Abuse is a serious and underreported problem that is prevalent among women with disabilities in the United States. Studies show that the percentage of women with disabilities who have been abused is approximately 62-67%; these women experience all kinds of abuse for significantly longer periods of time. Because rehabilitation professionals have been one of the primary service providers for people with disabilities, the purpose of this study was to investigate rehabilitation professionals' Practices on helping abused women, by surveying a cross-section of rehabilitation professionals to determine their knowledge of, self-assessment concerning, and opinions about helping female consumers with abuse issues. A sample of 183 male and female professionals working in the rehabilitation field was invited to complete an electronic 53-item questionnaire developed for this study. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Demographic characteristics of the participants were used as independent variables and the total mean scores of measures of their abuse-related knowledge, opinions, and self-assessments were used as dependent variables. Three null hypotheses were addressed for this study: (1) there is no difference due to gender in subscale scores on the Rehabilitation Professionals' Practices on Helping Abused Women with Disabilities Scale (RPPHAWD); (2) there is no difference due to experience in subscale scores on the RPPHAWD; and (3) there is no difference due to certified rehabilitation counselor (CRC) status in subscale scores on the RPPHAWD. The hypotheses were tested using a 2 x 2 x 2 Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), and three individual Univariate Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) were run for each of the three subscales separately to determine where the significances may have occurred. Three principal findings resulted from the study: (1) gender was found to be statistically significant (p < .05) on subscales 1 and 3; (2) experience was not found to be statistically significant; and (3) certified rehabilitation counselor status as well as the two and three-way interactions were not found to be statistically significant. The findings may be useful in guiding policy makers and curriculum developers considering whether to include topics concerning the dynamics of violence in rehabilitation educational curricula. Such topics to be considered would include concepts and theories, history and characteristics, assessment, intervention, and prevention of abuse, with an emphasis on violence involving people with disabilities. A proposed rehabilitation education curriculum for the study of the abuse and maltreatment of people with disabilities is included in Chapter Five. / text

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

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

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

Bakgrund: Våldet mot kvinnor är ett folkhälsoproblem. Det är svårt att fastställa den faktiska prevalensen vad gäller våldsutsatta kvinnor delvis på grund av att mörkertalet är stort. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka samverkan i organisationer och myndigheter i arbetet med våldsutsatta kvinnor i nära relationer i Skaraborgsregionen. Metod: Tre semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med myndighetspersoner från X, Y och Z, vilka arbetar med våldsutsatta kvinnor i nära relationer. Resultat: Resultatet visade att femton kommuner i Skaraborgsregionen samverkar i arbetet med våldsutsatta kvinnor. Enligt informanterna var en av effekterna av samverkan möjligheten att hänvisa kvinnorna vidare. Informanterna såg potential till förbättringar i det framtida samarbetet, exempelvis med förskola och skola. Resultatet visade även att informanterna är medvetna om betydelsen av sitt bemötande mot våldsutsatta kvinnor, vissa mer än andra. Slutsats: En kommun kan inte ensam ge en kvinna tillräcklig hjälp, varför samverkan är viktig för de femton kommuner som deltar. Samverkan i Skaraborgsregionen fungerar bra, dock finns det delar som kan förbättras. Informanterna hade olika egna förslag till förbättring, exempelvis en utökad myndighetssamverkan. / Background: The violence against women is a public health problem. It is difficult to determine the actual prevalence of the violence against women because unreported cases are high. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the interaction in organizations and agencies with abused women in intimate relationships in the region of Skaraborg. Method: Three semistructured interviews were conducted with officials from X, Y and Z, who work with abused women in intimate relationships. Results: The results showed that there are fifteen councils in the region of Skaraborg who interact with abused women. One of the effects of the interaction is to be able to refer further according to the informants. The informants saw potential for improvement in the future, for example by collaborating with preschool and school. The results also showed that the informants are aware of the importance of their treatment against abused women, some more than others. Conclusion: The interaction is important to the fifteen councils in the region of Skaraborg, because one council can not alone give the women adequate help. The interaction in the region of Skaraborg works fine, however there are things that can improve in order to get better. The informants had their own different suggestions on how to make changes to the better, an example is a wider interaction with other agencies.

This study examines the way that Native women incorporate the history of colonization into the way that they think about, and organize against, family violence in Vancouver's urban Aboriginal community. Using Melucci's (1989) model of collective action, this thesis focuses on the social process behind Native women's organized resistance to domestic violence. This thesis studied family violence intervention programs among Vancouver's Aboriginal organizations in order to understand the underlying process of negotiation between collective identity, solidarity, and environment. The study was divided into two levels: the organizational and individual. The thesis studied the narratives, or discourse of both organizations and individuals who delivered family violence intervention projects to the urban Native community. On the organizational level, data consisted of promotional texts that were produced by the organizations (posters, leaflets, brochures). The texts were then subjected to a content analysis, to identify the frequency of rhetorical devices, and then a rhetorical analysis, to see how these concepts were used. On the individual level, data was collected by means of loosely-structured interviews that asked questions about why participants were involved in family violence intervention. Nine interviews were collected from individuals who worked the organizations sampled. A rhetorical analysis of the interviews was also conducted, and compared with organizational discourse. The study found that the anti-violence movement among Vancouver's urban Native women was articulated primarily through the rhetoric of healing through cultural identity and spirituality. Both on the organizational and the individual levels, violence against Aboriginal women was explained as a result of the colonial process. The low status of Native women was linked to the oppression of First Nations people. "Healing" from the destructive cycle of family violence involved recovering "traditional" ethnic and gender identities, which in turn involved raising the status of women in Aboriginal communities.

This thesis focuses on Aboriginal women as survivors of intimate violence, and as participants in debates about justice and rights in the academic, political and legal spheres. While several federal and provincial reports have documented the adverse impact of the dominant criminal justice system on Aboriginal peoples, most of the reports fail to consider the impact of the dominant system, and of reform initiatives on Aboriginal women, who engage with such systems primarily as survivors of violence. Although feminist legal scholars and activists have focused on survivors of violence in critiquing the dominant justice system, such discourses have also tended to ignore the needs and concerns of Aboriginal women in recommending reforms to the dominant system, as well as in theorizing the causes and sites of intimate violence. Using feminist methods, I explore how the writings of Aboriginal women have begun to fill these gaps. In focusing on gender and racial oppression, Aboriginal women have complicated theories on and reforms around intimate violence, and have demanded that they be included in the shaping of public institutions in both the Canadian legal system, and in the context of Aboriginal self-government. While Aboriginal women largely support the creation of Aboriginal justice systems, some have expressed concerns about the willingness of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal leaders to include women in the process of creating, implementing and operating such systems. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as Aboriginal rights under the Constitution Act, 1982 have been advocated as means of achieving Aboriginal women's participation in this context. This gives rise to a number of fundamental questions which I examine in my thesis. What is the historical basis for the participation of Aboriginal women in the political process, and for survivors of violence in both the dominant and Aboriginal justice systems? What is the significance of the absence of Aboriginal women from dominant discourses on justice and intimate violence? Might a broader level of participation for survivors of violence, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, ameliorate the problematic aspects of the dominant justice system? Does the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provide a vehicle for survivors of violence who seek a greater level of protection and participation in the dominant justice system? Can the Charter, or Aboriginal rights under the Canadian constitution, assist Aboriginal women in establishing a right of participation in the processes leading to the creation of Aboriginal justice systems, and their participation in such systems once they have been created? What are the limitations of rights discourse in this context? My analysis suggests that the Supreme Court of Canada's conservative approach to rights, as well as more fundamental limitations in rights discourse, make constitutional litigation within the dominant system a sometimes necessary, but not ideal strategy for Aboriginal women in defining their involvement in the political and justice arenas. On the other hand, there is potential for rights discourse to bear more fruit once Aboriginal decision making fora are in place, in keeping with holistic approaches to interpretation, and the traditional roles of Aboriginal women and survivors of violence in justice and in the community.

The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth description of the lived experience of recovery for young adult women who had been sexually abused as children. Nine women participated in the study. In order to be a part of the study, the women were between the ages of 16 and 25 at the time of the first interview, and had been sexually abused before the age of 12 by a family member. Family members could include parents, step-parents, siblings, step-siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The sexual abuse must have been repetitive in nature and lasted for a period of 6 months or longer. The women had also participated in some type of therapy, for at least 6 months, where sexual abuse was the primary focus. As well, the women had some awareness that they were in recovery and were able to talk about their own experience of recovery. The interviews and the data analysis followed a phenomenological approach. The researcher conducted four interviews with each participant over a twenty month period. Ten common themes representing the lived experience of recovery from sexual abuse for young adult women emerged. The lived experience of recovery (1) involves working through the denial of being sexually abused, (2) diminishes the lasting effects of sexual abuse, (3) helps the person move from a victim stance to a survivor stance, (4) is a journey of self-discovery, (5) fosters the possibility for improved relationships with family members, friends, and partners, (6) reduces the negative influence of the perpetrator, (7) encompasses a variety of therapeutic encounters, (8) helps the person to explore the ambiguity of memory, (9) influences future direction, and (10) is a complex process with no clear resolution. The descriptions of each theme illustrate how the women were able to confront and transform the trauma of being sexually abused. The findings of this study describe how young adult women perceive the lived experience of recovery and illuminate what needs to take place so that recovery is possible. The lived experience of recovery is an interactive phenomenon which requires the women to explore the meaning of recovery both intrapersonally and interpersonally. As the women's thoughts, perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and expectations change internally, the ways in which they interact with the world around them shift as well. The lived experience of recovery is both complex and perplexing. The findings from this study offer recommendations for counselling research and practice in the area of sexual abuse for young adult women.

Violence against women, especially wife abuse, is a social problem that exists in almost every country in the world. China is no exception. Statistics show that wife abuse in present-day China is prevalent and serious. However, this social problem was largely invisible until the early 1990s. At present, it is still not recognized at the official level and there has been no systematic in-depth research on it to date. North American feminists have long realized the seriousness of this issue and have since done a great deal of research with respect to the causes, prevalence and control of wife abuse. Their perspectives reflect the social reality in North American countries, but are they useful for other countries? This thesis tries to explore a feminist approach to the analysis of violence against women in the home in China's context, especially the lack of political will, which inevitably results in the failure of the criminal justice system to enforce the laws against wife abuse. The thesis tries to prove that violence against women in the home is a serious social problem in China that must be recognized and dealt with effectively. In order to control it, a sincere political commitment to deal with the problem is of paramount importance. The joint efforts of all social sectors, the criminal justice system in particular, are vital to guarantee gender equality in the private sphere. The thesis considers western feminist theories with respect to violence against women in the home as a gendered issue and the impact of feminist perspectives on controlling wife battery in western countries; investigates the dimensions and causes of wife abuse in China, demonstrating that this abuse is an unrecognized but serious social problem in China; explores the existing legislative protection of crime victims in China; analyzes the existing problems with the criminal justice system with respect to providing assistance to battered wives; discusses various reasons why the criminal justice system fails battered women in China, including the factors of state policy, women's federations, patriarchal ideology, mass media and social indifference, and gives suggestions on how to prevent and control spousal assault.