The mental health field lacks an array of effective interventions designed to assist women victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Moreover, treatment modalities responsive to the needs of racially and ethnically diverse populations are under researched. This presents a significant challenge to serving ethnic minority women who are known to experience more crime, violence victimization, and psychological trauma than their dominant-ethnic group counterparts. This study integrated research and theory of trauma with current IPV literature and tested the utility of a brief trauma-based approach in reducing trauma related symptomatology in a predominantly Latina and African American clinical sample. Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) is a time limited intervention that seeks to resolve trauma and psychological symptoms through various memory-based methods, guided exposure techniques, and the use repetitious story-telling of traumatic event(s). By taking this approach, this research sought to add to the emerging literature on the effects of TIR in alleviating symptoms associated with trauma exposure. Treatment effects in 106 survivors of IPV were examined (age = 36, SD=9, 80.2% Latina, 19.8% African American, mean hours spent in TIR treatment M = 6.4, SD = 5.28). Paired t-tests supported the hypotheses that TIR significantly (p < .001) reduced symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression and increased self-concept. Multiple regression analyses found that as the hours in TIR increased so did the participants self-concept (R2 = .179, F(4, 75) = 4.08, p = .005). Multiple regression analysis also supported the hypothesis that as the total number of crimes as a victim increased Depression increased significantly (R2 = .125, F(4, 76) = 2.72, p = .036). Chi squares and t-tests found no differences between those who remained in treatment versus those who terminated prematurely.

Bakgrund: Våld mot kvinnor i partnerrelationer är ett stort samhällsproblem och varje år dör ungefär 17 kvinnor till följd av våldet. När kvinnorna besöker hälso- och sjukvården kan en unik möjlighet ges att upptäcka partnervåldet. Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien var att beskriva hur kvinnor som blivit våldsutsatta av en manlig partner upplever vårdpersonalens bemötande. Metod: En allmän litteraturstudie gjordes som baserades på 14 vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultat: Kvinnorna upplevde att vårdpersonalen inte vågade ställa frågan om partnervåld, dock hade de flesta positiva upplevelser av att vårdpersonalen satt ner och lyssnade på dem. Upplevelser av att integriteten och autonomin inte respekterades förkom och även att fokus låg på de fysiska skadorna och att det psykiska välbefinnandet glömdes bort. Diskussion: Diskussionen belyser fyra centrala fynd; att vårdpersonalen inte vågade ställa frågan, positiva bemötanden gällande att vårdpersonalen var närvarande och lyssnade på kvinnorna, att kvinnorna inte blev respekterade och tagna på allvar samt att kvinnornas psykiska välbefinnande glömdes bort. Slutsats: De flesta kvinnor som blivit utsatta för partnervåld upplevde att vårdpersonalen inte bemötte dem på det sätt de önskade och kvinnorna fick därmed inte den hjälp de var i behov av. / Introduction: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a big public health problem and every year about 17 women die in Sweden as a consequence of this. When the women seek healthcare, there can be a unique opportunity to discover IPV. Aim: The aim was to describe how women subjected to IPV experience how they were handled by healthcare professionals (HCP). Method: An overview based on 14 scientific articles was made. Result: The women experienced that the HCP did not have the courage to question about IPV but they had positive experiences regarding that the HCP sat down and listened. The result also showed a lack of respect for the integrity and autonomy and that the HCP often only treated the injuries and forgot about their psychological well-being. Discussion: Four central findings were highlighted; the HCP do not have the courage to ask about IPV, positive handling regarding the HCP were presence and listened, the lack of respect and not to be taken seriously and that the psychological well-being was forgotten. Conclusion: Most of the women experienced that the HCP did not handle them in the way they wanted, which resulted in the women not getting the help they needed.

Intimate partner violence against women has gone from a concealed family affair to a public issue. The health care services are often those who first come in contact with abused women, despite this many women are not identified as victims of domestic violence. The purpose of this study was to describe nursing care of abused women and factors influencing the care. The study was conducted as a literature review where 18 articles were analyzed. The result showed the importance of the nurses’ role in screening for abused women. Knowledge and understanding of domestic violence was of importance in the meeting with abused women. More education about care for abused women during formal nursing program and continuing education on domestic violence for nurse practitioners was considered necessary. Better developed guidelines are required and should be accessible in all health care services. No Swedish research on intimate partner violence was found and further research should focus on nurses’ care of abused women in Swedish health care.

The purpose of this study was to do a narrative survey of the discussion about violence in partner relationships that is held in research literature. The question at issue was: How do research literature discuss violence in partner relationships, with focus on heterosexual relationships? The eight primary documents that have been chosen are written by researchers, professional therapists, National Counsil for Women's protection (Nationellt Råd för Kvinnofrid, NRK) and Swedish Government Official Report (Statens Offentliga Utredningar, SOU). To investigate the theories, discover the similarities and differences between them and how they can complement each other, the documents statements has been analyzed with a dialectic-hermeneutic approach and social constructionism and discourse theory. The research findings showed that the gender perspective theory, the psychodynamic theory and the social psychology theory have a few things in common, but that they on the whole are different and contradict each other. The gender perspective theory dominates the discussion but needs to be combined with the other theories to give a more all-embracing understanding. A multidimensional model seems to be necessary.

Men abuse women every day. It has become a Health Problem which we affects all of us. Help is available for those women who have the strength to seek it. Health care personnel are often these women’s only contact with the surrounding world. As professionals, health care personnel need the right knowledge and resources in order to help abused women. Our aim with this study was to describe abused women’s experiences when they seek health care, and also to document health care experiences and attitudes towards these women. A literary review of 14 scientific articles was conducted. The result was then divided into two sections: women’s perspectives and health care personnel’s perspectives. Abused women felt a lack of confidence with the health care personnel. They had been violated, and felt that the health care personnel did not listen. The health care personnel felt that they needed more training and resources in order to work with abused women and help them. The lack of health care personnel’s ability to create a safe and confident environment where women feel that they can open up and ask for help is a major social problem. In order to correct these flaws, people need to take a stand in the matter. / Dagligen misshandlas kvinnor av män. Det är ett folkhälsoproblem som alla har ansvar för att lösa. Hjälp finns att få för de kvinnor som har styrkan att söka den. Oftast är vården enda kontakten som kvinnorna har med omvärlden. Vårdpersonal möter dessa kvinnor i sin yrkesroll och de behöver ha den rätta kunskapen och de rätta verktygen för att kunna hjälpa kvinnorna. Syftet med studien var att med aktuell litteratur beskriva hur kvinnor som blivit misshandlade av sin partner upplever mötet med vården, samt vårdpersonalens erfarenheter och inställningar till mötet med misshandlade kvinnor. 14 internationellt vetenskapliga artiklar granskades och sammanställdes sedan i två delar . I den ena fokuseras på kvinnornas perspektiv och i den andra vårdpersonalens. Misshandlade kvinnor upplevde att de hade lågt förtroende för vårdpersonalen. De kände sig kränkta och inte hörda. Vårdpersonalen å sin sida kände att de inte hade adekvat utbildning, resurser och verktyg för att kunna möta misshandlade kvinnor. Det finns brister hos vårdpersonalens kompetens för att skapa en trygg och förtrolig plats där kvinnorna upplever att de kan söka stöd och råd. För att häva dessa brister krävs det att alla människor tar ställning i frågan om kvinnomisshandel.

Domestic violence remains a serious social issue. In North America, millions of women are victimized each year, and many of these women are victims of violence at the hand of their intimate partners. A small but growing body of research on domestic violence has shown that companion animals are among the victims of such violence. Abuse of or threats to the pets are used to control, manipulate and emotionally abuse the female partner. However, the majority of this research has focused on the perspective of the abused female partner; the male perspective is missing. Through semi-structured interviews with ten incarcerated men who have committed intimate partner violence (IPV), this thesis explores the abuser’s motivations for abuse of the pet as well as their perspective of pets in the context of a violent relationship. The findings indicate that, contrary to previous research, most men do not abuse pets in the relationship, and in fact have positive relationships with their pets. Just as pets are sources of comfort for women in abusive relationships, pets can be sources of comfort and support for the abusive men as well. When incorporated into violence intervention and treatment programs, relationships with pets can provide a venue for men construct a masculine identity in a positive way, and the treatment of animals can illustrate how violence is not an effective solution.

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive, worldwide public health problem and one of the most common violations of human rights. The aim of this thesis were twofold: (i) to study the process and factors related to ending of IPV of Nicaraguan women and (ii) to examine to what extent IPV exposure is associated with the child linear growth and women’s contraceptive use after pregnancy. Methods: Data were collected from a panel study which followed 398 women who were inquired about their IPV exposure during pregnancy and at follow-up a median of 43 months after delivery. Three hundred seventy five of their children were available for anthropometric assessment. Thirteen in-depth interviews were conducted with women exposed to physical/sexual IPV during pregnancy but not at follow-up. For analysis both quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used. Results: Women experienced four patterns of abuse: never abused, ending abuse, continued abuse, and new abuse. Of the women who experienced any IPV before or during pregnancy, 59% (95% CI 52-65%) reported no abuse at follow-up (135/229).  Women exposed to a continued abuse pattern and those exposed to any IPV, emotional or physical IPV at follow-up had higher odds of reversible contraceptive use. Further, exposure to any IPV and controlling behavior by a partner during pregnancy impaired the index child linear growth. Girls whose mothers had low social resources during pregnancy were the most affected. Women felt that being inquired about IPV while pregnant contributed to process of ending the abuse. Ending IPV was experienced as a process with three phases: “I came to a turning point,” “I changed,” and the “Relationship ended or changed.” Successful strategies to ending abuse mainly involved utilizing informal networks. Ending IPV did not always mean ending the relationship. IPV awareness, severity of the abuse, and economic independence were individual factors associated with ending of abuse. At the relationship level, diminishing or no exposure to controlling behavior by their partner was a key element. At the community level, a supportive and less tolerant to IPV environment as well as exposure to IPV inquiry during pregnancy facilitated the process of ending abuse. Conclusion: The study found that IPV exposure is associated with the children’s linear growth and women’s reversible contraceptive use. In addition, it is clear that gender norms regarding IPV are not static and that they play an important role in facilitating the process ending the abuse by increasing abused women’s access to emotional and material support. Our results emphasize the relevance of improving public services response to IPV.

The study was conducted in northern Ghana to determine the scope of male partner violence (MPV) against women, identify the factors associated with this problem as well as point out the health implications of MPV. In a sample of 443 married women drawn from outpatient populations across six district health centers we found that nearly 7 out of 10 women have experienced some MPV: 62% have experienced psychological violence; 29% have experienced physical violence; and 34% have experienced sexual violence. A multiple regression analysis showed that male controlling behavior, number of children, presence of concubines, partner appreciation, and very good health significantly predicted Total Violence. The results showed that the more controlling a husband is the more likely his wife is to experience severe violence and that more children in the marriage is associated with more violence for the women. Marriage duration was significantly positively correlated with violence, indicating that the longer the time since a woman got married, the more likely she experiences violence. Husband’s education was significantly negatively correlated with violence, indicating that husband education has a decreased effect on violence. Logistic regression and ANOVA models identified a number of socio-demographic factors as significant correlates of MPV. These include couple’s unemployment, particularly husband unemployment, being young – under 30 years and being younger than the husband, presence of concubines, being Muslim or Traditional, living in a rural setting, husband alcohol use, being a healthy woman, and not being appreciated by the husband. We found that MPV is associated with physical and mental health difficulties among women. Some 47 women reported having sustained multiple injuries, including sprains, broken bones and teeth, cuts, and burns. Mental health difficulties among these women included partner phobia, sleep deprivation, and thoughts of suicide. We make recommendations that call on government and other stakeholders to initiate policy that provides services to women experiencing MPV and that implements education and campaign programs to eventually eliminate MPV in Ghana generally.

Domestic violence remains a serious social issue. In North America, millions of women are victimized each year, and many of these women are victims of violence at the hand of their intimate partners. A small but growing body of research on domestic violence has shown that companion animals are among the victims of such violence. Abuse of or threats to the pets are used to control, manipulate and emotionally abuse the female partner. However, the majority of this research has focused on the perspective of the abused female partner; the male perspective is missing. Through semi-structured interviews with ten incarcerated men who have committed intimate partner violence (IPV), this thesis explores the abuser’s motivations for abuse of the pet as well as their perspective of pets in the context of a violent relationship. The findings indicate that, contrary to previous research, most men do not abuse pets in the relationship, and in fact have positive relationships with their pets. Just as pets are sources of comfort for women in abusive relationships, pets can be sources of comfort and support for the abusive men as well. When incorporated into violence intervention and treatment programs, relationships with pets can provide a venue for men construct a masculine identity in a positive way, and the treatment of animals can illustrate how violence is not an effective solution.

Religious coping and spiritual well-being were found to be culturally important resilience factors for African American women suffering from abuse and depressive symptoms. This investigation aimed to investigate whether: (1) spiritual well-being and its two components of existential and religious well-being mediate the Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)-Depressive Symptoms (DS) link; (2) positive and negative religious coping moderate the IPV-DS association; and (3) the mediating effect of spiritual well-being in the IPV-DS link is moderated by level of religious coping (i.e., moderated mediation). The study utilized data from 208 low income, suicidal and abused African American women, ages 18-55. Only the existential component of spiritual well-being was found to fully mediate the IPV-DS link. This indirect effect weakened at higher levels of negative religious coping. As predicted, higher levels of negative religious coping were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Surprisingly, higher levels of negative religious coping were also associated with increases in existential well-being which, in turn, led to decrease in depressive symptoms. The findings underscore the importance of addressing existential well-being and religious coping in clinical interventions and in training for mental health professionals. Clinical and research implications of these findings are discussed and future directions recommended.