This qualitative interview study aims to examine the work of change regarding IntimatePartner Violence (IPV), through the voices of seven change workers at Non-GovernmentalOrganizations (NGO) in Nairobi, Kenya. The focus lies on identifying worker’s expresseddefinitions and comprehensions of violence and in what ways those affect the work of changein sectors as victim support, awareness creation & changing societal attitudes and norms. Athematic analysis reveals two themes of social and cultural norms, which emerges as themain comprehensions of violence; as well as essential components of the work of change.Feminist theory enables the image of gendered, embodied norms that supports the hierarchalstructure of marriage and women’s subordination. Findings of social and cultural normsinclude IPV as a loving form to discipline a woman, marital rape does not exist and womenshould stay in marriage. Furthermore, this study presents a mutual understanding of IPV bythe change workers, but with various ways to create change. Obstacles for the eradication ofIPV is presented as lack of shelters, lack of legal implementation, as well as lack ofknowledge within the police force. Key findings include an ambivalent perspective from thechange workers concerning women’s subordination. Most worked against it, while sometaught it, so women could “escape” violence by becoming more submissive. Throughout, IPVis expressed in gender-neutral terms, but interviews reveal the perspective of genderasymmetry and that IPV is a form of violence directed towards women by men.

Although prevalence rates of gay intimate partner violence (IPV) appear to equal heterosexual IPV rates, gay male IPV does not feature strongly in public anti-­‐violence messaging. This relative silence appears to hold even within the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) community. This study addresses this silence. In-­‐depth qualitative interviews were conducted and a critical discourse analysis informed by Ian Parker’s (1992) perspectives, was used to analyse the results. A review of mainstream and critical discourses of violence show that IPV is usually constructed as an exclusively heterosexual phenomenon and these influenced participants’ constructions. Findings indicated that a range of discourses intersect to produce constructions of gay IPV as ‘not violence’, normative, un-­‐ harmful, unintimidating, ‘anti-­‐gay’, erotic, cathartic and intimate. All of these formations can result in gay IPV being silenced and it was shown that gay mens’ constructions of IPV were inextricably bound in gendered, power asymmetry. The study demonstrates how particular configurations of discourse are necessary for violence to become intelligible at all. The implications of these findings are discussed and possibilities for important community intervention suggested.

Föreliggande studie undersökte skillnader i attityder mellan män och kvinnor gällande partnervåld och dess allvarlighetsgrad bland unga. Fortsättningsvis undersökte studien även huruvida deltagarnas kön, könet på den fiktiva utsatta och om deltagarna var i en parrelation eller inte kunde påverka attityderna. Studien använde sig av en enkät innehållande en vinjett med ‘Opinion of Domestic Violence Scale’. Studiens urval bestod av 504 universitetsstudenter mellan åldrarna 19–28 (M= 22,6, SD= 2,2) från en mellanstor stad i Sverige. Totalt deltog 312 kvinnor (M= 22, 3, SD= 2,2) och 192 män (M= 23,2, SD= 2,2) Studiens resultat visade en skillnad mellan män och kvinnors attityder till partnervåld där de kvinnliga deltagarna i studien rapporterade högre medelvärdespoäng, vilket indikerar att kvinnor ansåg partnervåld som mer allvarligt. Kvinnor som var i en parrelation, hade attityder som indikerade att de såg partnervåld riktat mot kvinnor som mindre allvarligt. Resultaten diskuterades utifrån tidigare forskning och konceptet av det ‘Ideala brottsoffret’. Den slutsats som kan dras utifrån föreliggande studies resultat är att det finns en tydlig skillnad mellan män och kvinnors attityder till partnervåld och dess allvarlighetsgrad där kvinnor anser partnervåld som mer allvarligt / The present study examined differences in attitudes between young men and women regarding partner violence and its severity. The study examined whether the participants’ gender and the sex of fictitious victim, as well as whether being in a partnership had an impact in the participants’ attitudes. The study was conducted through a questionnaire with a vignette along with the ‘Opinion of Domestic Violence Scale’. This was completed by 504 undergraduates between the ages of 19-28 (M= 22,6, SD= 2,2) at a university located in a medium-sized city in Sweden. A total of 312 women (M= 22,3, SD= 2,2) and 192 men 192 (M= 23,2, SD=2,2) participated. The results showed a difference between men and women, where the female participants reported higher mean scores, indicating that women find partner violence more severe. Women who were in a relationship at the time, reported that partner violence against a woman was less severe. The results were discussed on the basis of previous research along with the concept of the ‘Ideal Victim’. The conclusion was that there was a difference between men and women's attitudes regarding partner violence, where women viewed it as more severe

The societal problem of intimate partner violence is becoming more recognized and can be tackled from several angles, including the workplace. The workplace could help the victims of intimate partner violence by raising the issue during staff appraisal and implementing it as a routine so that these questions are asked to everyone. This survey studies the attitudes of managers at Region Norrbotten towards implementing routines at the workplace in order to be able to reach and help more people exposed to intimate partner violence. The manager's attitude has been investigated through a digital questionnaire sent out to managers at Region Norrbotten. The questionnaire contained both quantitative and qualitative questions. The quantitative questions were obligatory to answer while the qualitative questions were follow-up questions that could be answered if the respondent had anything to add. 82 managers responded, of which 72 women, 9 men and 1 non gender. The result was compiled in Google Docs survey program and the qualitative questions were set up in themes. The study showed that most of the respondents do not see any obstacles to introducing preventive work with the aim of helping employees who may be exposed to intimate partner violence. However, it emerged that today they do not have the required knowledge. They lack routines and training, which may explain that the majority of managers are uncertain about how to proceed if an employee is subjected to violence at home. They also state that they would feel safer to ask questions about the employee's home situation if there were clear routines in place. Almost all managers are positive about participating in an education on intimate partner violence. Since the attitude regarding the introduction of routines among the managers is predominantly positive, conclusions are drawn that there are good opportunities to introduce such work within Region Norrbotten but that support and training for managers in that case need to be developed. / Samhällsproblemet våld i nära relationer blir allt mer uppmärksammat och kanangripas från flera håll, däribland på arbetsplatsen. Arbetsplatsen skulle kunna hjälpa den våldsutsatta genom att lyfta frågan på medarbetarsamtal ochimplementera det som en rutin så att dessa frågor ställs till alla. Den här studien kartlägger vad chefer har för inställning till att införa insatser på arbetsplatsen för att kunna fånga upp fler våldsutsatta. Chefers inställning har undersökts genom en digital enkät som skickats ut till chefer inom Region Norrbotten. Enkäten innehöll båden kvantitativa och kvalitativa frågor. De kvantitativa frågorna var obligatoriska att besvara medan de kvalitativa frågorna var öppna följdfrågor som kunde besvaras om respondenten själv ville.82 chefer svarade, varav 72 kvinnor, 9 män och 1 hen. Materialet sammanställdes i Google Docs enkätprogram och de kvalitativa frågorna tematiserades. Studien visade att merparten av de tillfrågade cheferna inte ser något hinder till att införa ett förebyggande arbete med syfte att hjälpa anställda som kan vara utsatta för våld i hemmet. Det framkom dock att de idag inte har den kunskap som krävs. Desaknar rutiner och utbildning vilket kan förklara att majoriteten av cheferna är osäkra på hur de ska gå tillväga om en anställd skulle vara våldsutsatt hemma. De anger även att de skulle kännas sig tryggare att ställa frågor om den anställdes hemsituation om det fanns tydliga rutiner. Nästan alla chefer är positivt inställda till att gå en utbildning om våld i nära relationer. Eftersom inställningen gällande ett införande av rutiner bland cheferna är övervägande positiv dras slutsatser att det finns goda möjligheter att införa ett sådant arbete inom Region Norrbotten men att stöd och utbildning för chefer i så fall behöver utvecklas.

The aim of this study was to examine battered women’s stories about resistance within domestic relationships, and to problematize previous research theoretical description of adaptation and resistance as a dichotomous contradiction. More specifically the aim of this study was to challenge the view of battered women as only passive victims without agency, and to gain an increased understanding how adaptation can be a form of resistance. The study was based on five autobiographies, where the female authors described their experiences of living with an abusive male partner in a heterosexual relationship in a swedish context. Allan Wades definition of resistance, the leaving process and the normalization process were used as theoretical perspectives to analyze the study’s results. One of the main results showed that all the women in the autobiographies exercised resistance and that the resistance was expressed in different forms. Another result showed that more open forms of resistance almost always led to severe consequences for the battered women. As a conclusion battered women’s adaptation can be perceived as a subtle form of resistance, since they adapt to survive but still opposes the violence through thoughts and subtle acts. Thus another conclusion were that a description of adaptation and resistance as a dichotomous contradiction is problematic.

A violência entre casais e o abuso sexual ocorrem cotidianamente e nos âmbitos social e familiar. É um problema relevante no Brasil, pois afeta um número significativo de pessoas, em sua grande maioria mulheres, e produz inúmeros agravos à saúde física, reprodutiva e mental. Os homens, especialmente jovens, estariam mais sujeitos que as mulheres à violência em locais públicos, especialmente ao homicídio, cometido tanto por estranhos quanto por conhecidos. Já as mulheres estão mais sujeitas a agressões perpetradas por pessoas conhecidas e íntimas. Isso pode significar violência repetida e continuada que, muitas vezes, perpetua-se cronicamente por muitos anos ou até vidas inteiras. O objetivo geral deste trabalho foi analisar violência entre casais e abuso sexual (através das variáveis das seções N e O do Questionário Genacis), associadas ao padrão de consumo de álcool e dados sociodemográficos, especialmente gênero. O método foi o de um estudo transversal do tipo inquérito epidemiológico em amostra estratificada por conglomerados, sendo representativa dos níveis socioeconômicos e educacionais da população. Foi um recorte do projeto Genacis, realizado no município de São Paulo, cuja amostra totalizou 1473 pessoas de 18 anos ou mais. A coleta de dados foi realizada através da aplicação do questionário Genacis em entrevistas nos domicilios sorteados por uma equipe de entrevistadores treinados. A análise estatística univariada utilizou o teste qui-quadrado ou teste exato de Fisher, no programa Stata 8.0. Os resultados mostraram uma taxa de 40% de recusa, a maioria de homens e famílias de estratos socioeconômicos mais altos, e moradores de prédios e condomínios. Houve predominância de mulheres (58,6%), pessoas casadas (41,1%), e com menos de 40 anos de idade (53,2%). Em relação à escolaridade, 3,7% eram analfabetos e houve concentração nas faixas de escolaridade mais baixas. Os homens tiveram predominantemente padrões de consumo de álcool moderado e pesado, enquanto as mulheres em geral tiveram padrões mais leves ou eram abstinentes. Cerca de 8,3% da amostra relataram algum tipo de violência física nos dois anos anteriores à entrevista. Tanto ser agressor como vítima se associou a ser jovem, ter companheiro (casado ou amasiado) e ser proveniente dos estratos socioeconômicos e educacionais mais baixos. A violência doméstica esteve associada ao padrão de consumo pesado de álcool, tanto em vítimas quanto agressores. As mulheres sofreram episódios mais graves de violência. Ter sofrido abuso sexual (atual ou passado) esteve associado a ter relacionamento atual com parceiro com padrão pesado de consumo de álcool e ser agressor, para ambos os gêneros. Embora não tenham sido encontradas diferenças de gênero em relação à freqüência de ser vítima ou agressor, nos homens agressores foi encontrado consumo mais pesado de álcool associadas ao incidente. Os resultados ressaltam a importância da associação entre o uso de álcool e risco de agressão (como perpetrador ou vítima) e tem importantes implicações na elaboração de políticas publicas e programas de tratamento desses problemas. / Partner violence and sexual abuse occur in daily life in family and social relationships. It is an important problem in Brazil, involving a significant number of people, mostly women, leading to several physical, reproductive and mental health. Men, especially youngsters, would suffer more violence in public places, especially homicide, committed either by strangers or acquaintances. Women are more prone to be attacked by people they know and family members than by strangers, many times perpetuated chronically for years or during their entire lives. The objective was to evaluate violence and victimization between partners and sexual abuse (sections N and O of the Genacis questionnaire) with patterns of alcohol consumption and demographics, especially gender. This was a transversal study in an epidemiological survey and the sample was stratified by clusters representative of the socioeconomic and educational level of the population. This study is part of the Genacis project carried out in the City of São Paulo, and the final sample totalized 1473 people of 18 years or more. The data collection was carried through the application of the Genacis questionnaire in face-to-face interviews in the drafted houses by trained interviewers. The univariate statistical analysis used the qui-square or Fishers exact tests, in the Stata 8.0. The results have shown a refusal rate of 40%, mostly of men and higher socioeconomic status families living in condominiums. We had a predominance of women (58.6%), married (41.1%), and young (below 40 years of age (53.2%). Regarding education, 3.7% were illiterate, and concentrated in the lower educational stratus. Men consistently predominated in the moderate to heavy alcohol consumption, while the women kept the lightest alcohol ingestion or were abstainers. About 8.3% of the sample reported some kind of partner aggression in the last two years. Being an aggressor or a victim was associated to: younger age, married/common law and proceed from lower socioeconomic and educational levels. Domestic violence was associated with binge or heavy drinking of the involved ones, in most cases, perpetrators or victims. Moreover, women had suffered more severe episodes of violence. Sexual abuse (current or in the past) was associated to being currently aggressive and to have a partner with a heavy pattern of alcohol consumption. Although differences in gender were not found regarding being a victim or an aggressor, the aggressive men had more binge drinking associated to the violent incident. The results point out to the importance of understanding the role of alcohol use and the risk of aggression (as perpetrator or victim), and has important implications in the elaboration of public policies and programs for treating these problems.

This research contributes to existing knowledge of intimate partner violence (IPV) by highlighting the lived experiences of female adolescent survivors through the examination of the lived experiences of seventeen participants. Framed within an intersectional feminist epistemology and informed by psychoanalytical theories, a hybrid of the Free Association Narrative Interview method (Hollway and Jefferson, 2001) and the Biographical Interview Method (Wengraf, 2002) was applied, allowing an in-depth analysis of the young women's adolescent experiences of IPV. The female participants' narratives highlighted significant levels of psychological, sexual and physical violence by various male partners, suggesting that gender is indeed a mediating factor. These experiences reflect Johnson's Typologies of Domestic Violence (2008). In addition, consideration of other intersecting factors, such as age, socioeconomic demographic information, familial exposure to IPV and previous IPV victimisation, highlighted the necessity to consider all factors when determining risk and experience (Potter, 2015). This research adds to the debate regarding gender symmetry of IPV perpetration and victimisation, with analysis of participants' experiences suggesting gender symmetry is not experienced by all adolescents, thus further exploration of this phenomenon is required. Similarly, participants experienced severe forms of physical, sexual and psychological violence at each stage of adolescence (early 10 to 13 years; middle 14 to 16 years; late adolescence and young adulthood 17 to 25 years) contradicting the oft held assumption that more severe violence occurs solely in adulthood. Analysis of participants' experiences of informal and formal support, and an exploration of participants' ideal prevention intervention model argues for a public health approach to preventing AIPV, with resources focused on primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. Ultimately the young women felt that with appropriate education, support and intervention they could have avoided, or at least reduced, their exposure to abuse. Hence in order to reduce and/or prevent adolescents from experiencing IPV resources should be aimed at giving young people the information, skills and abilities to resist gendered inequalities and unhealthy relationship behaviours, and promote healthy and happy romantic and sexual relationships.

This is a qualitative study exploring the needs of women when residing in a refuge. In the context of the United Kingdom, women's refuges are a specialist provision that provide temporary accommodation for women escaping domestic violence and abuse (DVA). Recent literature that looks at the needs of women who reside in refuges is limited. However, considering these needs is important at a time when austerity measures have resulted in funding cuts to the DVA sector, which have had a direct impact on refuge service provision. This study contributes to the literature on women's refuge services, as they are the most likely specialist DVA service to be accessed, and are consequently in high demand. In this study, 35 participants took part in total. Within two research phases 32 residents across 6 refuges and 3 focus groups answered the first research question: What are the self-articulated needs of women in a refuge? Within the first phase a thematic analysis of the data from the first two focus groups identified six key themes: Accessing a refuge, Loss, To feel safe, Support, To move on, and To feel valued. Within the second research phase, a further focus group was conducted, the analysis of which is presented without decontextualising the content into themes, as it was felt to be important to represent the narrative structure of the documented accounts. The analysis of the material is presented by providing summaries demonstrating examples of the physical and emotional journeys that three women took to get to a refuge, and their subsequent needs upon arrival. In the third phase of the study, three semi-structured interviews were conducted with refuge staff members to answer the second research question: What do workers in a refuge setting perceive to be the needs of the residents? Thematic analysis of each interview identified 11 main themes, of which two themes per staff member were discussed. The final phase of the analysis process involved comparing and contrasting the salient findings that appeared similar or dissimilar across the data. Key emerging issues related to research question one identified the unexpected outcome addressing the needs of children and the helplessness felt by the mothers. Other issues discussed were the emotional challenges that accessing a refuge brought in terms of preparation, isolation, and location along with the importance of relational support in service delivery. In relation to research question two, key issues highlighted include the engagement of residents in support interventions and the impact that financial cuts have had on refuges. From a counselling psychology perspective, implications are identified for research and professional practice across a range of roles, from refuge personnel and funding commissioners to services that work alongside refuges, such as housing associations, local governments, and mental health professionals.

In this thesis I investigate intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in heterosexual relationships by analysing the accounts of women and men in the Anglophone Caribbean country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Since IPV occurs in the context of a range of abusive practices (Dobash and Dobash 2004) participants' talk on the use and experiences of violent acts, violent threats, as well as other controlling and coercive tactics are examined as part of this study. Analytically, I focus on the points at which discourses of gender converge with narratives of violence. In other words, the current work examines the ways in which participants construct, (re)produce, disturb and/or negotiate gender in their accounts of IPV, and the kinds of power dynamics that are implicated in these verbal performances. I apply a feminist poststructuralist framework to the study of IPV against women. Synthesising feminist theories of gender and power, and poststructuralist insights on language, subjectivity, social processes and institutions, feminist poststructuralism holds that hegemonic discourses of gender are used to subjugate women (Weedon 1997; Gavey 1990). The points at which individuals complicate dominant discursive practices will also be assessed as part of this approach. In-depth interviews conducted with 34 participants - 19 women and 15 men - between 2007 and 2008 are analysed by using a version of discourse analysis (DA) compatible with the feminist poststructuralist framework outlined in the thesis. My analysis begins by highlighting the ways in which narratives of gender inscribe asymmetrical relations of power. The focus then shifts to a comparison of women's and men's accounts on a range of abusive acts. Traditional scripts on gender are often used to police the boundaries of femininities and masculinities, tying these to female and male bodies respectively. This is the context in which control, coercion, violence and violent threats are discussed in these accounts. Understandings of manhood and womanhood also emerge in the analysis of the strategies used to explain violence. I conclude with a summary and discussion of the analysis, and I suggest possible areas for further research on IPV in the Anglophone Caribbean.

This dissertation examines the ways intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors' experiences of poverty, mental illness, social isolation, and gender inequality shape their opportunities to protect themselves and their children before, during, and after separating from abusive partners. Ethnographic research was conducted in three communities in the United States over two years. In each site I observed and interviewed women about their experiences of abuse and their attempts to achieve long-term security. I also observed and interviewed practitioners across a range of disciplines about their work with IPV survivors. The results of this study demonstrate that when women ended abusive relationships they often sustained a variety of losses related to their economic stability, social support, and access to their children. After leaving their batterers, many survivors faced debt, trauma, and protracted custody disputes that continued to disrupt their lives. However, the IPV interventions studied were routinely designed as though the collateral damage to an IPV survivor's life ended when she left her abuser. Interventions rarely accommodated survivors' post-separation social, economic, and parenting needs, and indeed, often placed additional strain on women's lives. As a result, the most disadvantaged survivors often found institutional resources in the domestic violence service system inaccessible, irrelevant, and at times counterproductive. This dissertation demonstrates that IPV is more than a series of isolated acts by individual people: it is the cause of many women's diminished agency and heightened suffering long after their abuse has ended.