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This project attempted to understand better the relationship between social support and women's commitment to an abusive relationship for the purpose of informing social support interventions. This study was not an intervention; instead, it sought to examine the processes linking receipt of helpful forms of social support from naturally occurring sources with women's commitment and stay/leave decisions. Specifically, it was hypothesized that relationship satisfaction and quality alternatives would mediate the relationship between received social support types (e.g., nondirective support, positive social exchange, tangible assistance, and directive guidance) and battered women's feelings of commitment. Fifty-one battered women living in domestic violence shelters participated in the present study. Women completed the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS-2), Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB), and Investment Model Scale (IMS) along with other measures designed for this study. Results showed that battered women who received more resources and services (i.e., tangible assistance) endorsed lesser commitment to their abusive relationships; however, other dimensions of social support such as showing concern, giving advice, and spending time in recreational activities were unrelated to commitment. Further, neither relationship satisfaction nor quality alternatives mediated the relationship between support and commitment; however, relationship satisfaction and quality alternatives demonstrated expected relationships with women's commitment. Potential design limitations as well as clinical and research implications are discussed. / Ph. D.

The South Africa criminal law allows the battered woman to raise a battered woman syndrome defence in the context of non-pathological criminal incapacity. However, there is a need of expert evidence to support such defence for it to succeed in the court of law. Hence, this paper scrutinizes the task of expert evidence in support of the battered woman syndrome in order to reach the extent of its effectiveness. Nevertheless, such evidence is not indispensable but without it, the court hardly gets persuaded resulting into the failure of the defence. The meaning of battered woman syndrome is articulated in the paper as well as the fact that battered woman syndrome defence falls under the defence of non-pathological criminal incapacity. The origin and development of the non-pathological criminal incapacity has also been discussed by comparing it with pathological criminal incapacity which emanates from mental illness while the former does not originate from a mental illness. Psychiatrist are in a better position to understand the latter while psychologists are in a better position to understand the former, hence it is advisable if the court pays more attention or attach more weight to the evidence given by the psychologists if this defence is to succeed and have a brilliant future. Moreover, the possible defences available to the battered woman have been mentioned as well as the cases that used non-pathological criminal incapacity as a defence particularly with regard to the battered woman syndrome defence. Both cases that were successful and unsuccessful have been elaborated. However, the cases that failed with the defence are in large numbers than the successful ones. Although expert evidence is essential to support the battered woman syndrome defence, it is unjustly and unfairly applied on the battered woman who is an accused person in the court leading to the failure of the defence .In short the use of expert evidence has failed in its application as the two professions, law and medicine has failed to make this defence work as they have not reached an agreement concerning the battered woman syndrome defence. In addition, the paper looks at the obstacles linked with the battered woman syndrome defence as well as offering suggestions to be put in place in order to make the use of expert evidence achievable. This can only be done if both the lawyers and mental health professionals come to terms with each other where they are able to understand the battered woman syndrome and the actions which led to the situation where battered woman finds herself as an accused person. Finally, the paper concludes that expert evidence has failed tremendously in its application leading to the failure of the battered woman syndrome defence in the context of non-pathological criminal incapacity. Consequently a lot still needs to be done to protect the women who face numerous obstacles; both personal and legal as they do not face justice in court and everyone must take part to put an end to battering of women which is inhuman and morally wrong. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Public Law / unrestricted

One of the most debated constituents of intimate partner violence pertains to attachment theory. Although, attachment theory can provide a theoretical framework for understanding the linkage between childhood family experiences and subsequent experiences with partner violence, there are controversial perspectives as to whether attachment style is stable from childhood to adulthood (Bowlby, 1973, 1980, 1982) or if attachment style can be formulated directly from adult abusive relationships (Caspi & Elder, 1988; Ricks, 1985). Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore how attachment style presents in the Battered Woman Syndrome, determine if the battered woman's attachment style is consistent throughout childhood to adulthood or if it is manifested due to intimate partner violence exposure as well as to determine how attachment style is manifested in interpersonal functioning and perceived power and control. The theory of learned helplessness (Seligman, 1975) was used as a conceptual model for understanding why battered women remain in abusive relationships. There were 137 female sample participants who reported a history of domestic violence. Measures administered included the Battered Woman Syndrome Questionnaire (BWSQ, Walker, 1978) that assessed childhood history, interpersonal functioning and power and control and the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (Collins and Read, 1996) that assessed the participant's attachment style. Statistical techniques employed included latent class analysis, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and logistic regression. Results indicated that aversive childhood environment (as measured primarily by childhood battering variables) and involvement in adulthood abusive relationships were significantly related to childhood environment and involvement in adulthood abusive relationships. Across all five adulthood battering episodes there were significant overall effects of attachment style on sexual abuse scores. Results also confirmed the hypotheses that insecurely attached participants were more likely to report more interpersonal functioning difficulties and lower perceived power and control when compared to secure participants. Implications for future research are also presented.

Bakgrund: En av tre kvinnor i europeiska Unionen (EU) har upplevt psykisk misshandel av en partner. sjuksköterskan kan ställas inför flera olika etiska dilemman om våld-i-nära relations-problematik kommer fram i mötet med en misshandlad patient. Syfte: Att beskriva sjuksköterskors strategier och handlingsberedskap i mötet med den misshandlade kvinnan i den psykiatriska vården. Metod: En kvalitativ studie med semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes och analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys med en manifest ansats. Resultat: Åtta sjuksköterskor inom psykiatrin mellan 26-67 år deltog i studien. Självutveckling, tillit, och debriefing var viktiga strategier i mötet med den våld-i-nära-relationsutsatta kvinnan. Självutveckling handlade om behovet av temadagar och vikten av självinsikt. Tillit handlade om att vara närvarande, miljöns och timingens betydelse, samt att våga fråga om våld-i-nära-relation. Debriefing handlade om hur sjuksköterskan hanterade och gick vidare med svaren, och om betydelsen av kollegialt samarbete och egenterapi. Konklusion: Sjuksköterskor använder sig av flera strategier i mötet med den våldsutsatta kvinnan inom psykiatrin, men uttrycker ett behov av vidareutbildning, alltifrån temadagar till längre utbildningar.

Kvinnomisshandel är idag ett komplicerat och tabubelagt folkhälsoproblem. 38 % av kvinnor runt om i världen har någon gång blivit utsatta för misshandel i en nära relation. Syftet med studien var att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av att möta kvinnor utsatta för misshandel av män i en nära relation. Studien genomfördes som en litteraturstudie där tio kvalitativa artiklar och en artikel med mixad metod användes i resultatet. Resultatet presenteras i fyra kategorier: Kvinnomisshandel – ett tabubelagt ämne bland vårdpersonal, Att axla sin professionella roll i mötet med misshandlade kvinnor, Kunskapens betydelse för omvårdnad och Organisationens påverkan på omvårdnad. Resultatet visade att sjuksköterskor upplevde en saknad av relevant utbildning i hur och när frågan om misshandel skulle komma på tal för att inte förolämpa och stöta bort kvinnorna. Sjuksköterskorna påpekade även att behovet av ett utökat samarbete med andra professioner skulle kunna vara till hjälp vid möten med kvinnor utsatta för misshandel i en nära relation. Det påpekades att sjuksköterskorna upplevde det som svårt att axla sin professionella roll och ge kvinnorna den hjälpen de behövde få. Inom sjukvården har sjuksköterskorna en viktig och framträdande roll i att hjälpa kvinnor utsatta för misshandel i en nära relation. / The dilemma of battered women is today a complex and taboo public health problem, 38 % of women around the world has at some point been exposed to intimate partner violence. The aim was to describe nurses experiences of encounter women exposed to intimate partner violence by men. The study was conducted as a literature study where ten qualitative scientific articles and one mixed method scientific article were selected. The result culminated in four categories: Battered women – a taboo subject among health care workers, Shouldering the professional role in the encounter with battered women, The importance of knowledge in nursing care and The organization's impact on the nursing care. Nurses´ experienced a lack of relevant education in how and when to ask women about intimate partner violence without insult and repelling the women. Nurses pointed out that the need for extended collaboration with other professions would be of great assistance in meeting women exposed to intimate partner violence. Nurses observed that it was difficult to shouldering their professional role and provide the assistance that the women needed to receive. The result showed that nurses have an important and prominent role in assisting women exposed to intimate partner violence.

Spurred by the work of the Battered Women's Movement, domestic violence has been responded to since it emerged as a problem in the 1970s. At first the response was providing places for victims to stay and recover from the violence while also providing opportunities for consciousness raising and empowerment work. As domestic violence became a more recognized problem, policies were created and enacted to end the problem. Through the 1980s and 1990s, changes in federal policies in regards to domestic violence were incorporated. The criminal justice system began incorporating such policies as mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution policies as well as using batterer intervention programs (BIPs) to provide services to those accused of domestic violence charges.In Virginia, domestic violence advocates, batterer intervention program service providers and members of the criminal justice system worked together to create coordinated community responses with the stated goals of safety for domestic violence victims and accountability for perpetrators of domestic violence. The coordination, however, seemed to be fraught with difficulties, as domestic violence advocates, BIP providers, and the criminal justice system continued to struggle with the implementation of the standards. It seemed that although all three groups were able to agree upon the goals of accountability and safety, there were underlying issues of difference that were not being considered.The participants of this inquiry had congruent understandings of the term domestic violence; however their understandings of the social problem domestic violence were quite different. Because the way a social problem is understood influences policy as it is created, implemented, and experienced, it is important to strive for clarity concerning the social problem to which the policy is responding.This inquiry is an exploration of the multiple understandings of the social problem domestic violence as understood by those who participated in the inquiry. The tentative findings, or lessons learned, are not to be understood as generalizable findings, but as the unique, co-created understandings of the multiple meanings of the social problem domestic violence as understood by the participants and the inquirer.

Les violences conjugales faites aux femmes demeurent l’un des plus grands scandales en matière d’usages, de coutumes et de droits humains. Ces travaux ont été réalisés en Iran, à Téhéran, en 2008, dans le cadre de centres médicaux, sur une population de femmes battues.Les hypothèses envisagent que les deux dimensions, tolérance et violence, sont associées de manière significative aux violences physiques, sexuelles, psychologiques et économiques, compte tenu de l'existence d'antécédents de violence dans la famille d’origine, du faible soutien social, du manque de soutien familial, de l' âge et du niveau socio-économique. Cette partie a permis d’établir une base conceptuelle pour organiser le matériel consulté et donner un sens aux résultats des recherches. Les résultats de notre recherche montrent :- Une relation significative et directe entre la violence, l’âge, la durée du couple, l’expérience de la maltraitance (antécédents familiaux), la pression ou l'influence familiale, le manque ou l’absence de soutien économique, l’inquiétude pour les enfants, l’habitude de la violence et la difficulté de vivre ;- une relation significative et inverse entre la violence et le niveau d’étude, l'absence de soutien social, l’attachement au mari et le comportement gênant de celui-ci ;- une absence de relation significative entre la violence et les variables suivantes : le niveau de salaire, la profession des femmes, le nombre d’enfants, le regard négatif porté par la société sur les femmes divorcées, le sentiment de culpabilité, l’espoir d’un changement d’attitude du mari et la mésestime de soi.- Autant de résultats, au moins pour ces derniers, qui ne laissent pas sans surprise / Violence towards a woman, within a married couple, is just unacceptable as regards ethics and Human Rights. This study about battered wives was carried out in various medical centers in Tehran, Iran, in 2008. Tolerance and violence are connected in a significant way with physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence and we have to take into account such elements as age, a history of violence in the family, a lack of social and family support and the social and economic background. We have thus set up a conceptual base to organize the collected information and to make sense with the conclusions of our research. These conclusions show:- A significant and direct link between violence, age, the number of years husband and wife have been living together, the history of violence in the family, the influence or the pressure of the family, the lack of economic support, the concern for the children, the habit of violence and the difficulty to live.- A significant and reverse link between violence and the level of ability, the lack of social support, the attachment to the husband and the husband’s wrong behavior.- No significant link between violence and the following variants : the level of income, the woman’s job, the number of children, the lack of social consideration for a divorced woman, the feeling of guilt, the hope for a change in the husband’s behavior and the lack of self-esteem.Such conclusions, and particularly the third one, are quite a surprise.

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.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Sociology