A dissertation submitted to the faculty of arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts (clinical psychology) / The present research study, located in the field of social psychology and attribution theory investigated variations in causal attributions of abused women in relation to reported severity, duration and frequency of the abuse. The study aimed to expand current attributional research to incorporate global/specific attributional dimensions of blame. Although theories of learned helplessness have been linked to global attributions of blame, this relationship has been under-researched in the area of women abuse. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version] / AC2017

Thesis (M. A. (English Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2003 / Refer to the document / National Research Foundation (NRF)

Thesis ( M.A. (African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2014 / Refer to document

In this research the prevalence, experiences and nature of child-to-mother violence from a high-risk geographical area were investigated. The aims of the study were to identify these factors within contemporary communities and develop validated recommendations for interventions to support affected mothers, children and families. This form of family pathology has been positioned within juvenile justice and medical models rather than family violence literature. It appears to be poorly understood, underreported and hidden from public view. Thus, it was difficult for some affected women to recognise what they were experiencing as abuse. In the literature, mothers were reported as the primary targets of violence and sons the predominant perpetrators. Incidence rates varied widely from samples collected 30 to 40 years ago. Other anomalies in the literature revealed power in mother-child relationships to be unclear, and the gender of targets of violence and perpetrators was not made explicit in the literature. In this study a mixed method design was used over four distinct phases: (1) development and validation of an instrument; (2) conducting a pilot study; and (3) population study; and (4) workshop with service providers. Psychometric tests on the instrument indicated a 0.97 correlation coefficient on a test re-test, and Cronbach’s alpha achieved correlation coefficient of 0.91 for the 24 item scale and 0.99 correlation coefficient for the 17 item scale. Results signify prevalence of child-to-mother violence in 50.9% [n = 1024] of the households surveyed. Key findings indicate 50.3% [n=521] of women were afraid in their family of origin, and 39.2% [n=521] of children had been witness to violence in the home previously. In addition, younger mothers experienced greater child-to-mother violence; as women’s level of education increased, their experience of child-to-mother violence decreased; single mothers experienced greater child-to-mother violence; and were more likely to live in households with access to casual employment or were unemployed. Perpetrators were predominantly sons, 58.7% [n = 521]. Half of the women who experienced child-to-mother violence spoke to someone; and experiences for women with a partner present in the home were divided between supportive and unsupportive behaviour from the partner. The most popular suggestions for support were affordable long-term counselling for youth and family, parent workshops, information and education, non-judgemental advocacy for mothers and their families, support groups for mothers, families and youth and peer mentorship programs. Women made salient their experiences related to child-to-mother violence which revealed the seriousness and complexity of this issue for women. As a result five key themes were developed: (1) Living in the red zone: The experience of child-to-mother violence, this theme referred to women’s sense of danger and difficulty in rasing an abusive child; (2) The damage is done: The breakdown of relationships, which described the breakdown and discord within relationships after experiencing child-to-mother violence; (3) Order out of chaos: Successful transition back into the family; identified the re-integration of relationships between the child/ren and mother; (4) Falling through the cracks: Barriers to service provision, drew attention to the difficulties women faced trying to access appropriate services; and, (5) Cry for help: Where to from here?, focused on suggestions by the mothers for support services. A workshop consultation with service providers revealed a number of broad recommendations: (1) Zero tolerance for violence, young people taking responsibility for violence; (2) Awareness of child-to-mother violence campaign; (3) Information and education packages; (4) Case management approach for families utilising services; (5) Co-operation between service providers; (6) 24 hour telephone service for advice; (7) Women centred support groups and group interventions; (8) Respite care; (9) Specialised counselling services; and (10) Mentoring programs. This study supported the view that power is a complex issue, particularly for women experiencing child-to-mother violence. Women developed feelings of ambiguity for their abusive child owing to resentment that built up for the child targeting them with abuse at the same time sympathising with the child for their particular circumstances. Providing support for women must be a priority. Key suggestions for support include: raising awareness through information and education packages, emergency phone support, building relationships, women centred support groups and peer mentoring. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Marriage and Family Therapy, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-153).

Thesis (MCur (Nursing Science))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A. (Political & International Studies)) - Rhodes University, 2008. / A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Political & International Studies)

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global public health problem and occurs in all countries including Hong Kong. Women are significantly more likely to report being victimized by intimate partner than men. IPV can result in high personal and social costs in terms of personal health consequences, burden on the medical care and loss productivity for the society. Early and effective interventions for women survivors of IPV are utmost importance. Increasing the safety behaviours education to abused women is one of the aims of advocacy interventions that may prevent further abuse and increase the safety and well-being of those women. It is crucial for nurses to assess the effectiveness of the advocacy intervention in order to apply the best evidence into practice in the local settings. However, there are no specific interventions or guidelines for women survivors of IPV are available in Hong Kong local healthcare system including the STD clinics or the Social Hygiene Clinics. In this dissertation, a translational nursing research related to an effective advocacy intervention for women survivors of IPV is described. The purposes of this study are (1) to conduct a systematic literature review on interventions to increase safety behaviours for women survivors of IPV; (2) to summarize and synthesize the data from the identified literatures; (3) to assess the implementation potential of the proposed innovation on advocacy intervention; (4) to develop an evidence-based practice guideline; (5) to develop an implementation plan; and (6) to develop an evaluation plan to assess the effectiveness of the proposed evidence-based guideline. A systematic literature search was conducted and a total of nine studies were identified in the review. The level of evidence and critical appraisal of each selected study was criticized by using the grading system of Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN). After the integrative review, the implementation potential of the proposed innovation on advocacy intervention for women survivors of IPV was assessed in terms of different aspects, including target audience and setting, transferability, feasibility and cost-benefit ratio. Then an evidence-based guideline was developed based on the level of evidence with grades of recommendation stated. For the implementation plan was divided into two parts, the communication plan and the pilot study plan. After communicating with the different identified stakeholders and providing proper training programme to the innovators, a pilot study test was carried out for concrete information on the feasibility of the proposed innovation. Finally, an evaluation plan was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed innovation. The aim of this dissertation is to increase the safety behaviours of the target population and to reduce further abuse. With the implementation of the evidence-based advocacy intervention, the women client’s knowledge on safety-promoting behaviours should be improved significantly thus to improve their health and also to increase their safety. / published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

Introduction: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent public health problem that brings many adverse outcomes to individuals and societies. Understanding, preventing, and reducing IPV is important to minimize the consequences. Instead of studying IPV as a single phenomenon, Johnson’s typology of domestic violence suggests that there are four types of IPV which have differential effects on survivors’ health. Violence and coercive control used by individuals in the relationship are the key components to categorizing the types of IPV. Hence before applying this categorization to the Chinese context, it is first essential to examine the coercive control. Aims: This study aimed (a) to examine pattern of coercive control in Chinese intimate relationships, (b) to establish a cut-off score on the Chinese version of the Revised Controlling Behaviors Scale (C-CBS-R) to differentiate the use of coercive control, and (c) to identify Intimate Terrorism (IT) and Situational Couple Violence (SCV) in Johnson’s typology and their impact on the mental health of women survivors. Methods: A cross-sectional, mixed-methods design study was conducted. Chinese women aged 18 or above who reported being physically abused by an intimate partner in the past 12 months were recruited from shelter and community settings. The study consisted of three parts: (a) semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews to examine the coercive control used in Chinese intimate relationships, (b) qualitative and quantitative data to establish a cut-off score on C-CBS-R, and (c) a survey using a researcher-administered questionnaire to categorize types of IPV and examine their mental health effects. A set of questionnaires was used to elicit participants’ experiences of IPV, frequency of physical violence used, controlling behaviors, depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and demographic characteristics. Results: In Part 1 of the study, a pattern of coercive control was identified in the abusive intimate relationships from the interviews of 20 physically abused women. Then a cut-off score of C-CBS-R was identified as greater than 1.145 to differentiate control with and without a pattern in Part 2 of the study. Finally, a total of 334 physically abused women were recruited with 133 (40%) being identified as IT survivors while 137 (41%) were SCV survivors. IT women survivors were found to experience a significantly higher frequency of physical violence, physical injuries, and use of medical services than SCV survivors. The age difference between the woman and her partner, expressed fear of her partner, experience of financial hardship, and sexual coercion by an intimate partner in the previous year were significantly associated with the occurrence of IT. Using linear regression model analysis, IT women survivors were found to report more severe depressive and PTSD symptoms than SCV survivors with and without confounding by other factors. Conclusion: This study developed a cut-off score on C-CBS-R to differentiate the use of control and identified IT and SCV based on the use of control and violence by individuals according to Johnson’s typology. IT women survivors were found to experience more severe mental health impacts than SCV survivors, showing the differential effect on women survivors’ health. / published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Philosophy