Abstract Introduction. Approximately 88.000 cases of assault were reported to the Swedish police during 2010. Twenty-five percent of these cases were considered as violence against women. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a worldwide issue and poses a major threat to women’s health. In Sweden, 17 women are killed each year by an intimate partner. This study aimed at increasing the knowledge of perpetrators of intimate partner homicide (IPH), in terms of type of mental disorder and type of deadly violence exerted. Method. A total of 49 forensic psychiatric investigations were obtained from the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine in Huddinge. Eighteen perpetrators of IPH were compared to 31 perpetrators of deadly violence in a non-intimate relationship. Comparisons were made by coding principal diagnoses as described in the forensic psychiatric investigations, and type of deadly violence exerted using the Cornell coding guide for violent incidents. Results. Perpetrators of IPH were, to a greater extent, diagnosed with a dysphoric or borderline personality disorder (BPD), whereas perpetrators of deadly violence in a non-intimate relationship were significantly more often diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Perpetrators of IPH used more deadly violence with reactive features, whereas perpetrators of deadly violence in a non-intimate relationship used significantly more deadly violence with instrumental features. Discussion. The results of this study are in agreement with previous research. In conclusion, perpetrators of IPH are more reactive in their deadly violence and less antisocial, in terms of being diagnosed with ASPD and previous convictions, compared to perpetrators of deadly violence in a non-intimate relationship. This may be helpful in terms of preventing future risk for IPV and IPH.

The current study focused on the challenging task of providing treatment to male batterers and the various factors that may positively affect the outcome of treatment. Group treatment has been shown to be a successful modality to working with partner abusers, due to the unique environment that is created where males interact with and establish relationships with other males. This male-male socialization may have potential positive effects on the course and outcome of therapy. This study sought to provide support for Jennings and Murphy’s theory of domestic violence that malefemale disrupted relationships have roots in disrupted male-male relationships and male identity issues and rigid gender role ideals. This study predicted that over the course of a 15-week court mandated domestic violence group, improving male-male relationships would be correlated with improvements in male identity issues and rigid sex role attitudes and improvements in male-female relationship issues. These expectations were supported by the research data. Additionally, it was expected that an improvement in same sex relationships would be related to an overall dimensional change in their attachment system. This hypothesis was not supported by the data. Moreover, process variables such as group climate and working alliance were also examined throughout the course of the group to shed light on any changes that were found. The results showed steadily increasing reports of positive working alliance ratings by counselors and clients, and increasing levels of group cohesion among the group members. The discussion and conclusions focus on the clinical significance of the study’s findings and include specific examples from the groups in this study. Implications for treatment with this population, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research are also addressed.

The study proposed to distinguish differences in perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence (i.e., Common Couple Violence and Patriarchal Terrorism) due to the mediating effect of their presentations of narcissism (covert and overt). Distinguishing perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence by their narcissistic presentations should assist clinicians in batterer treatment programs to create specific lessons/interventions for perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence based on their narcissistic quality. The study of a cross-section of men in a Batterer Intervention Program included measures on self-perception, views of partner, and history of violent, aggressive, controlling, and psychologically abusive interactions with their partner. Structural Equation Modeling with Analysis of Moment Structures was used to determine the structure and function of narcissism and interpersonal violence. Intimate Partner Violence was distinguishable as Common Couple Violence or Patriarchal Terrorism, but the results were not sufficiently conclusive to warrant an absolute classification system. Overt Narcissism was somewhat useful in distinguishing Patriarchal Terrorism from Common Couple Violence by mediating the effects of violent behaviors, controlling behaviors, and psychological abuse when mediated by type of narcissism. That information is useful for clinicians interested in creating targeted interventions to participants in Batterer Intervention Programs to reduce Intimate Partner Violence and violent recidivism. Specifically, Common Couple Violence was described by the number of times the participant physically injured the partner over the past year, the total number of conflict tactics used, and whether their partner needed medical attention following physical injury. Patriarchal Terrorism was described by psychological abuse and controlling behaviors. Overt Narcissism increased Patriarchal Terrorism, whereas, Covert Narcissism did not assist in distinguishing Common Couple Violence from Patriarchal Terrorism. The mediating effect that Covert Narcissism had on violent behaviors, controlling behaviors, and psychological abuse was weak. Overt Narcissism is a more useful construct when identifying potential Patriarchal Terrorists, while Covert Narcissism was not found to provide additional detail to either Patriarchal Terrorism or Common Couple Violence. Knowing the differing and similar impacts of those constructs can potentially grant greater clinical effectiveness with perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence.

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

Survivors of intimate partner violence often suffer from a number of serious aftereffects, but current prevalent treatments lack effectiveness for this population. Along with typical trauma symptoms such as avoidance and constriction, other common challenges unique to survivors include a loss of sense of self, negative self-appraisal, and a lack of self- efficacy. Therapeutic Assessment is well-suited to this population due to its potential for helping clients to replace distorted beliefs about the self with more adaptive ones, engaging clients as equals, and helping clients to form cohesive life narratives. The proposed study will measure the effectiveness of this approach with three to five subjects using a time-series design. Subjects will provide daily ratings of their personal experiences evaluating five areas of concern, three to be shared across subjects and two tailored to the priorities of each specific participant. The resulting indices will be tested using Simulation Modeling Analysis (SMA), controlling for autocorrelation using the Lag 1 correlation, to see whether statistically significant changes occur in the desired directions. / text

Objectives This thesis aimed to investigate the relationship between intimate partner abuse and suicidality, to deepen our understanding of the factors and mechanisms involved in increasing suicide risk in this group. This investigation was carried out using the framework of the Integrated Motivational-Volitional (IMV) Model of Suicidal Behaviour (O’Connor, 2011), and this research aimed to act as a test of this theoretical model. Method In order to achieve the above objectives, two major studies were conducted. These were prospective studies, with Study one being exploratory and utilising a large scale survey design, and Study two carrying out an in-depth investigation. These studies utilised a general population sample consisting of both males and females, and compared those with and without experience of intimate partner abuse. Both studies are reported over two chapters, one focusing on the relationship between intimate partner abuse and suicidality, and the other reporting the testing of the IMV Model. Results This research identified a number of key aspects relating to intimate partner abuse which are involved in increasing suicide risk within this group, such as the frequency of the abuse experienced, levels of control within the abusive relationship, and severity of stalking and harassment behaviours experienced. Investigation of the key elements of the IMV Model revealed that perceptions of internal entrapment play a significant mediating role in the relationship between intimate partner abuse and suicidality. In addition, social support and future thinking were found to act as moderators of this relationship. Conclusions This research makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of intimate partner abuse and suicidality, and highlights a number of important issues with regards to the conceptualisation and measurement of IPA. It has also identifies the importance of considering aspects such as stalking, perceptions of internal entrapment, and levels of control within relationships, when investigating suicidality within this group. This research used the context of IPA and suicidality to test the IMV Model, which has significantly increased out understanding of suicidality in relation to IPA. The IMV Model was shown to be a useful framework for understanding this relationship, however limitations of the model were identified. Further research is needed to test the model further and to explore the relationship of some of the elements within the context of IPA and suicidality.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a recognized social problem. The IPV is common in all types of intimate relations, this essays purpose was focused on the violence performed by women against men. To find the social workers conceptions the study conducted a survey sent to local social service in Sweden. The essay had a statistic approach to visualize the social workers conceptions, and a discursive approach to focus on the language used in text answers. Different aspects of the violence were explored to find the conceptions. How the social workers explain the causes of violence related to gender, and if the social workers claim theirs knowledge about IPV is different depending of the offender’s gender. The result shows that the social workers claimed that they had less knowledge about IPV with a female offender than a male offender. When the social worker described the male victim the answers focused to the feeling of shame, which were not as connected to female victim as male. The study found that the social workers experience that they had less knowledge of IPV against men. Nearby half of the social worker claimed that they had less knowledge about IPV in relation to their job.

Consequences of refusing to participate in the criminal investigation or protective measures A quantitative study within a group of women assessed for risk of future intimate partner violence victimization Josefin Niit and Lisa Norrbin Abstract Intimate partner violence [IPV] is a global issue and IPV towards women have received increased attention during the last decades. The police perform a vital task in supporting victims of IPV and providing protective measures to prevent further violence. Some victims refuse to participate in the criminal investigation or protective measures, which can have consequences for the judicial process or the risk of future victimization. The aim of the present study was to investigate the consequences of refusing to participate in the criminal investigation or protective measures within a group of women assessed for risk of future IPV victimization. A quantitative approach was applied to compare women who refused to participate against women who participated. The sample consisted of 207 cases which were assessed with SARA:SV in the police county of Södertörn. The results demonstrated that when women refused to participate in the criminal investigation the cases were 6.2 times less likely prosecuted. Women who refused to participate in the protective measures were repeatedly victimized to the same amount, even though they in comparison were a lower risk group. However, these women were 4 times more likely victims of assault when repeatedly victimized. Findings from the current study provide useful knowledge about consequences for women who refuse to participate in the criminal investigation or protective measures and enables practical solutions for agents of the judicial system to further help these women. Keywords: Intimate partner violence, participation, criminal investigation, protective measures, SARA:SV / <p>2013-06-11</p>

Introduction . Perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) are considered a heterogeneous group of men. This has resulted in several attempts to classify IPV perpetrators into subtypes. Although a well-explored topic, the existing IPV typologies are not suitable for the police due to its reliance on clinical information. The present study aimed at constructing a typology of IPV perpetrators, based on information available to the police. Method. Data from 235 risk assessments conducted by police officers in Sweden, using the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment guide: Short Version (SARA:SV), was analyzed through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Results. Three subtypes of IPV perpetrators were identified: the generally violent/antisocial (GV/A) perpetrator, the family only (FO) perpetrator, and the high risk (HR) perpetrator. Also, a fourth subtype emerged reflecting a victim profile, labeled the rational victim (RV). Discussion. Besides validating previously found IPV subtypes, we also identified two subtypes not previously described in the literature. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that clinical information concerning the perpetrator's mental health was not decisive in identifying the perpetrators constituting the highest risk for IPV. Noteworthy, the importance of considering victim vulnerability factors in an IPV risk assessment context was supported by the identification of the RV. However, the proposed typology needs to be validated in subsequent research. Keywords: intimate partner violence, perpetrator typologies, SARA:SV, risk assessment / <p>2013-06-11</p>