There has been a vast amount of research regarding domestic violence. However, the literature is centered on a linear, cause and effect approach. This study aimed to explore domestic violence from the experiences of young female adults, and will be approached from a postmodern perspective. The participants were selected based on purposive sampling and willingness to participate. The sample consists of two participants and the data was obtained through their written stories and semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Themes were then extracted from the data and were explored through hermeneutic analysis which is consistent with the postmodern approach. A qualitative methodological design was used in order to allow meaning to emerge. The results were then presented in an interpretive and descriptive manner. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

The study used a qualitative and quantitative approach in evaluating the handling of domestic violence cases in the Alice cluster by the South African Police Service officials. Fifty SAPS officials and twenty victims of domestic violence participated in the research study. Forty cases of domestic violence and four inspection reports by the Eastern Cape Evaluation Service from the Alice cluster were also consulted which served to confirm the responses from the respondents. Questionnaires and interviews were utilized for data collection. The research study revealed that SAPS officials were not properly trained in domestic violence, as a result domestic violence cases were not handled according to the Domestic Violence Act. Some domestic violence victims expressed their dissatisfaction with the handling of their cases. The suggested recommendations include adequate training necessary for SAPS officials to improve service delivery to the victims of domestic violence and proper supervision by the station management. / Police Practice / M.Tech. (Policing))

There is an abundance of literature that examines the comorbidity of domestic violence and trauma as well as domestic violence and alcohol and/or substance abuse in both community and incarcerated samples of women. There is a paucity of research dedicated to discovering if incarcerated women are significantly more likely to have this triad of domestic violence, trauma, and alcohol and/or substance abuse than their community cohorts. The present study examined this under-researched area by analyzing data from 147 women who participated in an extensive, ongoing research project. Women in this sample were from the United States, Russia, Colombia, Spain, Trinidad, and Greece. Results found that the incarcerated women were significantly more likely to suffer more severe domestic violence and were also more likely to abuse substances. No significant differences were found with respect to witnessing domestic violence or childhood sexual abuse, but both groups reported high rates. There were also no significant differences found between the groups on current symptoms of trauma, but both groups obtained scores that hovered just below the clinical cutoff. Although these variables were not statistically significant, they are diagnostic in that they describe experiences related to being a victim of domestic violence and are therefore, areas of potential intervention.

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.

This thesis explores the practices and perceptions of the courts and professionals in child contact proceedings where domestic violence is an issue and the implications of this for mothers, with particular reference to Practice Direction 12J which establishes the framework for best practice to be followed in such proceedings. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 29 family lawyers and Cafcass officers covering a broad geographic and demographic area, and the reported cases to which the Practice Direction applies were reviewed. The resulting data were analysed utilising discourse analytic and qualitative approaches, drawing on a feminist poststructuralist approach and also insights from autopoietic theory. It was found that the ‘presumption of contact’ and an acontextual, legalistic approach to domestic violence reinforce each other and have a powerful normative influence on professional and judicial perceptions and practices. Dominant parental subjectivities of ‘implacably hostile mothers’ and ‘safe family men’ continue to resonate with many courts and professionals, who focus on promoting contact rather than safeguarding mothers and children. Despite more judges and professionals gaining a broader understanding of the coercively controlling nature of domestic violence, only recent, very severe physical violence warrants the holding of fact-finding hearings on disputed allegations and provides sufficiently ‘cogent’ reasons for family lawyers to support mothers in opposing contact and for courts to refuse contact. The notion that domestic violence is morally reprehensible and a significant failure in parenting, and that women’s desires for safety, wellbeing and autonomy are morally legitimate, finds very little expression. This study concludes that in order to regain a valid and authoritative voice for women in current family law we need to expose and disrupt law’s construction of the ‘scientific truth’ about children’s welfare, the dominant parental subjectivities to which it gives rise, and the ‘safe haven’ of law’s ideal post-separation family.

Barn som växer upp med våld i hemmet är inte ovanligt. Under 2015 gjordes 4070 anmälningar om fysiskt våld mot barn Brottsförebyggande rådet (BRÅ). Betydligt fler barn än så utsätts för psykisk misshandel genom att bland annat bevittna våld mot sina omsorgspersoner. Både fysisk och psykisk misshandel kan få allvarliga konsekvenser för barnets utveckling och de barn som är drabbade utgör också en riskgrupp vad gäller att hamna snett längre fram i livet. Syftet med studien är att få ökad kunskap om upplevelser och konsekvenser av att på nära håll leva med våldet under uppväxten. Studien är kvalitativ med en abduktiv ansats med viss induktiv inriktning, där datainsamlingen gjorts genom intervjuer av fyra, idag vuxna personer utifrån deras utsatthet av våld under uppväxten. Till intervjun användes en intervjuguide med fyra rubriker. Under varje rubrik fanns några uppföljningsfrågor som ansågs svara mot syfte och frågeställningar. Materialet har analyserats med konventionell kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Det studien visat är att isolering av känslor och otrygghet blir konsekvenser av att växa upp med våld i hemmet. Slutsatserna i studien visar att känslor som funnits under uppväxten omformas och till viss del präglar det vuxna livet.

Bakgrund: Forskning visar att majoriteten av övergrepp mot äldre personer över 65 år sker inom familjen men kan även förkomma på institutioner som äldreboenden och andra vårdinrättningar. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva distriktssköterskors erfarenheter av fysiskt, psykiskt och sexuellt våld samt omsorgssvikt mot äldre personer över 65 år i deras nära relationer i ordinärt eller särskilt boende. Metod: studien hade en beskrivande design kvalitativ ansats och genomfördes via semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta distriktssköterskor verksamma inom kommunal hemsjukvård. Materialet analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Analysprocessen resulterade i sex kategorier: Förekomst av fysiskt våld döljs av de inblandade Psykiskt våld i form av kränkningar och hot Begränsade erfarenheter av sexuellt våld Omsorgssvikt i form av för lite, för mycket eller utebliven omsorg Känslomässigt berörda av våldssituationer God kommunikation och stöd från medarbetare men avsaknad av stöd i riktlinjer. Slutsats: Slutsatsen av denna studie är att distriktssköterskor som jobbar inom hemsjukvård kommer i kontakt med våldsutsatta äldre personer och att våld mot dessa förekommer då distriktssköterskan är i patienternas hem och när de inte är där. Våldet som utförs kan vara fysiskt, psykiskt, sexuellt eller genom omsorgssvikt och behov av vidare forskning i ämnet våld i nära relationer bland äldre är angeläget. / Background: Research shows that the majority of abuse of older people over 65 occurs within the family but can also occurs in institutions for the elderly and other care facilities. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe nurses' experiences of physical, psychological and sexual violence, and neglect of the elderly people above 65 years of their close relationships in the ordinary or special accommodation. Method: The study had a descriptive design qualitative approach and was carried out through semi-structured interviews with eight district nurses working in municipal home care. The material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The analysis process resulted in six categories: Presence of physical violence hidden by the involved Psychological violence in the form of insults and threats Limited experience of sexual violence Neglect in the form of too little, too much or no care Emotionally affected by violent situations Good communication and support from employees but lack of support in the guidelines. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study is that the district nurses working in home health care come into contact with abused older people and that violence against these occur when the district nurse is the patient's home and when they are not there. Violence carried out can be physical, psychological, sexual or neglect and need for further research on the topic of violence in close relationships among the elderly is urgent.

This thesis is based on a field study conducted in Uganda in the fall of 2015. The study is analyzing at the process behind the Domestic Violence Act, a law that came in to place in 2010, and try to scrutinize it by using the inclusive democracy theory of Iris Marion Young. In the study numerous interviews with several women’s organizations, as well as representatives for the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and local police officers are presented.   The study aims at getting a better understanding of what is necessary to create successful laws to prevent violence against women. The main objective is to answer the question how inclusion, or the lack of it, can influence the success of legal norms and laws regarding violence against women. The result of this study shows that inclusion could play a role in a law’s success. However inclusion is not enough, other factors such as allocating enough money in the budget together with educating both the public and the officials that are enforcing the law, are also of great importance for a law’s success. Yet, this study also shows that a greater inclusion could affect these factors in a positive way, however inclusion alone is most likely not sufficient for creating a successful law

This study is about social workers work with domestic violence. The aim of this study was to describe social workers work with domestic violence and to understand, from a gender perspective, differences in how social workers work with men exposed to violence respectively women exposed to violence. We have used a qualitative vignette study with eight social workers that work with, but not exclusively with, domestic violence. Four of them got a vignette with a case where a man was exposed to violence and four of them got a vignette with a case where a woman was exposed to violence. The only difference between the two vignettes was the sex of the person exposed to violence. Then we compared the answers we got from interviewees that got the case where a man was exposed to violence with the answers we got from the interviewees that got the case where a woman was exposed to violence in order to find differences in the answers. The main conclusions of this study was that the differences we found in the interviewees work with domestic violence, depending on the gender of the person exposed to violence, to a large extent can be understood through gender theory.

The scientific study of child abuse and infanticide is a relatively young practice in the field of medicine, psychiatry and psychology, and although the role of parents in child homicide has been studied, minimal research has focused on the role of the male paramour, or the child's mother's boyfriend, as the perpetrator of child homicides. This study aimed to examine the differences between male paramours and biological fathers who kill children and hypothesized that biological fathers or step-fathers are significantly more likely than the child's mother's male paramour to kill their children due to relationship factors between the perpetrator and the child's mother, specifically and for the purpose of this study in the context of domestic violence. Child homicides committed by male paramours, in comparison, are more likely to have resulted from factors that are individually or child-centered. Decedent children ages 0-17 that were killed at the hands of their biological father, male-stepfather, or biological mother's male paramours between the years 1999 through 2005 in Miami-Dade County were be studied. The age of the perpetrators and child victims killed by the two groups were compared using an independent samples t-test, with a significance level set at .05. The two groups of male perpetrators were compared on prior domestic violence histories, prior criminal histories, evidence of prior trauma to the child, and perpetration of multiple homicide and post-incident suicide using a chi-square test, with a significance level set of .05. Significant differences were found between the two groups. Specifically, paramours are significantly more likely to be younger than biological fathers and children killed by paramours are more likely to evidence prior trauma. Further, biological fathers are significantly more likely to have a history of domestic violence, as a perpetrator, engage in multiple killings, and commit suicide after perpetrating the child death. The study demonstrates the need for prevention resources to target the two groups differently, to be most effective in prevention. The study also demonstrates the need for more extensive research comparing differences child homicide versus child abuse and in those that perpetrate the two. Lastly, it should inform public policy and the law and how these are applied to cases of domestic violence and child welfare.