The purpose of this research project was to identify risk factors for becoming a victim of domestic violence. Demographic and qualitative data were collected through in-person interviews with 8 female survivors of domestic violence from San Bernardino County. These interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed to determine risk factors that could lead women to becoming a victim of domestic violence and what helped them get out of their relationships. The use of interviews allowed the researchers to connect with the survivors and gain in-depth information about their experiences. Using content analysis, the following themes arose: risk factors that involved absent parents/divorced parents, childhood history of sexual and/or physical abuse, not being educated on domestic violence, and growing up in an environment where violence is normalized. The most utilized services were group therapy, individual counseling, and community domestic violence agencies. The researchers found that that participants had similar experiences that could have led them to being in an abusive relationship. Findings imply that the most effective way to minimize the risk of becoming a victim of domestic violence is to educate individuals on healthy relationships and process adverse childhood experiences that have been identified as risk factors for becoming a victim of domestic violence.

Domestic violence is a pervasive issue that impacts all members of a household, including pets. There is comprehensive quantitative evidence to suggest that domestic violence and pet abuse commonly co-occur; however, as the personal accounts of pet-owning survivors have started to emerge through qualitative investigation, more research is needed to understand the unique experiences of pet abuse that take place alongside instances of domestic violence. This phenomenological investigation utilized control balance theory and a feminist framework to uncover the experiences of survivors who entered their pets into an animal care program specifically designed to help during times of domestic violence escape. Data from interviews with 12 participants were compared to secondary qualitative data from anonymous animal abuse surveys at the community partner organization. A lens of interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify global themes related to survivors' experiences of pet ownership while escaping domestic violence. From these testimonies, pets were revealed to be important to consider in responding to domestic violence because pets not only played key roles of emotional support in the survivors' lives, but they were also threatened and harmed by abusers to control victims. Furthermore, the provision of pet care for survivors who were escaping domestic violence was determined to be a meaningful intervention. Through learning of the experiences of pet ownership along the trajectory of recovery for domestic violence survivors, advocates may be better prepared to serve clients at this intersection. Furthermore, the empirical understanding of the role of the human-animal bond in domestic violence survivorship was augmented by this study.

Patients experiencing nonfatal strangulation during intimate partner violence (IPV) are suffering the consequences of unrecognized injuries and delayed life-threatening medical sequela. Forensic nurses offer expertise in the physical assessment and documentation to a variety of assault victims including those impacted by IPV. This project addressed whether an educational program on nonfatal strangulation increased the knowledge and assessment skills of forensic nurse examiners. The purpose of this doctoral project was to develop a continuing education program on the topic of nonfatal strangulation for forensic nurse examiners. The project design was created using Knowles's adult learning theory principles. The content outline was guided by the International Association of Forensic Nurses Nonfatal Strangulation Toolkit as well as input from content experts on nonfatal strangulation. The evaluation of the project was through pre- and posttest scores. The nonfatal strangulation continuing education training resulted in a statistically significant increase in participants' posttest scores (z-value= -3.064; p value =.002) indicating that the training material and teaching modality positively affected the participants test scores. This continuing education program on nonfatal strangulation increased knowledge of forensic nurse examiners and its application in the field might contribute to positive social change by increasing the identification of IPV and providing appropriate intervention.

Thesis (M.A.) (Clinical Psychology) --University of Limpopo, 2009. / Aims: The aim of the study was to determine the psychological impact, coping strategies and social support structures among female survivors of domestic violence. Participants: 112 female survivors of domestic violence who came to a trauma centre in Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province to seek help were selected as participants of the study. The participants in this study came from around Thohoyandou in the Thulamela Municipality district. The participants’ ages ranged from 15 to 65 years. Instruments: The questionnaire used was consisted of the following: 6 items covering the demographic variables of the participants such as age, marital status, level of education, employment status, number of years married, number of children; 37 items dealing with assessing the psychological problems i.e. depression and post-traumatic stress disorder; and 42 items dealing with seeking social support and coping strategies. Results: A significant number of the physically abused women were suffering from depression (z=2.8434, p<0.05). The results further revealed that a significant number of physically abused women had PTSD (z=15.31, p<0.05). The findings of this study showed that physically abused women tend to seek help from informal social support rather than formal social support (t=-8.572, df=104, p<0.05 with Mean score=1.99, SD= 1.236 for informal support and Mean score= .78, SD = .951 for formal support). This study further shown a significant difference on the use of escape-avoidance coping strategies compared to the use of many other coping strategies such as problem solving strategy (t= 4.065, df= 110, p<0.05 ); confrontive coping strategy (t= -.42232, df=111 , p<0,05), seeking support strategy (t= -8.740, df= 111, p<0.05) and self –control coping strategy (t= -5.451, df= 111, p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the use of escape-avoidance coping strategy and the use of distance coping strategy (t=.03348, df=111, p>0.05) and responsibility coping strategy (t=-.842, df=111, p>0.05). 11 • Conclusion: This study provides data that can be used to motivate the implementation of intervention programmes to address domestic violence against women. Such programmes must include the implementation of cost-effective intervention aimed at reducing the psychological harm caused by physical abuse. The study also highlighted the need for psychological treatment services. These services must present an important venue to identify and manage depression and PTSD amongst physically abused women. Intervention strategies must include imparting physically abused women with help seeking and coping skills. / Not listed

Despite victim advocates' missions of helping survivors of abuse, advocacy work takes a toll on workers. Advocates perform a multitude of tasks in their jobs including care work, emotional labor, and empowerment counseling which may subject them to consequences such as burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction. As such, this thesis details the work I conducted with the Butterfly Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault agency shelter advocates. The purpose of my thesis was to (1) document and review advocates' self-identified work-related needs and to (2) co-construct an educational intervention with the advocates using feminist participatory action research that would help them manage these aspects of their work. I argue that advocacy work impacts the Butterfly advocates across relational and wellness dimensions which inspired advocates' need to implement individual and organizational self-care practices. Furthermore, I contend that the process of feminist participatory action research constructed sustainable individual and organizational self-care interventions with the shelter advocates. The findings have implications for employees in advocacy work and for the larger discourse regarding the relationship between women and care work. Furthermore, findings reveal that creating a culture of self-care may serve as a way to reinforce and resist hegemonic Western notions of work culture in trauma related and non-trauma related fields.

Little is known about domestic violence experienced by Thai pregnant women. This exploratory descriptive study aimed to investigate the prevalence of domestic violence during pregnancy and immediate postpartum period among Thai women aged between 18 and 45 years. The study also aimed to investigate maternal and neonatal outcomes for childbearing women, the ways in which they dealt with domestic violence, barriers that inhibited them from seeking help or resisting violence, as well as the needs and support that would be helpful in dealing with domestic violence. A cohort of 421 women in their third trimester of pregnancy was recruited from two tertiary public hospital antenatal clinics located in Khon Kaen Province, Northeastern Thailand. Structured questionnaires were used. Participants were again contacted at six weeks postpartum either in person at the family planning clinics or by telephone. Two hundred and seventy-four women were able to be contacted. The results showed that 53.7% of women reported psychological abuse, 26.6% experienced threats of and/or acts of physical abuse, and 19.2% experienced sexual violence during the current pregnancy. In the postpartum period, 35.4% of women reported psychological abuse, 9.5% reported threats of and/or acts of physical abuse, and 11.3% experienced sexual abuse. Women who were abused during pregnancy showed significantly poorer health status compared to non-abused women in role emotional functioning, vitality, bodily pain, mental health and social functioning. Women who experienced postpartum abuse reported significantly lower mean scores in mental health and social functioning than women who did not. Antepartum haemorrhage was also found to be statistically associated with physical abuse. No statistical differences were found between abuse status and neonatal outcomes. There were several strategies used by abused women in dealing with domestic violence to maximize their safety including crying, keeping quiet, leaving violent situations and temporarily staying with relatives, seeking help from others, and notifying local authorities. Support services that would be helpful for abused women in dealing with the problem included emotional support, social legal assistance, and community health promotion. Domestic violence during pregnancy and after birth is an increasing but under-recognized problem in Thailand. It has pervasive consequences on maternal health. The findings from this study suggest more interventions and urgent domestic violence support services need to be established in this remote area of Thailand. This study also suggests routine screening for domestic violence should be established to provide effective early intervention and prevention of adverse consequences of violence, as pregnancy is a time when most pregnant women seek health care.

Take that woman explores social issues as a piece of mainstream fiction. The story revolves around realistic characters, in a contemporary setting, facing situations which many people encounter in their lives. The piece isn't didactic. Nor does it force-feed the reader; rather it provides information in bite-sized pieces so it can be easily digested. Take that woman is the story of a group of people brought together by a wedding. Set in the present, the action takes place in Canberra on a day in early November. The story moves between Australia and England, between the present and the past as it examines the conflicts the day generates for the couple's families and friends. Not only does the wedding serve as a device to bring the characters together, it also highlights the seriousness of the issues being explored. The account is a fictional piece as fiction can be an effective communication tool. Information is disseminated in different forms through a variety of media, both electronic and print. But, however widely, or creatively, the material is distributed, there is nothing to ensure the recipient will read or understand the information. Mainstream fiction can be a means of raising awareness about serious social issues, of changing attitudes, and, ultimately, behaviours. The research for the piece involved a search of literature, films and videos, and relevant websites. It also consisted of personal interviews with subject experts, workers in the field of domestic violence, and people who have been exposed to violence in their own relationships.

This thesis reports the results of a survey of Christian church attenders which explored their attitudes and beliefs towards domestic violence. An extensive review of the relevant literature covers the nature of, and research into domestic violence; attitudes toward domestic violence; the relationship of domestic violence to doctrines and practices in the Judeo-Chrlstian tradition and in modern Christianity; and relevant topics in attribution theory. A survey of beliefs and attitudes about husband-to-wife physical violence was designed for this project. The questionnaire consisted of 53 items using a 5 point Likert scale and an optional, open-ended comments section. It was distributed to 12 congregations, representing 6 denominations, in the Canberra region. Participation was voluntary, and 340 questionnaires were completed. The gender ratio of the respondents is consistent with other studies of church attending populations, and Chi-square analysis found no significant differences in gender balance among the denominations. Factor analysis of the responses identified 8 subscales which explored themes of responsibility for and justification of violence, community support for perpetrators and victims, and beliefs about sex roles. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the denominations in beliefs about sex roles, but failed to find expected parallels in the justification and responsibility subscales. This sample is more in agreement than is the general population that neither a wife's action nor her verbal behaviour is justification for a husband to use physical force against her, and it is personally more willing to give support to victims of domestic violence and to helping perpetrators to change. Gender is more frequently a significant factor across the subscales than denomination. Comments from 190 respondents were categorised and provide qualitative data which is juxtaposed with the quantitative results. Directions for future research are discussed.

Recent evidence suggests that victims of dating violence consume alcohol at greater rates than their non-victimized peers, placing them at risk for the negative consequences produced by alcohol use. Thus, research is needed that examines factors that protect victims from consuming alcohol. Toward this end, the present study sought to examine if perceived and enacted support served as stress-buffering variables of the relationship between dating violence victimization and alcohol problems among a sample of currently dating college students. Partial support was found for the stress-buffering effect of perceived support, but findings did not support enacted support as a traditional stress-buffering variable. Implications of these findings for dating violence prevention programming are discussed.

Titel: Våld i nära relationer – Sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att möta våldsutsatta kvinnor, en systematisk litteraturstudie. Bakgrund: År 2011 anmälde 12 471 kvinnor att de blivit utsatta för våld i en nära relation. Skador som våldsutsatta kvinnor drabbas av är allt från psykiska besvär till svåra fysiska skador. Många av dessa kvinnor behöver komma i kontakt med sjukvården och sjuksköterskor i olika organisationer. Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien är att beskriva sjuksköterskans erfarenheter av att möta kvinnor som utsätts för våld i nära relationer. Metod: En systematisk litteraturstudie där inkluderade studier granskades och kvalitetsbedömdes. Resultaten analyserades och tematiserades utifrån likheter och skillnader. Resultat: Huvudresultatet påvisade sjuksköterskornas känslomässiga svårigheter att möta kvinnor som utsätts för våld i nära relationer, då det bland annat påverkade sjuksköterskans privatliv. Det var även svårt för sjuksköterskan att ställa frågan till kvinnan angående våldsförekomst om sjuksköterskan misstänkte det, samt hur sjuksköterskan skulle ställa frågan. Sjuksköterskan fann även svårigheter att finna tid och en bra miljö för dessa kvinnor att känna sig trygga i. Många sjuksköterskor strävade efter att få utbildning inom ämnet våld i nära relationer eller att få ytterligare utbildning inom ämnet. Slutsats: Litteraturstudiens resultat visar att utbildning inom området våld i nära relationer är en nödvändig och central faktor som i dagsläget inte är tillräcklig. Nyckelord: “intimate partner violence”, “domestic violence”, “encounter*”, “experienc*” och “nurse- patient relations”