In 2000, the Department of Defense task force estimated roughly 8.8 in every 1,000 military children were victims of some form of maltreatment. In response to the rising incidence of child maltreatment in the military the United Stated Air Force, in accordance with the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, developed the New Parent Support Program (NPSP). The NPSP is a primary maltreatment prevention program for military or dependent parents who have children under the age of three. The formal goals of the program are to decrease potential for family maltreatment, enhance parent role adaptation, increase problem-solving skills and increase knowledge of child growth and development. Literature has indicated that parental stress is a viable indicator of the potential for child maltreatment. The NPSP uses two quantitative instruments sensitive to parental stress levels, the Family Needs Screener and Parenting Stress Index, to indicate the progress of NPSP participants. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the success of the NPSP at decreasing the potential for maltreatment. Through secondary data analysis, the study examined pre- and post test scores on the PSI for participants in orderto assess whether parental competence, attachment and role restriction scores improved after completion of the program. The study also examined the scoring for any occurrence of racial or rank disparities. The results of the secondary data analysis showed no significant improvement in overall PSI, parental competence, role restriction scores or attachment scores. The study found racial or rank differences in the FNS scores even though the majority of participants were Caucasian, low ranking, enlisted personnel. The study did not find racial or rank differences in PSI scores. The study results suggest, based on PSI scores, the NPSP does not significantly lower the parental stress, thus lowering the potential for maltreatment. According to the literature, which confirms prevention methods such as home visitation and parent education have been successful in other prevention programs, the NPSP should have the potential to be an effective prevention. Additional research and outcome analysis is necessary to determine which aspects of the program are ineffective and require modification.

Summary When children are exposed to traumatic events, they might develop many physical and psychological symptoms that need immediate intervention in order to alleviate further adverse consequences. The overall aim of this study is to assess the impact of political violence on behavioral problems, anxiety and depression among the Palestinian children in Gaza Strip. This has also been carried out through taking into consideration some other factors; i.e. gender, age, educational level of the mother, family income, place of residence and periods of exposure. Analytical study was carried out a sample of 130 Palestinian children aged from 9 - 16 years (elementary and preparatory school stages) living in Gaza Strip. These children were assessed during the second school semester using structured self-report questionnaire for possible types of behavioral problems, anxiety and depression as a result of the traumatic events they were exposed to. Rutter's behavioral problem scale for children, Beck's depression scale and Reynolds anxiety scale were used in the study. Main findings 1.It was found that 23.8 % of the children in the case group suffer from a high level of anxiety which needs therapy. 2.By looking at the results, we can see that 18.8% of the children suffer from depression and they need intervention. 3.It was found that 88% of the children whose ages ranged from (9-12) suffered from various kinds of behavioral problems and neurotic symptoms and they need psychological help. 4.Comparing the case group and control group whose ages ranged between 13 and 16 years, we can see that the case group (high trauma) got high scores on anxiety than the control group (low trauma) (t value=4.2 P-value < 0.001). 5.Comparing the case group and control group whose ages ranged between 13 and 16 we can see that the case group (high trauma) got high scores on depression scale than the control group (low trauma) (t value=4.5 P-value < 0.001). 6.It was found that the educational level of the mother was one of the factors that was related to behavioral problems and neurotic symptoms among children. The differences were significant between preparatory and secondary children. 7.By looking to the results, we can find that gender as one of the variables which was examined with its relationship with anxiety and depression was not significant. 8.Periods of exposure were not significant with their relationship with anxiety, depression and behavioral problems in all groups.

<p>Although gender-based violence has been identified as highly problematic in South Africa, it has not been given much scholarly attention in relation to refugee women. This study focuses on the experience of some of these women who have resettled in Cape Town. The main focus is on gender-based violence and the linkages between conflicts at home, fleeing from it, as well as the problems faced by women when they reach the &lsquo / new&rsquo / country where they are suppose to be safe, but yet continue to experience gender violence. By referring to my own empirical research I try to tease out the many instances of violence and abuse such women face, how they understand and try to make sense of it and how they try to take up their lives in Cape Town. I utilized the much used ecological framework to analyze gender-based violence and argue that, while this &lsquo / model&rsquo / is dynamic and allows one to make analytical linkages across different &lsquo / levels&rsquo / of violence, it nevertheless does not adequately provide for understanding the relationship between larger global and international processes, the connection that women may still have with their countries of origin and the impact of being a refugee or unwanted &lsquo / immigrant&rsquo / in South Africa</p>

Health personnel, especially nurses, are often victims of workplace violence. Unfortunately, little is known about the nurses' experience of violence. A research study was initiated to further explore the nurses' accounts of workplace violence so as to make dimensions of the nurses' experience visible and more fully understood. Interpretive description was the research methodology adopted for this study. Using theoretical sampling, ten Registered Nurses from the lower mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia participated in semi structured, audiotaped interviews. In this research, the nurses' experience of workplace violence emerged as a highly complex entity, deeply embedded in relationships and context. How nurses perceive the contextual factors of the organization, their immediate work environment and their individual attributes were found to play a significant role in how they respond to the phenomenon. The findings of this study suggest that organizational culture is an important determinant in managing workplace violence and that policy and administrative personnel play a pivotal role in influencing the problem. Nursing culture also influences the nurses' expectations, assumptions and actions towards violence. Participants voiced that role conflict often challenged their ability to enact acquired professional ideals and that that they routinely undertake roles in dealing with violence that are not appropriate to their level of knowledge or skill. Within the nurses' immediate work environment, bullying as well as physical and verbal abuse was commonplace. Overcrowding, long waits for service, poor environmental design and inadequate staff to patient ratios were seen as factors that increased nurses' risk. Individual factors were associated with emotional and psychological harms that nurses endured. Workplace violence affected self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy and the nurses' sense of control. Moral distress, self-blame, feelings of failure, loss of motivation and leaving the nursing profession were significant findings. The results of this study demonstrate a need to re-think how we can address workplace violence in nursing. Research and intervention is needed to further explore organizational policy and governing structures, the culture and climate of practice environments, and the fundamental role nursing education programs have in preparing nurses to manage workplace violence.

The aim of this study was to understand how social workers perceive and understand violence and threats of violence from clients, and how it effect their working environment. It seems that the respondents understand the violence and threats of violence from clients as a result of the clients background problems, vulnerability, dependency and from “the reason" that the client is currently in the contact with the organization. How respondents interpret the client´s behaviour based on the above-mentioned factors, seem to determine how the respondents perceive and define the violence and threats of violence by clients directed against them. Interestingly enough, although all respondents in the study experienced violence and threats of violence from clients, none of them perceived themselves as exposed at work. The answer to this is consensual. The respondents argue that they “knew what they got into" and thus violence and threats of violence from clients can be considered as part of the work, that the social workers must be aware of in order to work within the organization.   A further aim of this study was to examine how the social workers views the matter of who’s responsible for the threats and violent incidents and how to "best" encounter the violence and threats of violence within the organization. The respondents argue that it is when the social workers communicate in a wrong way, use their power or give "bad decisions" to the clients that most threats and violent incidents occur. The role that the respondents construct for themselves can be understood as they need to ,in their professional role "withstand a little bit" of violence and threats of violence from clients. The respondents then becomes mainly responsible for the threats and violent incidents, because they communicated in a wrong way, used the "unnecessary" exercise of power, or gave "bad decisions" to clients. The clients responsibility is then reduced due to the fact that the client merely reacts to how the respondent acted towards the client. The key element in the prevention of violence and threats of violence seems to be the way the respondents builds relations to the client. However, it also appears that the respondents expect a certain amount of violence and threats of violence from clients. Violence and threats of violence therefore run the risk of becoming something that the respondents get used to and sometimes expect, and something that they to some extent can protect themselves from, but never fully avoid or prevent.

Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2010-06-29 22:05:58.284 / The growing global awareness of sexual violence as a weapon of war has been accompanied by the strategic and pervasive inclusion of womens personal stories of war rape. This representational strategy of Western media, academia and humanitarian policies was critically examined in order to understand how war raped women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are discursively situated as Other. Drawing on the theoretical concepts of abjection and objection, the study did not question the truth of womens experience but rather examined whether the pervasive inclusion of war rape stories constituted a true feminine subjectivity. A foucaldian notion of discourse provided a method to expose meaning and dominant discourses, which render certain identities and stories of war rape more visible than others. The purpose of this study was to critically engage with dominant Western discourses of war rape and provide a more complex understanding of how diverse power structures, identities and representational practices impact the struggle of Congolese women to end rape and open self-determined pathways of empowerment. A qualitative method of critical discourse analysis was used to examine the textual and visual processes of representation. Samples of text were taken from three main areas: media coverage (print, television, web based, magazines, and films), feminist academic literature (journals, reports and books), and humanitarian policies (UN mission reports, security council resolution, mandates and reports). The results revealed that war rape victims, the DRC and acts of rape were all positioned as Other and as a media spectacle that was further consumed by Western audiences. It was also found that certain war rape identities and social factors remained invisible, including the Wests complacency in the DRC conflict. Ultimately, the study finds a tension between discourse as a tool of liberation and a tool of power and control. This thesis recommends that anti rape activists must examine their own dominance over war rape victims and consider new strategiesbeyond the simple act of storytellingthat will position rape victims as the subjects (not objects) of their own struggle to end war rape. / Master

There is ample evidence to suggest that, in the context of dating relationships, female-perpetrated intimate abuse is as common as male-perpetrated intimate abuse (e.g., Archer, 2000). Despite awareness of this fact, female-perpetrated intimate abuse remains an understudied area. The current study adds to the available literature on female-perpetrated intimate abuse by examining Dutton’s (2007) theory of the Abusive Personality in a sample of 914 women who had been involved in dating relationships. This is the first study to examine all elements of the Abusive Personality in women simultaneously. Consistent with the Abusive Personality, recalled parental rejection, borderline personality organization (BPO), anger, and trauma symptoms all demonstrated moderate to strong relationships with women’s self-reported intimate psychological abuse perpetration. Fearful attachment style demonstrated a weak to moderate relationship with psychological abuse perpetration. With the exception of fearful attachment, all elements of the Abusive Personality demonstrated a relationship with women’s self-reported intimate violence perpetration. However, these relationships were comparatively weak. A potential model for explaining the interrelationships between the elements of the Abusive Personality was tested using structural equation modeling. This is the first study with either sex to examine all elements of the Abusive Personality simultaneously using structural equation modeling. Consistent with the proposed model, recalled parental rejection demonstrated a relationship with BPO, trauma symptoms, and fearful attachment. Also consistent with the model, trauma symptoms demonstrated a relationship with anger, and BPO demonstrated strong relationships with trauma symptoms, fearful attachment, and anger. Additionally, anger itself had a strong relationship with women’s self-reported perpetration of intimate psychological and physical abuse. Contrary to the proposed model, fearful attachment had a non-significant relationship with anger – when this relationship was examined using structural equation modeling. Based on findings from the current study, fearful attachment has a weaker relationship with college women’s perpetration of intimate abuse than it does with clinical samples’ perpetration of intimate abuse. Following a discussion of the results, limitations of the study are discussed in conjunction with possible future directions for this line of research.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined as any violent or ill intended behavior that could cause harm to the other person within the confines of an intimate relationship. IPV has very serious consequences for the individual, the community, and the larger society. Much of what is known about IPV comes from studies conducted in the U.S. or other Western countries. However, women who live in developing countries have an increased risk of experiencing IPV because of poor living conditions and different social norms. Yet, little is known about specific risk factors and intervention approaches for IPV conducted in developing countries. Consequently, this thesis will focus on IPV risk factor research and interventions that have taken place in countries in Africa. To date there has not been a systematic review of this work. The project will help identify risk factors for IPV in an African context, and to determine what intervention approaches appear successful and which are not.

In 2000, the Department of Defense task force estimated roughly 8.8 in every 1,000 military children were victims of some form of maltreatment. In response to the rising incidence of child maltreatment in the military the United Stated Air Force, in accordance with the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, developed the New Parent Support Program (NPSP). The NPSP is a primary maltreatment prevention program for military or dependent parents who have children under the age of three. The formal goals of the program are to decrease potential for family maltreatment, enhance parent role adaptation, increase problem-solving skills and increase knowledge of child growth and development. Literature has indicated that parental stress is a viable indicator of the potential for child maltreatment. The NPSP uses two quantitative instruments sensitive to parental stress levels, the Family Needs Screener and Parenting Stress Index, to indicate the progress of NPSP participants. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the success of the NPSP at decreasing the potential for maltreatment. Through secondary data analysis, the study examined pre- and post test scores on the PSI for participants in orderto assess whether parental competence, attachment and role restriction scores improved after completion of the program. The study also examined the scoring for any occurrence of racial or rank disparities. The results of the secondary data analysis showed no significant improvement in overall PSI, parental competence, role restriction scores or attachment scores. The study found racial or rank differences in the FNS scores even though the majority of participants were Caucasian, low ranking, enlisted personnel. The study did not find racial or rank differences in PSI scores. The study results suggest, based on PSI scores, the NPSP does not significantly lower the parental stress, thus lowering the potential for maltreatment. According to the literature, which confirms prevention methods such as home visitation and parent education have been successful in other prevention programs, the NPSP should have the potential to be an effective prevention. Additional research and outcome analysis is necessary to determine which aspects of the program are ineffective and require modification.

Dissertation--Philosophische Fakultät--Freiburg im Breisgau--Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 253-272.