The main purpose of this study is to find out what kind of help social service in one selected municipality in Sweden can provide for children who have witnessed or been victims of domestic violence. Using focus group interview this study investigate how the social workers meet the needs of these children. The bases for our analysis are the Organization Theory and the Attachment Theory, as well as previous research. Important results are that the social services are dependent on notifications in order to do their work and that the most common interventions are foster care, emergency foster care and/or family therapy. The difficulties that social workers perceive their work are unjustified families and heavy workloads. The results showed the difficulties of helping these children, and indicated that children who have witnessed domestic violence not always receive adequate response.

<p>The thesis hopes to augment this focus by exploring the multitude of discourses women make in terms of oppression, resilience being one such possible response. It is proposed that the research may expand on existing literature, offering an alternative perspective as to why women often remain in abusive relationships. Furthermore, the rationale of the thesis is to contest the notion that women who remain in domestically violent relationships do so for underlying pathological reasons.</p>

The aim of this qualitative study was to get a deeper understanding of social workers experience that children who participate in the Trappan-insatsen get a sense of coherence. To achieve an empirical material social workers who perform Trappan-samtal have been interviewed. The study shows that it is important that children get help and support to talk about the trauma they experienced. The support of the narrative, however, differ depending on the child's age, it is important to have a flexible approach as a Trappan-user. It appears that it is essential that parents give their consent to the children so they can talk about the violence. It also emerges that information to the children is an important part of understanding the process. The study shows that social workers feel that the children participating in the staircase mission get a sense of coherence.

Background: Domestic violence has been recognized globally as one of the most important Public Health concerns with severe negative health consequences for the exposed women. Through UN bodies several international milestones have successfully pushed attention towards worldwide improvements in the life situations of women. Since the ratification of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1984, significant positive changes towards equality between men and women in Indonesia have been initiated, one being the enactment of the Domestic Violence Act in 2004. However, there is still a need to improve the knowledge about what preventive measures that are feasible and work in different settings. This thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of appropriate prevention strategies against domestic violence in rural Indonesia by exploring: i) risk factors for domestic violence; ii) women’s ways of coping with exposure to violence; iii) men’s views on masculinity and violence within marriage; and iv) challenges faced by local service agency in managing services for women survivors of domestic violence. Methods: Data from a cross sectional population based study was used to analyze risk factors for physical and sexual abuse among a cohort of pregnant women in Purworejo district. Further, a qualitative phenomenological interview study was conducted to reveal the dynamics of coping among women survivors of domestic violence in the same district. A Grounded Theory study based on focus group discussions with men formed the basis for a situational analysis of the linkage between masculinity and the use of violence within marriage. Finally, a qualitative case study was performed to explore the management practices of a local service agency in the district, to understand the challenges faced in their efforts to address domestic violence. Results: Sexual violence was associated with husbands’ demographic characteristics (age and low educated) and women’s economic independence. Exposure to physical violence among women was strongly associated with husbands’ personal characteristics. The attitudes and norms expressed by women confirmed unequal gender relationships. Experiencing violence led women to using an elastic band coping strategy, moving between actively opposing the violence and surrendering or tolerating the situation. The national gender equality policies were shown to have played a crucial role in transforming gender power relations among men and women (the gender order) in the Indonesian society. Three different positions of masculinity were identified, the traditionalist, the egalitarian, and the progressive, with different beliefs about men’s role within marriage and with various levels of accepting the use of violence. Long term structural preventive efforts and individual interventions targeted to the conflicting couples were preferred over reporting the abuser to the authorities. The major challenges faced by the local service agency were the low priority given by the authorities, mirrored also in low involvement in the daily service by the assigned volunteers. The local agency also stammered in translating the current law and policies into a society that held on to traditional and religious norms regulating the relationships between men and women. Conclusion: Overall, this thesis illustrates that sociocultural traditions and religious teaching still viscously influence people’s attitudes and beliefs about the use of violence within relationships. Domestic violence has not been accepted as a criminal act but is still to a large extent seen as a private family affair. Culturally sensitive programs aimed to bridging the gap between the current laws and policies and the socio-cultural traditions need to be further developed to protect women from domestic violence and increase gender equity in the Indonesian setting.

Involving community participants in the adaptation of culturally-specific programs has the potential to greatly enhance program fit, particularly for socio-politically distinct implementation sites. Findings from a case study of a leadership-training program for Latina survivors of domestic violence in Atlanta, GA support a participant-centered approach to program adaptation and evaluation. A summary of the adaptation process and themes from a qualitative analysis of structured interviews with program facilitators are presented. Implications for the leadership program and future research in the area of program adaptation are discussed.

Exposure to domestic violence in childhood has serious consequences for children’s health and well-being and is an important predictor of domestic abuse. However, as compared to other forms of domestic abuse, the effects of exposure to domestic violence on the quality of sibling interactions have been relatively underexplored. The major objective of the current study was to examine the impact of exposure to domestic violence on the quality of the sibling relationship, and to better understand the influence of age and gender on sibling aggression. Social learning theory and family systems theory were the guiding frameworks for this study. Participants consisted of 47 school-aged sibling dyads with a history of exposure to domestic violence recruited from the community. Aggressive behaviour was measured by standardized questionnaires completed by mothers and children and by observations of naturalistic sibling interactions. As predicted, analyses of observed aggression which controlled for exposure to domestic violence revealed brothers were significantly more aggressive than sisters or mixed gender dyads. Unexpectedly, analyses of observed aggression found that boys were significantly more aggressive with their siblings than their female counterparts when exposure to maternal violence was taken into account. Findings indicate that children exposed to domestic violence, especially boys, may be at greater risk for aggressive behaviour. Results are expected to be useful for practice and future research.

The study explored the experiences of black women in a rural community regarding domestic violence. It was aimed at discovering what causes domestic violence to women and how to prevent this type of violence. Twenty black women participated in the study. These women were from Ganyesa Village in the North West Province of South Africa. Demographic characteristics included marital status, employment status, qualifications as well as age distribution. Data was collected through individual interviews, and questionnaires were completed anonymously. All participants responded to the stimulus question: "How do you feel when being abused and what efforts do you take to solve the problem?" The method of investigation was a literature study and an empirical research. Guidelines for a social work prevention programme were developed. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Exposure to domestic violence in childhood has serious consequences for children’s health and well-being and is an important predictor of domestic abuse. However, as compared to other forms of domestic abuse, the effects of exposure to domestic violence on the quality of sibling interactions have been relatively underexplored. The major objective of the current study was to examine the impact of exposure to domestic violence on the quality of the sibling relationship, and to better understand the influence of age and gender on sibling aggression. Social learning theory and family systems theory were the guiding frameworks for this study. Participants consisted of 47 school-aged sibling dyads with a history of exposure to domestic violence recruited from the community. Aggressive behaviour was measured by standardized questionnaires completed by mothers and children and by observations of naturalistic sibling interactions. As predicted, analyses of observed aggression which controlled for exposure to domestic violence revealed brothers were significantly more aggressive than sisters or mixed gender dyads. Unexpectedly, analyses of observed aggression found that boys were significantly more aggressive with their siblings than their female counterparts when exposure to maternal violence was taken into account. Findings indicate that children exposed to domestic violence, especially boys, may be at greater risk for aggressive behaviour. Results are expected to be useful for practice and future research.

This study examined whether participants’ attributions of blame and responsibility toward a victim of domestic violence were influenced by whether or not the victim left her abuser. It also looked at whether or not educational information regarding the difficulties of leaving a violent partner would affect these attributions. Participants, all adults from the United States, either read a vignette in which a woman victim of domestic violence stayed with her abusive husband, or left him. Prior to reading the vignette, some participants were given information about the problems associated with leaving a violent partner, and some were not. All participants completed a scale measuring victim blame. No main effects of whether the victim left or whether the participant received information were found on attributions of blame, and there was not a statistically significant interaction between the victim leaving and presence of information. An interaction between whether or not the participant was a victim of domestic violence and the presence of information was found on victim blame, but further research should examine this more closely with a study specifically designed to investigate victims and their perceptions.

The aim of this research was to achieve a better understanding of ways to support the safety of women who have experienced violence by their domestic partners. This descriptive study focused on seven cases handled by a mid-island child protection team who had recently been introducing a number of new practice approaches. Case files and interviews from child protection worker/former clients were used as the basis for this case study‘s analysis. The results offer a detailed glimpse into how child protection workers employ a variety of safety inviting practices and how women who have experienced violence perceive these practices. Three overlapping themes represent ways that child protection workers invited greater safety: validation, responding to mother‘s relational needs, and creating space for the mother to take the lead. The impacts of these practices are discussed and recommendations are offered for policy and procedural changes and training and supervision. / Graduate