Thesis (M. of Applied Psychology)--University of Adelaide, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-63).

Thesis (M.Crim.Jus.)--Edith Cowan University, 2006. / Submitted to the Faculty of Business and Law. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D)--College of Saint Mary -- Omaha, 2009. / A dissertation submitted by Connie M. Wallace to College of Saint Mary in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctorate in Education with an emphasis on Health Professions Education. This dissertation has been accepted for the faculty of College of Saint Mary. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Rowan University, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Dallas, 2007. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-83)

Violence against women is a major human rights and public health problem that is pervasive in virtually all societies in the world. A common form of such violence is Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), which occurs in intimate relationships and affects about one in every three women. In addition to being a widespread disorder, IPV also profoundly damages the physical, sexual, reproductive, emotional, mental and social well-being of individuals and families. In developing countries, especially in Africa where societies are already ravaged by a host of social and health issues, IPV is more likely to impose an additional burden, with research showing prevalence of IPV against women that is as high as 80%. Besides, there is indication of it confining victims, their families and the larger society within which they live to poverty, as it comes with immense financial burden. Despite this fact, developing countries in Africa (such as Nigeria) still lack effective means of protecting women against IPV. This is most likely due to the inadequate exploration of the issue in terms of the complex risk factors, socio-economic costs, attitudes towards gender roles among others. This study investigates the complex nature of IPV in Nigeria, using a cross-sectional population-based study design to generate new set of results pertaining to the likely risk factors and socio-economic costs among others. It also explores the design of a novel preventive framework to address the IPV issue. Data for the study were collected using a pretested questionnaire based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) Standards and administered by healthcare professionals (mostly nurses and midwives) to solicit relevant information from women across Kwara state, Nigeria. The critical inclusion criterion was: women aged 18 years and above who were previously or currently involved in a cohabiting or non-cohabiting relationship. A multistage sampling procedure which reflected the rural and urban locations of the respondents was adopted and used to gather 719 complete face-to-face interviews. The collected data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical procedures (e.g., cross-tabulations and simple bivariate- as well as sequential-logistic regression) carried out via IBM SPSS®20. The novel results generated show that IPV, as hypothesized, is a serious issue in the country, with results indicating that 1 out of every 4 women has experienced IPV at least once in her life-time. Results also show that the experience of IPV for most women is not a one-off occurrence, but rather a recurrent one. There is also an indication of widespread acceptance of IPV across Urban and Rural areas. Results from the logistic regression analysis conducted show that factors such as women’s and partner’s educational attainments, controlling behaviours, partnership discord and choice of spouse among others are likely predictors of IPV occurrence. The results also give an indication of a slightly complex association between the likely risk factors and IPV – one involving interactions and partial mediations amongst these factors in their prediction of IPV. Costs ii ii estimation results show that IPV is a major drain on households finances and also a potential hindrance on the Nigerian economy as a whole. Drawing greatly on these findings as guides, relevant preventive strategies around the world with proven effectiveness were adopted in the research to propose a three-tier validated preventive framework to tackle the issue of IPV in Nigeria and other similar developing countries. Important recommendations are also made to address this issue.

The research focused on the experiences of casualty doctors regarding their role in the management of gender-based violence victims at the Intermediate Hospital Oshakati, Namibia. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was utilized and data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. These were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the Tesch’s method of qualitative data analysis by the researcher in conjunction with an independent coder. The research findings revealed that the study participants experienced gender-based violence as a common and recurrent public health issue. Participants indicated that the majority of the victims presented with a wide range of physical injuries as well as significant emotional trauma. With further exploration, it emerged that participants identified alcohol abuse, low socioeconomic status and several relationship problems as prevalent factors associated with gender-based violence. They also recognized that the current programme managing gender-based violence provides a measure of safety for victims by making emergency services available. In addition, these services could be accessed free of charge and victims identified as ‘high-risk’ were offered sanctuary in the ward to prevent further harm. Study participants further observed that the presence of a multi-disciplinary team of care-givers also contribute positively to the management of gender-based violence victims. However, participants experienced several challenges that impair their role in the management of gender-based violence victims. Notable among these are high workload (arising from shortage of personnel and offering services to non-emergency cases in casualty), lack of collaboration among team members and a lack of proficiency in psychosocial intervention strategies. Based on the study findings, it is hereby recommended that clear guidelines for the management of gender-based violence victims should be established and a better collaboration among all cadres of professionals involved in this issue should be promoted. In addition, campaigns to sensitize the community about values that can help in the prevention of gender-based violence and dangers of alcohol abuse as well as strengthening the legislative framework vis-à-vis implementing punitive measures against culprits, should be vigorously pursued.

Thesis advisor: S Anukriti / This dissertation strives to understand the short and long-run consequences of armed conflict. In short-run, as conflict increases, parents are less likely to send their children to school or take them to health facilities and more likely to keep them home. Less time in school might translate to more time spent at work for these children. Coping with conflict can disrupt human capital accumulation of children and exposes them to adverse experiences, the effects of which can also last into adulthood. Some of the persistent effects of conflict on educational and health outcomes have been widely studied in the literature. Nevertheless, relatively less is known about how these childhood exposures affect adult behavior, beliefs, and attitudes. One of the goals of this dissertation is to study such long-lasting impacts of childhood exposure to conflict. In the first chapter, “Victims of Consequence: Evidence on Child Outcomes using Microdata from a Civil War”, joint with Giri Subramaniam, we study the short-run impacts of violent events on child time allocation, curative health-care, and education. Exploiting the spatial and temporal variation in exposure to local-level armed conflict, we find that an increase in violent events: (i) leads to an increase in contemporaneous hours worked by children, with the effect being substantial for agricultural work; (ii) decreases the likelihood of parents taking their children to visit a health-care facility to seek curative care; and (iii) results in a reduced likelihood of attending school, along with a decline in years of education. Overall, the results indicate that war affected schooling and time allocation of boys whereas girls were less likely to get curative health-care. The second chapter of this dissertation, “Do Adverse Childhood Experience Shape Violent and Abusive Adult Behavior?", is motivated by the fact that family violence is pervasive and has detrimental economic consequences. Nevertheless, very little is known about how childhood experiences influence this behavior. In this study, I explore long-run determinants of family violence by linking exposure to adverse circumstances in childhood to the perpetration of abuse and neglect in adulthood. In particular, I examine the effects of men’s exposure to the Nepalese Civil War (1996-2006) in childhood. Exploiting spatial and temporal variation in childhood exposure to the armed conflict from ages 0 to 16, I find that exposed men are less likely to perpetrate spousal violence and to display controlling behaviors. Additionally, children of exposed fathers are less likely to experience violent disciplining at home. They also work fewer hours per week and are less likely to be involved in dangerous working conditions. In the third chapter, “Exploring the Channels”, I study the potential mechanisms that underlie the empirical results established by Chapter 2. I find that exposed men are more likely to complete secondary schooling, be employed at skilled non-agricultural occupations, and marry women who are more likely to have completed primary school and currently working. The most pertinent channel is that these men are less likely to justify wife-beating in different scenarios. Next, I assess the implications of the empirical results on the theories of domestic violence. Existing theories highlight two broader motives for perpetrating domestic violence: “Expressive” and “Instrumental”. Violence is instrumental if it is used to extract resources from the victim whereas it is expressive if the perpetrator gains direct non- pecuniary (dis)utility from it. I find that my results resonate strongly with “Expressive” theories of domestic violence where men who were exposed to conflict in childhood find using violence at home distasteful. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.