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It is generally believed that a victim of an intimate partner homicide, who faced ongoing physical violence prior to the killing, would have contacted authorities for assistance or protection some time prior to their death. However, the results of this study show that this notion that a victim of ongoing abuse will, more than likely, request help is a misconception. Through qualitative and quantitative methods analysis, this study reveals the dearth of prior reporting of physical violence to law enforcement or the court when an intimate partner homicide takes place between heterosexual spouses in Florida between 2006 and 2016. Additionally, "coercive control," a term that is not nearly as recognizable as domestic violence or intimate partner violence but that should be understood and regulated, was conceptualized and operationalized using NVivo Pro 12, a qualitative social sciences software package. By constructing an original data set from secondary data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Uniform Crime Report Supplemental Homicide Report, multiple law enforcement agencies from throughout the state of Florida, and many Florida county courthouses, variables of intimate partner homicide were analyzed in unique quantitative models using IBM SPSS, an advanced statistical software analysis program. Also, as part of the content analysis process, Petitions for Injunction for Protection against Domestic Violence were organized, coded, and analyzed to provide insight into the role coercive control takes prior to an intimate partner homicide. This study sheds light on the fact that the emphasis on physical violence in intimate partner abuse, rather than the non-violent tactics of coercive control, for lethality risk assessments for intimate partner violence victims is misplaced and warrants reconsideration.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is experienced by millions of women in the U.S. every year. As the population of Hispanic women continues to grow, there is more attention to the unique experience of these women and the factors that disproportionately affect this population when they experience IPV. The objective of this study was to identify the help-seeking behaviors and barriers to help-seeking in Hispanic survivors of IPV. The last published systematic review on this topic was in 2011, showing a gap in our understanding of the prevalent barriers affecting these Hispanic women over the last decade. To assess the current knowledge on this topic, a systematic literature review was conducted using the University of Central Florida's PRIMO database to find research on help-seeking among Hispanic women from 2009-2021. From this search, 113 studies were identified and 28 met the inclusion criteria for review based on if the study was peer-reviewed, Hispanic women are the main or sub-focal sample of the study, and help-seeking or barriers to help-seeking were identified. Results showed that Hispanic women use an array of help-seeking strategies (e.g., friends, family, police, social workers), and multiple barriers to help-seeking were identified such as language barriers and cultural standards. The information from this study can be used to assist Hispanic women seeking help after experiencing IPV.

With the introduction of COVID-19, preliminary data suggests that the forms and frequency of abuse relating to intimate partner violence (IPV) have changed. Most of society was unaware of the arising silent pandemic which was happening to the individuals in abusive relationships who were being quarantined with their abuser. The IPV resources were extremely aware of this silent pandemic due to large numbers of individuals seeking emergency shelter. However, there was only a priority for public safety due to COVID-19 when in hindsight, there needed to be a balance of public safety as well as increased aid for the individuals suffering in their own homes. In this study, I collected qualitative and quantitative data surrounding the frequency and mode of intimate partner violence throughout the duration of the quarantine and lockdowns from COVID-19. An online survey was distributed to 418 respondents living in the United States who were in the same intimate partner relationship across all three timeframes (pre-COVID-19 lockdowns, during COVID-19 lockdowns and after COVID-19 lockdowns). Respondents answered questions regarding demographics, abuse that occurred along with their perceived intensity and severity of the abuse and their resource usage. Findings revealed that verbal and sexual abuse increased during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the perceived intensity and severity of the abuse trended upward during the lockdowns, and resource usage decreased across all three timeframes. This study contributed a deeper understanding and provoked discussion of the abuse that took place during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Non-physical intimate partner violence (NPIPV) is the most pervasive type of abuse, yet literature has predominantly focused on physical IPV victimization. This study employed a mixed-methods design utilizing archival expressive writing data previously collected to identify the presence of NPIPV victimization. Participants wrote about their experience after a relationship dissolution using the expressive writing paradigm. They were asked to share their deepest thoughts and feelings across two sessions. A constructivist grounded theory approach established the theoretical framework for coding the presence of NPIPV acts between romantic partners. Four themes of NPIPV were established (degradation, isolation, control, and jealousy). Disclosure of NPIPV and other themes were also evident in these data. Quantitative analyses assessed changes in participants' psychological distress after completing a brief writing intervention. The intervention increased the likelihood of NPIPV victimization being mentioned from Time 1 to Time 2 writing sessions. This study increases clinical awareness regarding NPIPV by providing insights into this longest-sustained IPV subtype. All participants reported a reduction in avoidance symptoms after completing the writing intervention. Finally, gender continues to complicate this field as researchers must acknowledge both the existence of men's victimization experiences and the greater severity of women's victimization. Clinical implications demonstrate a strength in narrative therapy when processing relationship dissolution particularly when NPIPV victimization is present.

Background: There is a growing understanding that different kinds of interpersonal violence are interrelated. Many victims report experiences of cumulative violence, i.e., being subjected to more than one kind of violent behaviour (sexual, physical, emotional) and/or violence from more than one kind of perpetrator (family members, partners, acquaintances/strangers). To gain a more comprehensive understanding of what violence entails for victims, how victims can be helped and how violence can be prevented, there is a need to learn more about the co-occurrence of violence. Also, despite strong associations repeatedly being found between exposure to violence and the reporting of different kinds of ill-health, only a minority of victims have told health care professionals about their victimization. Less is known about the process of disclosing victimization to health care professionals for men than for women. Main aims: 1) Investigate the prevalence and co-occurrence of self-reported lifetime experiences of different kinds of interpersonal violence among male and female clinical and random population samples in Sweden (Study I-II). 2) Investigate whether cumulative violence is more strongly associated with       self-reported symptoms off psychological ill-health than with any kind of victimization alone (Study III).   3) Develop a theoretical model concerning male victims’ process of disclosing experiences of victimization to health care professionals in Sweden (Study IV).   Method: The self-reported prevalence of interpersonal violence as well as self-reported symptoms of psychological ill-health were estimated by means of secondary analyses of data collected with the NorVold Abuse Questionnaire (NorAQ). Both sexes were represented in clinical (women n=2439 men n=1767) and random population samples (women n=1168 men n=2924). Descriptive statistics as well as binary logistic regression and ordinal regression analyses were used (Study I-III). In study IV, constructivist grounded theory was used, and 12 men were interviewed concerning their experience of disclosing victimization to health care professionals. Results: A large proportion of victims (women: 47-48%, men: 29-31%) reported experiences of more than one kind of violent behaviour. Many also reported being subjected to violence by more than one kind of perpetrator (women: 33-37%, men: 22-23%). Reporting cumulative violence had a stronger association with symptoms of psychological ill-health than reporting only one kind of victimization. In study IV, the interviewed men’s own perceptions and considerations beforehand (e.g., perceived need for help and feelings of shame), as well as the dynamics during the actual health care encounter (e.g., patient-provider relationship and time constraints), were essential for understanding the process of disclosure. Also, the men’s own conformity to hegemonic constructions of masculinity and professionals’ adherence to gender norms had a strong negative influence on the men’s process of disclosure. Discussion: Experiences of cumulative violence were common. Prevalence rates of experiences of different kinds of interpersonal violence were compared to previous studies on interpersonal violence in Sweden. Large discrepancies were found between all studies, which is a symptom of methodological and conceptual difficulties within the research field. Violence is a gendered phenomenon. Differences were seen in the kind of violence men and women reported. In addition to this, the results in study IV indicate that gender affects how violence is perceived and how victims are treated by health care professionals. Conclusion: Integrated approaches in research on interpersonal violence, as well as in clinical work, are needed. If the co-occurrence of violence is ignored, it may hamper our understanding of the experiences and consequences of interpersonal violence for victims. More research is needed into what produces the differences found in prevalence rates between studies to improve the methodology.

Studier har visat att mäns våld mot kvinnor upplevs som mer allvarligt och bedöms hårdare i jämförelse med kvinnligt våld. Denna studie syftade till att undersöka om gärningsmannens kön och bakgrund påverkade empatin för gärningsmannen och våldshandlingens allvarlighetsgrad. Undersökningen utfördes på en högskola i Mellansverige samt inom hemvården i samma kommun. Fyra fiktiva vinjetter användes där gärningsmannens kön och bakgrund (tidigare dom/ingen tidigare dom) skiljde dem åt. Antal respondenter var totalt 186 varav 49 män. Resultaten av enkäterna analyserades med hjälp av ANOVOR och t-test och visade att manliga gärningsmäns våldshandlingar bedömdes allvarligare samt att det upplevdes mindre empati för dem jämfört med kvinnliga gärningsmän. Gärningsmannens bakgrund hade inte någon effekt på vare sig empati eller allvarlighetsbedömning Studiens resultat överensstämmer med tidigare forskning och slutsatsen blev att manligt våld anses vara mer allvarligt än kvinnligt.

Very little is known about the actual living experiences of Malaysian women who are in a domestic violence relationship. This current study attempts to redress this shortfall by listening to the women s stories, understanding their home-life situations and ultimately offering ideas, strategies as well as information to prevent domestic violence in Malaysia. Underpinned by a feminist perspective, a qualitative approach was employed to explore the abused women s accounts in relation to domestic violence impacts, barriers to violence disclosure, as well as useful resources for support of women victims in dealing with domestic violence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 women who identified themselves as victims and survivors of domestic violence perpetrated by their husbands/ex-husbands. Via the analysis of thematic, six major themes were identified to be the impact of domestic violence, as described by the participants. The impacts include physical injuries, mental health problems, social isolation, a growing faith as well as adverse effects on the children and on the women s self-worth. The study also found that many of these abused women were reluctant to disclose abuse because they wanted to conceal those violence experiences from others because of Malaysian perception on disclosing marital affairs, they were concerned about the children s well-being, they felt partly responsible in provoking the violence, and they admitted to lacking knowledge on the provisions of support available for domestic violence victims in the country. From other aspect, the women also struggled to avoid negative labels given for being disrespectful to their men. In addition, the findings revealed four main themes related to the underlying issues on the needs and support of domestic violence service provisions that women drew on in their accounts: theme 1, unpleasant experiences when accessing the services; theme 2, the problems with procedures in disclosing and in the help-seeking process; theme 3, the usefulness of services and theme 4, women s needs and support mechanisms. As a review, the results gained from this present study prove the existence of domestic violence in Malaysian families. Indeed, the interference of cultural values as well as religious beliefs upheld by the Malaysian community was greatly associated with its occurrence. In relation to Malaysia, cultural as well as religious beliefs play a significant role in moulding its people. The results presented seem to add interesting knowledge to the existing literature, where battered Muslim women in Malaysia perceive their violence experiences as a motivation to surrender themselves to God and seek spiritual assistance as one of the impacts due to domestic violence problems. Further, the women s misapprehension of Islamic concepts such as disobedience and nusyuz (to the male partner) has made disclosing violence experiences difficult. Over and above this, the researcher found that the mechanisms of domestic violence resource provisions are worthy of investigation. The findings from this research demonstrate helpful and unhelpful provision of services identified by abused women, in particular relating to institutions in the nation. Prior to ending, this research proposes a number of recommendations for change in regards to formal supportive network resources, education on violence against women at the societal level, as well as the implication of the findings for the development of domestic violence social policy and practise in Malaysia.

Domestic violence shelters offer services key to ending intimate partner violence, but the effect of a shelter stay on women has received little research attention. The present qualitative study examined how a shelter stay affects women’s sense of empowerment, and addressed the following questions: (1) How do women in shelter define empowerment? (2) What are the empowerment experiences of women in shelter? (3) How do shelters support, or hinder, women’s empowerment process? Nine interviews were conducted and analyzed using Fraser’s (2004) narrative method, which situates personal stories within their social context. Four interrelated empowerment processes emerged: self-reflection, gaining clarity, acquiring knowledge, and building community. Three primary shelter elements impacting empowerment were: increasing safety, forming connections, and promoting self-efficacy. This research situates a stay in shelter within the process of empowerment and highlights interpersonal, organizational, and structural influences on women’s empowerment. Suggestions regarding shelter practices and system policies are made. / February 2017

Even though social work research on violence against women has increased in the last decade (Slayter, 2009), there is little research on social workers’ understanding of disabled women’s experiences of male partner violence (MPV). When there is a gap in research and practice evidence, this may lead to less than ideal work experiences because social workers may be lacking crucial information, to deliver meaningful support and assistance to disabled women. Given these findings, it was essential to hear from social workers who had worked with disabled women who had experienced MPV. The aim of this investigation was to inquire about social workers’ perspectives, theoretical approaches and practice contexts related to disabled women who had experienced MPV. In this collective case study, sources of data that were accessed included federal and provincial government legislation, position documents, provincial archives, academic literature and thematic analysis of ten transcribed interviews of key participants. Findings showed that even though provincial government policies or programs were the main influences on social workers’ practices with disabled women who had experienced MPV, work settings and social workers’ attitudes also played a crucial role in how participants understood disability and male partner violence. Social workers in this current study often found themselves in the middle, trying to respect service users by meeting their needs, while remaining accountable to a system that demanded efficiency and accountability. Social workers often advocated for disabled women because of barriers such as a lack of accessible housing, transportation or work. Factors such as social welfare policies, social work education and training that shaped social workers’ practices could be strengthened to help them to better meet the needs of disabled women who have experienced MPV. / May 2017