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This qualitative study conducted in Johannesburg and Pretoria, explores the effect of migration on domestic violence. Drawing on the social constructionist and feminist theory, the study investigates how migrant women understand and explain the effect of migration on domestic violence. Participants were identified using purposive and snowball techniques and narratives of fifteen migrant women were employed in data collection using a semi-structured interview guide. Data for this study was analysed using a combination of content, narrative and discourse analysis. Analysis of the data revealed that the context in which domestic violence is experienced greatly shaped how urban migrant women understood and explained domestic violence. Participants explained the meaning and effect of migration on domestic violence mainly drawing on discourses related to their experiences of migration. In addition, their definitions of domestic violence differed from the classical definitions that group domestic violence in categories; given that they drew on actual experiences in the context of migration as opposed to their home country to explain what domestic violence meant and how migration affected it. Further analysis, shows that broader factors in the context of migration including migrant women’s legal status, xenophobia, poverty, unemployment as well as immigration policies, intersected broadly with gender and unequal power relationships to increase migrant women’s vulnerability to domestic violence. Migrant women in this case, drew mainly on such migration related discourses to explain reasons that they felt led to increased domestic violence and to show how and why they endured domestic violence for survival in the absence of love for their spouses. 2 Factors including being migrants, women’s legal status, xenophobia, lack of networks, dependency caused by poverty and high crime rates in South Africa were also seen by migrant women as heightening their fear of public violence leading to the tolerance and preference of private violence as the only available option. Migrant women also idealised their home country as safer from domestic violence to show the negative consequences of migration on women and how it increases domestic violence. In doing so, they drew on the discourse of culture which they understood as tied to place to explain its role in prohibiting and minimising domestic violence, and to justify not using available services for responding to domestic violence in South Africa. In employing such discourses, they intended to show how services for responding to domestic violence in the host country1 were culturally inappropriate for migrant women and the attachments they held towards their home country and culture.

Thesis (M.A.) (Clinical Psychology) --University of Limpopo, 2007 / The aim of this study was to determine children’s understanding of domestic violence. Children’s understanding encompasses their knowledge and perceptions of domestic violence as well as their attitude towards such violence. Three hundred (300) grade six and grade seven learners ranging in age from 11 to 16 years participated in the study. The participants included 150 girls and 150 boys. The average age of the female participants was 11 to 12 years and of the male participants the average age was 13 to 14 years. The participants resided in the Capricorn district of the Limpopo province. Participants were chosen from three regions, namely a township, city and village or farm area. A questionnaire designed by the University of Limpopo Psychology Department in conjunction with Childline Limpopo was administered to the participants. The questionnaire formed part of a broader research on children’s issues in schools. Areas covered in the questionnaire included biographical data, issues around self esteem, children’s rights, child abuse, domestic violence, gender roles and AIDS knowledge. The present study vii made use of the biographical data as well as data obtained from the domestic violence section of the questionnaire. Results indicated that 92% of participants in the sample had exposure to the concept domestic violence although only 37.3% had intimate knowledge of domestic violence victims. The source of greatest exposure to the concept was the school environment. Knowledge of domestic violence victims had a significant influence on children’s attitude towards conflict and violence. The majority of the sample did not condone violence and men were perceived as holding more violent attributes than women. The gender of the participant held no significant influence on the results. Geographic location appeared to influence responses to statements with significant differences noted by the township sample. Results of the study highlight a need to raise awareness and dispel myths regarding domestic violence. Programmes aimed at raising awareness of domestic violence should be implemented at a school level, as this is where most children are exposed to the concept. Greater awareness of organisations offering information and support to victims of violence is necessary.

The report of intimate violence is often taken on face value in research. With no gold standard existing, one partner?s report is often an accepted measure of violence in the relationship. This discrepancy in reporting between intimate partners has been thoroughly examined, yet researchers still debate the reliability of single partner reporting. The current study extends upon the Archer (1999) meta-analysis of intimate violence discrepancy reporting, and includes current studies, instruments and research methods in the analysis. This study examines the discrepancy effect among thirty-four samples from studies of heterosexual intimate violence, finding that the discrepancy in general was sizeable for men?s violence, and that different study conditions yield differing levels of discrepancy. This discrepancy level is a major issue when conducting quantitative research, especially typological studies, which utilise estimation and extrapolation of prevalence levels, and when violence data is used to evaluate recidivism. The current study identifies situations where the discrepancy is likely to be high and makes recommendations to improve the accuracy of the data being used to advise government policy and spending.

In 2000, the Department of Defense task force estimated roughly 8.8 in every 1,000 military children were victims of some form of maltreatment. In response to the rising incidence of child maltreatment in the military the United Stated Air Force, in accordance with the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, developed the New Parent Support Program (NPSP). The NPSP is a primary maltreatment prevention program for military or dependent parents who have children under the age of three. The formal goals of the program are to decrease potential for family maltreatment, enhance parent role adaptation, increase problem-solving skills and increase knowledge of child growth and development. Literature has indicated that parental stress is a viable indicator of the potential for child maltreatment. The NPSP uses two quantitative instruments sensitive to parental stress levels, the Family Needs Screener and Parenting Stress Index, to indicate the progress of NPSP participants. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the success of the NPSP at decreasing the potential for maltreatment. Through secondary data analysis, the study examined pre- and post test scores on the PSI for participants in orderto assess whether parental competence, attachment and role restriction scores improved after completion of the program. The study also examined the scoring for any occurrence of racial or rank disparities. The results of the secondary data analysis showed no significant improvement in overall PSI, parental competence, role restriction scores or attachment scores. The study found racial or rank differences in the FNS scores even though the majority of participants were Caucasian, low ranking, enlisted personnel. The study did not find racial or rank differences in PSI scores. The study results suggest, based on PSI scores, the NPSP does not significantly lower the parental stress, thus lowering the potential for maltreatment. According to the literature, which confirms prevention methods such as home visitation and parent education have been successful in other prevention programs, the NPSP should have the potential to be an effective prevention. Additional research and outcome analysis is necessary to determine which aspects of the program are ineffective and require modification.

In 2000, the Department of Defense task force estimated roughly 8.8 in every 1,000 military children were victims of some form of maltreatment. In response to the rising incidence of child maltreatment in the military the United Stated Air Force, in accordance with the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, developed the New Parent Support Program (NPSP). The NPSP is a primary maltreatment prevention program for military or dependent parents who have children under the age of three. The formal goals of the program are to decrease potential for family maltreatment, enhance parent role adaptation, increase problem-solving skills and increase knowledge of child growth and development. Literature has indicated that parental stress is a viable indicator of the potential for child maltreatment. The NPSP uses two quantitative instruments sensitive to parental stress levels, the Family Needs Screener and Parenting Stress Index, to indicate the progress of NPSP participants. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the success of the NPSP at decreasing the potential for maltreatment. Through secondary data analysis, the study examined pre- and post test scores on the PSI for participants in orderto assess whether parental competence, attachment and role restriction scores improved after completion of the program. The study also examined the scoring for any occurrence of racial or rank disparities. The results of the secondary data analysis showed no significant improvement in overall PSI, parental competence, role restriction scores or attachment scores. The study found racial or rank differences in the FNS scores even though the majority of participants were Caucasian, low ranking, enlisted personnel. The study did not find racial or rank differences in PSI scores. The study results suggest, based on PSI scores, the NPSP does not significantly lower the parental stress, thus lowering the potential for maltreatment. According to the literature, which confirms prevention methods such as home visitation and parent education have been successful in other prevention programs, the NPSP should have the potential to be an effective prevention. Additional research and outcome analysis is necessary to determine which aspects of the program are ineffective and require modification.

The construction of domestic violence shifted and changed as this issue was forced from the private shadows to the public stage. This dissertation explores how government policy initiatives - Bill 117: An Act to Better Protect Victims of Domestic Violence and the Domestic Violence Action Plan (DVAP) - shaped our understanding of domestic violence as a social problem in the first decade of the twenty-first century in Ontario. Specifically, it asks whose voices were heard, whose were silenced, how domestic violence was conceptualized by various stakeholders. In order to do this I analyzed the texts of Bill 117, its debates, the DVAP, as well as fourteen in-depth interviews with anti-violence advocates in Ontario to shed light on their construction of the domestic violence problem. Then I examined who (both state and non-state actors) regarded the work as ‘successful’, flawed or wholly ineffective. In particular, I focused on the claims and counter-claims advanced by MPPs, other government officials, feminist or other women’s group advocates and men’s or fathers’ rights group supporters and organizations. The key themes derived from the textual analysis of documents and the interviews encapsulate the key issues which formed the dominant construction of domestic violence in Ontario between 2000 and 2009: the never-ending struggles over funding, debates surrounding issues of rights and responsibilities, solutions proposed to address domestic violence, and finally the continued appearance of deserving and undeserving victims in public policy. This exploration is important because it speaks to issues of power, given that within and between these advocacy groups certain voices are privileged and silenced to varying degrees, and the outcomes of these complex processes contribute to the shaping of public policy and perceptions outside the state apparatus. / Thesis (Ph.D, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2012-01-09 22:24:41.971

Feminist critiques have been instrumental in cautioning the use of restorative justice in cases of domestic violence. However a smaller body of feminist literature examining the issues from the perspective of victim-survivors, supports the use of restorative justice in domestic violence cases. This thesis aims to contribute to the second body of research and incorporate particular victim-survivor voices into a debate that has profound implications for how justice could be administered for future victim-survivors of domestic violence. Thematic, narrative and discourse methods of analysis were used to reveal and explore e-interviews with two B.C women who experienced domestic violence and underwent a restorative justice process in response. Within a feminist framework, the results support the view that, when safety and power can be fully addressed, restorative justice renders benefits not obtainable in the traditional justice system: victim-survivors experience empowerment, and achieve healing and closure. / Graduate

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In the last fifteen years, the problem of domestic violence has moved from being a 'behind closed doors' phenomenon to an issue of increasing public concern. This concern has inevitably coincided with increasing research efforts. The majority of this research has focused on men who batter female partners. Attempted explanations for this problem have arisen from general theories of aggression as well as research identifying the unique characteristics of domestically violent men. This study proposed a new direction for domestic violence research, considering domestic violence as a process. The application of such a conceptualisation was intended to capture both the dynamic and complex nature of these events. A qualitative methodology based on Grounded Theory was used to delineate a descriptive model of the offence process in domestic violence from interviews with ten participants currently incarcerated at Paparua Prison, Christchurch. These men had current or prior convictions for domestic violence offences. The model that emerged from this study consists of four temporally sequential phases which are described and discussed. These consist of: background factors, buildup/ offence context phase, offence phase and post-offence phase. It is suggested that this offence process model will provide a framework for the evaluation of current causal explanations, has the potential to enhance the development ofnew hypotheses and has utility in terms of alterring current conceptualisations of effective intervention packages.