In previous research, community violence exposure has been found to be directly associated with poor academic functioning. Further, internalizing and externalizing problems have been identified as significant mediators of poor academic functioning in children who have witnessed or experienced community violence. This study reports an investigation of the direct and mediated links between community violence exposure and academic functioning in adolescents. A sample of 1,552 adolescents was selected from a public-use dataset from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth). Measures of socioeconomic status, cognitive ability, community violence exposure, internalizing behavior problems, externalizing behavior problems, and academic functioning were constructed from variables in the AddHealth dataset and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Multi-group comparisons were conducted to compare the direct and mediating models by gender and level of urbanicity. Analyses suggest that community violence exposure is directly associated with poor academic outcomes, even after controlling for cognitive ability and socioeconomic status. The direct model applied equally well to adolescents across level of urbanicity, but did not apply equally well to males and females. Support was no! found for !he meditation model.

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of intensive play therapy as a method of intervention for child witnesses of domestic violence. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of intensive play therapy in: (a) improving the self-concept of child witnesses of domestic violence; (b) reducing internalizing behavior problems, such as withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxiety, and depression, of child witnesses of domestic violence; (c) reducing externalizing behavior problems, such as aggression and delinquency, of child witnesses of domestic violence; (d) reducing overall behavior problems, including internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, and social problems, thought problems, and attention problems, of child witnesses of domestic violence; and (e) improving play behaviors in the areas of affection, contact, physical proximity, self-direction, aggression, mood, play themes, and food nurturing themes.

Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Social Work in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, 2000. / Dissertation on "The need for pre-marital counselling in preventing domestic violence" is the outcome of the researcher's concern about domestic violence that is widespread in our society. On reviewing the literature, she found that social workers and their professional associates are trying hard to fight against this disease. However, very little is being achieved as this disease in increasing day by day. Revelation by literature that pre-marital counselling, as a primary intervention, is seldom applied by practitioner that are trying to stop domestic violence, motivated the researcher to undertake this study. In her introduction to this study, the researcher stated the problem, her motivation to undertake this study, its objectives, assumptions, value and limitations, and lastly, she - defined the terms. The researcher reviewed literature on explanation of domestic violence. Her focus was on its causes, forms, effects, prevalence, common features of human violence, individual features of men who batter, why women stay in abusive relationship and the "way they respond to this domestic violence. She further looked into the preventative intervention to domestic violence, focussing on three levels of preventions, namely, preparation for marriage, which is primary prevention, promotion of the quality of marriage and family life, which is secondary prevention, treatment of marital dysfunction, which is tertiary prevention as well as traditional ways of preparing for marriage. The design the researcher used was exploratory/descriptive in nature. Subjects of the study were selected by means of purposive sampling. The sampling units were the social workers of the Department of Social Welfare and Population development, stationed at Madadeni and their clients (ten families) that presented domestic violence related problems. Madadeni community is situated at about 13 km, south of Newcastle in Kwazulu Natal. Interview schedules were pre-tested on three social workers and three families. Interviews and studying of the files of the individual prospective respondents were used to collect data. Frequency tables, columns and pie charts with percentages were used in presentation, analysis and interpretation of data. During the analysis of data, the researcher looked for similarities and dissimilarities. She presented data as a descriptive account, organised it into categories on the basis of themes and proposed hypotheses. Lastly, she gave a summary, drew conclusions regarding the need for premarital counselling in the area and made recommendations. The overall conclusion that was made by the researcher was that pre-marital counselling is needed in combating domestic violence. *

The literature claims that workplace violence (WPV) in the health care setting is among the highest, with the majority of that violence taking place in the Emergency Department (ED). The significance of WPV in reference to nursing is that it leads to burnout, absenteeism, and the risk of nurses leaving their job all together. Leaving the nursing profession intensifies the present critical shortage. With the success of an evidence-based WPV prevention program (WPVPP), hospitals could improve the quality of work for nurses, which consequently will improve retention rates, as well as provide an environment that will be more conducive to patient care. In the evaluation of the ED at the practicum site, it was found that there was an absence regarding de-escalation education, hazard assessment, and incident reporting. To address those problems, the current project examined the extent to which implementing a WPVPP would provide a safer environment as perceived by the nurses who work in the ED. Ten health care professionals with experience and knowledge related to WPV were given an evaluation tool to measure the content validity of the survey instrument and WPVPP. The evaluation tool was comprised of 12 close- and open-ended questions. The information gained from the evaluation provided the necessary support to implement the WPVPP and evaluate the nurses' perception of safety in the ED. The implementation of a WPVPP would affect social change by improving the nurses' perception of safety, hence creating a healthy work environment that includes safety, respect, and trust.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine and compare physically and sexually violent juvenile offenders (PVJOs and SVJOs) to determine whether specific factors in their abuse histories, if present, tend to be associated with-the type of violent offense pattern they exhibit. The Youth Experiences and Behaviors Structured Interview (YEBSI)--an instrument which assesses for primary (victimization), secondary (witnessing), and perpetrated abuse of an emotional, physical, and sexual nature, by and/or toward family members, acquaintances, strangers, and animals--was developed by the primary researcher for use in this study. Thirty-six PVJOs and 30 SVJOs were interviewed. Results indicated that the YEBSI demonstrated high levels of internal consistency reliability and a very high level of interrater reliability. Various descriptive statistical, scale, and subscale correlations for the YEBSI were provided. Very high percentages of both groups reported experiencing and witnessing all types of abuse. In all cases, a similar or larger percentage of SVJOs reported histories of primary and secondary abuse. SVJOs reported more severe levels of emotional abuse, similar severity levels of physical abuse, and less extremely severe levels of sexual abuse than did PVJOs. Family members and acquaintances (as compared to strangers) tended to be far more frequently reported as perpetrators by respondents. Composite primary and secondary abuse scores were moderately correlated with abuse perpetration scores for SVJOs and strongly correlated with abuse perpetration scores for PVJOs. For emotional, family, acquaintance, and stranger abuse, reported primary-secondary abuse scores were found to be most highly correlated with abuse perpetration scores of the same nature (e.g., emotional abuse history-witness scores best correlated with physical abuse perpetration scores and family abuse history-witness scores best correlated with perpetration scores against family members) Finally, the classification variables correctly predicted 75% of those in the physically violent group and 67% of those in the sexually violent group, with an overall "hit" rate of 71%. Examination of the discriminant function-variable correlations in this study indicates that it was primarily the emotional, family-perpetrated, and sexual abuse subscales that defined the function. Theoretical interpretations and implications for these results are provided.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Domestic violence (DV) in India is one of the most alarming issues that is experienced by over one-third (36.6%) of non-Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (non SC/ST) women and nearly half (48%) of Scheduled Caste (SC) women (ages 15-49). DV and women’s empowerment are historically interlinked. The patriarchy embedded within social-cultural norms along with economic capability deprivation takes away the freedom of SC women to enjoy bodily safety in public and private spaces. Despite Constitutional measures, SC women continue to face violence-induced capability deprivation due to discrimination at three levels: caste, class, and gender. DV against SC women is an understudied area; there are scarcely any studies on DV in this population using national data. This research used data from the National Family Health Survey-III 2005-2006 (N = 12,069-SC women and N = 45,390- non-SC/ST women). Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to examine DV trends amongst SC and non-SC/ST women. Contrary to the study’s hypothesis, having better empowerment (household-autonomy, healthcare decision-making, sexual-autonomy) increased the likelihood of women experiencing DV. However, the hypothesis relating to economic empowerment and autonomy was supported showing a reduced likelihood of DV. SC women were empowered when they had the capability to earn wages; however, they had no instrumental freedom to spend their own earnings. Similarly, empowerment indicators were shown to impact the likelihood of justifying the violence shaping women’s gender norms and attitudes. When compared with non-SC/ST, SC women who have economic and healthcare autonomy had lower odds of justifying DV. Exposure to DV in childhood, early marriage, and husbands’ alcohol abuse significantly enhanced the likelihood of DV. Across most of the indicators, the intensity of DV amongst SC women was relatively higher than non-SC/ST women. The findings emphasize the need for social work practice and policy to focus not only on empowering women in terms on economic and material well-being through ownership, but also assessing if this ownership have instrumental value in practice without the threat of DV. Future research can enhance understanding of DV by examining social exclusion, socio-cultural patriarchy, and the intersectionality of caste, class, gender, and other individualist and community factors. / 2 years

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This research identifies how personnel at an alternative high school for at-risk students helped to create school violence through their policies and interactions with students. Data were collected by surveying the staff and students of the school. Data were also obtained from anonymous written records that the researcher kept as a requirement of her job as School Resource Officer. The researcher found consistent patterns--verified by faculty and student surveys--that the students did not feel respected by their teachers. Teachers experienced limited authority in handling student-teacher conflicts and compensated for their restricted authority through a variety of unfair strategies. Often, students resisted the teachers’ efforts. The teachers’ lack of training on how to deal with resistant teens made these problems worse. The researcher analyzes the dynamics that produced school violence in this setting and concludes with suggestions for teachers and administrators.