majority-minority status, and interpersonal dependency in predicting intimate partner violence. The study utilizes data collected for a larger study sampling 180 men enrolled in a batterer intervention program in Portland, Oregon. It was hypothesized that partner violence is positively related to interpersonal dependency and negatively related to group social support. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that majority-minority group status moderates the relationship between group social support and intimate partner violence. As predicted, men who were more dependent on their partners also reported higher levels of psychological aggression perpetrated against their partners during the past 6-months. However, this relationship did not exist between interpersonal dependency and conflict tactics related to physical assault, injury, or sexual coercion. Further, perceived social support in the group did not predict partner violence as hypothesized. However, among men who had attended nine or fewer BIP sessions, both group social support and interpersonal dependency were positively associated with psychological aggression. Finally, among men who were involved in an intimate relationship at the time of data collection, interpersonal dependency was positively related to psychological aggression and physical assault.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2009. / A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, Psychiatry. Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on August 13, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

South Africa is a very violent society, where violence is often used as a social resource to maintain control and establish authority. Global and local research suggests that there is a high prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV), a facet of this violence, although little research has been conducted into the effects of IPV during pregnancy in the South African non-governmental organisation (NGO) context. NGOs globally and in South Africa have attempted to address IPV and IPV during pregnancy by providing services that aim to assist (largely female) clients emotionally and logistically. In light of this phenomenon, this qualitative study presents data generated through the use of a lightly-structured narrative interview schedule. The interviews were conducted over three sessions with eight counsellors, all based at two NGOs in South Africa and experienced in counselling women who have suffered IPV and IPV during pregnancy. This study used Taylor and Littleton’s (2006) narrative-discursive analytical lens, infused with theoretical insights from Foucault about power, discourse and narrative in order to identify the discursive resources that shape the narratives that the counsellors shared in the interviews and how these translate into subject positions and (gendered) power relations of the men and women about whom they speak. Six discursive resources emerged from the narratives, namely a discourse of ‘traditional “African” culture’, ‘patriarchal masculinity’, ‘nurturing femininity’, ‘female victimhood’, ‘female survivorhood’ and ‘human rights’. These informed the three main narratives that emerged: narratives about IPV in general, IPV during pregnancy, and the counsellors’ narratives about their intervention strategies. Within these narratives (and the micro-narratives which comprised them), men were largely positioned as subscribing to violent patriarchal behaviour whilst women were mostly positioned as nurturing and victims of this violence. The counsellors also constructed women as largely ignorant of their options about IPV and IPV during pregnancy; they constructed these phenomena as problems that require intervention and identified a number of factors that indicate what successful IPV interventions should entail. In reflecting upon this analysis, this study also aimed to address the questions of what is achieved or gained by using these narratives and discursive resources, what the significance or consequences are of constructing and using these particular narratives and discourses and whether different narratives or discourses would have been possible. Recommendations for further research includes incorporating more sites as well as interviewing perpetrators and IPV survivors themselves, perhaps in their home language where relevant rather than English, to gain a broader and more faceted understanding of the dynamics surrounding IPV during pregnancy. A recommendation for practice in intervention against IPV during pregnancy is to introduce more holistic/systemic intervention strategies and working with communities to address this issue.

In response to a dearth of empirical literature concerning the mechanisms underlying female same-sex intimate partner violence (FSSIPV) perpetration, the purpose of this research is to inform intimate partner violence intervention and prevention strategies specific to sexual minority women. The research responds in particular, this research aims to inform a working intersectional model predicting FSSIPV perpetration, and to evaluate the face validity and construct coverage of existing survey measures related to gender, minority stress, and violence. Fourteen lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer women recruited from the greater Portland, Oregon area participated in a series of in-depth, semi-structured, open-ended one-on-one and focus group interviews. Participant recruitment involved a combination of purposive and convenience sampling methods aided by the involvement of multiple community partners working in violence and education related fields. Interview and focus group questions addressed participants' experiences with gender role stress and minority stress. Grounded theory analysis of participants' narrative responses informed the coverage and relevance of constructs in a working intersectional model predicting women's use of violence in their same-gender intimate relationships. In particular, findings indicate that sexual minority women's experiences of gender role stress and minority stress, particularly in combination, were especially influential on their identities. Sexual minority women's experiences with minority stressors were not confined to minority stressors specific to their gender identities and sexual orientations, but intersected with minority stressors related to race and class as well. These findings support an intersectional and contextually-minded approach to IPV intervention and prevention strategies.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is common among refugee women, and some adulthood and childhood factors are more influencing IPV against this group of women. Generally, there is a gap in research about the different influencing factors of IPV against refugee women. There is little empirical evidence and research about influencing factors for IPV in this vulnerable population and few studies on this specific topic in Sweden. To fill in this gap, this study aims to investigate the adulthood and childhood determinants of intimate partner violence against Persian refugee women in Sweden who had intimate partners during the past year. The main theoretical framework of this study was the Socio-ecological model (SEM). I conducted a cross-sectional study using an online survey with five questionnaires and I did descriptive analysis for reaching results and final analysis for this project. I did linear regression to analyze how much two independent variables which are socio-cultural adaptation and childhood abuse victimization affect the main dependent variable. Findings show that; childhood abuse experience/victimization history as one of the main independent variables was significantly a higher predictor of the main dependent variable. According to the findings of this study, different layers of the socio-ecological model (SEM), such as individual, family, community, and society, influenced the main outcome of the study, which was emotional and economic violence against Persian refugee women in Sweden by their intimate partners. IPV can be identified, analyzed, and prevented using the SEM model and taking into account its various interconnected layers. Research on IPV and the factors that contribute to IPV victimization in women can advance knowledge in this field and aid in the development of future preventive interventions and programs to assist this vulnerable group.

Violence against women is an issue faced by women all over the world. Violence conducted by a partner or husband is the most common form of violence that women are targeted by. Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is internationally recognized as a human rights violation as well as a major global health issue. Economic empowerment is sometimes presented as means to reduce this violence. However, if it generates protection or increased risk is debated and contradictory findings characterize the research field. This study aims to contribute by testing the two main theories (the marital dependency theory and the relative resource theory) within a previously unstudied setting: the national level. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regressions find a negative relationship between female labor force participation and physical and sexual IPV prevalence among women. Support is thereby provided for the marital dependency theory. No relationship at all is found when focusing on attitudes towards physical IPVAW and the conclusion emphasis that economic empowerment is helpful but not sufficient as a national strategy to reduce intimate partner violence targeting women.

Many studies on intimate partner violence often focus on men as perpetrators and women as victims, but this study shifts the focus to men's experiences of being victims of violence. Using the theories of stigma, masculinity, and script theory, the authors aimed to address the study's purpose, which was to investigate how men articulate their experiences of violence in close relationships. Additionally, the study explored the strategies employed by professionals working with abused men to effectively counteract the stigma associated with the challenges posed by ideals of masculinity. A qualitative approach was employed, involving the analysis of self-narratives from podcasts where abused men shared their experiences. Simultaneously, two interviews were conducted with welfare professionals specializing in assisting abused men, combining primary and secondary data. The authors concluded that the issue described by both men and welfare professionals is highly complex. Stigmatization and societal norms of masculinity present significant obstacles to men being open about their experiences of being victims of violence and seeking help. By fostering awareness of these norms among professionals and adapting support strategies accordingly, conditions are created for abused men to feel validated during the help-seeking and treatment processes.