Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisors: Laura Lein and Noel Busch. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1999. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2953. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as preliminary leaves i-iii. Includes bibliographical references (178).

Introduction: The number of reportings on sexual abuse (SA), sexual violence (SV) cases covered in the media has risen a significant amount with most cases involving women and children. The aim of the study is to explore the questions: Are people aware of sexual abuse and sexual violence in the media? What are the predictors of awareness of sexual abuse and sexual violence? Does the awareness of sexual abuse and sexual violence in the media affect the actions of the individuals? Methods: A representative survey of the German-speaking resident population (2020) on physical and mental well-being was used. The participants (N = 2,503: females = 50.9%) were between the ages of 14 and 97 (M = 49.81). The German version of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire, The General Habitual Well-Being Questionnaire and questions about own experiences of sexual harassment on the internet, experiences of domestic sexual abuse and different socio-economic variables were used. The outcome variables regarding the awareness of SA and SV in the media, different types of scandals (church, pedophile, USA), #MeToo-debate and the change in actions were used. Frequency analyses and binary regressions were conducted. Results: One thousand five hundred and fifty-five (62.6%) respondents answered yes to being aware of SA and SV in the media. The results show that females, aging, number of children in household, Protestant and Catholic religion, school graduation, own experience(s) of sexual harassment on the internet, own experience(s) of SA in childhood, and Adverse Childhood Experiences have a significant higher association to the awareness of SA and SV in the media. German nationality and Muslim religion have a significant lower association. The variables that most commonly affected the awareness of SA and SV, scandals, debate and the individual actions were age, own experiences of sexual harassment on the internet and the Protestant religion. Conclusion: Advertising more support centers, hotlines and linking this information to sexual abuse cases covered in the media should be considered. Media bystander interventions could be helpful to train people to react appropriately. Further investigation that considers the different types of media and its influence on the awareness of SA and SV is needed.

This PhD thesis compared incidents of violence in two Malaysian hospitals and two English hospitals. Using a model of workplace violence, the aims of the thesis were to explore and compare six constructs: extrinsic, intrinsic, triggers, experiences, moderators, and consequences of workplace violence as perceived by Malaysian and English hospital staff. This study used data on experiences of violence gathered in 2005 for incidences in hospitals that occurred up to one year before the survey. The 2004 data from the Incident Report database (IRD) of the English hospitals was also used. Two instruments were developed for this thesis. First was the General Violence Victimization Questionnaire (GVQ), an instrument to identify the types, prevalence, nature, consequences, post-incident support, and reporting trends of violence in hospitals. The second instrument was the Violence Victimization Semi-structured Interview (VicQ) which explored factors leading to the violent incident, the violent incident itself, and psycho-social issues relating to the violent incident. Both instruments were translated into the Malay language for use in Malaysia. 227 people participated in the quantitative survey: 162 people from the Malaysian Government Hospitals (MGH) and 115 people from the National Health Service (NHS). A total of 25 people volunteered to be interviewed as part of the qualitative aspect of the study: 15 from the MGH and 10 from the NHS. Six categories of violence were compared: verbal, nonverbal, threat, physical, sexual, and psychologically-based. A total of 4118 violent incidents (1402 in MGH and 2716 in NHS) were reported. The most common type of violence was psychologically-based violence in the MGH and verbal violence in the NHS. Both samples perceived that the major source of workplace violence was from patients and involved one male perpetrator. There were differences between the two samples indicative of cultural differences. Of those interviewed, the Malaysian participants perceived that offenders were intrinsically motivated to offend. The English participants perceived that offenders had either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation for perpetuating violence. Differences were noted for substance abuse and customer relations as triggers of organisational violence. Comparisons of moderators were different for the two country samples. Comparisons of consequences were not significantly different. Comparisons across several demographic variables (gender, age, and occupational groupings) were not significant between the two country samples with regards to workplace violence victimisation. However, a comparison of length of service was found to be significant. The final path model differed from the original model of workplace violence. Additional findings include a difference between the established definition and participants‘ definition of workplace violence, a lack of anti-violence policies in Malaysian hospitals, under reporting, and unforeseen direct and direct relationships among the six constructs.

The objective of this thesis is to examine which socio-economic, structural and cultural factors may influence Indian women’s propensity to contract HIV and later their ability to access the relevant healthcare services for their condition. The research draws on two theoretical frameworks, the first being Barnett and Whiteside’s (2002) concept of social structural factors of disease transmission. Second, Anderson and Aday’s (1981) model of access examines how a variety of structural and resource-based factors, e.g. area of residence, can influence usage of healthcare facilities. Two stages of data analysis were undertaken, the first being secondary statistical analysis of the National Family Health Survey III. The survey provided state level estimates on the HIV sero-status of the general population in India and data on demographic and socio-economic determinants for family planning, nutrition, utilization of healthcare and emerging health issues. The second stage of analysis consisted of a set of qualitative interviews conducted in Andhra Pradesh, India. Thirty-three interviews were conducted with female sero-positive patients and ten with HIV-infected women who were providing social services to others with the same condition. Statistical results on social structural determinants of HIV transmission illustrated that Indian women who were formerly married (OR=5.27, CI=3.07-9.04), lived in higher prevalence states (OR=3.48, CI=2.19-5.54), had a low level of education (OR=2.27, CI=1.40-3.68) and were employed (OR=1.45, CI=0.96-2.18) had significantly (<.05) higher odds of being HIV-positive in comparison to those who were not. Findings in the qualitative phase of analysis were similar but participants’ narratives illustrated that their risk of contracting HIV begun before they even had the opportunity to seek a match as they seemed to live in communities with a high level of HIV prevalence. Many of the participants commented that there were factors outside of their sphere of control, e.g. lack of education, which resulted in them having a narrow choice of potential partners. Additionally, statistical results on female participants’ access to healthcare services indicated the vast majority of HIV-positive respondents were almost certainly not aware of their sero-status as they had not undertaken an HIV test prior to the survey. As the sample of female HIV infected respondents was relatively small, it was difficult to ascertain which social factors had an impact on these participants utilisation of HIV testing services. On the other hand, respondents’ narratives from the qualitative stage of research highlighted on social structural factors which could potentially influence WLHA’s continual utilisation of HIV-related healthcare services. It was found that participants experienced the most barriers to accessing healthcare facilities in the initial phases of their treatment. These barriers were mediated by the structure of healthcare services, culturally sanctioned medical practices (e.g. physicians refusal to inform the patient of their sero-status) and quality of services.

La presente ricerca indaga il dibattito sociale, culturale e politico che ha anticipato la legge n. 66 Norme penali contro la violenza sessuale, licenziata dal Parlamento italiano nel febbraio 1996 e che, a quasi settant’anni dall’entrata in vigore del Codice penale Rocco, modificò la normativa vigente in materia di reati sessuali. Quel risultato arrivò a conclusione di un dibattito ventennale che visse due fasi principali: la prima coincise con il decennio degli anni Settanta ed ebbe come protagonista il movimento femminista, la seconda prese avvio all’inizio degli anni Ottanta e spostò il baricentro della discussione all’interno delle aule parlamentari. Nel lavoro di analisi proposto sono state seguite tre direttrici principali. Innanzitutto si è indagato il ruolo giocato dal movimento femminista nell’accendere i riflettori sul tema dello stupro e nel rompere il muro di silenzio che lo aveva relegato a questione privata. In secondo luogo si è tentato di fotografare il fermento sociale e culturale che accompagnò l’iniziativa femminista contribuendo a diffondere nella società civile italiana una nuova consapevolezza sul tema della violenza e degli abusi sessuali. L’attenzione si è infine soffermata sulla pluralità di approcci, punti di vista ed interpretazioni che animarono il dibattito parlamentare sulla riforma in materia di reati sessuali con l’intento di portare alla luce le ragioni più o meno nascoste che per cinque legislature impedirono alle forze politiche di approdare ad una soluzione condivisa. / This research aims to investigate the social, cultural and political debate that has anticipated law no. 66 Norme penali contro la violenza sessuale, dismissed by the Italian Parliament in February 1996. That result amended the current law in sex offenses and it was the final step of a twenty-year debate during which the Italian feminist movement played a crucial role. This research has three principle objectives. Firstly, it investigates the role played by the Italian feminist movement in bringing to light the subject of rape and breaking the wall of silence that had relegated it to a private sphere. Secondly, it aims to photograph the social and cultural turmoil raised by the feminist initiative which spread a new awareness about violence and sexual abuses in the Italian civil society. Thirdly, the research analyses the plurality of opinions and points of view that animated the parliamentary debate and prevented political forces from reaching a shared approach on the reform of criminal sex offenses.

Background  Both Intimate partner violence and under 5- child mortality are alarmingly high in the world, Nigeria is one of the leading countries. The adverse health outcomes for both women and children as a result of living in a violent environment need to be addressed and combatted. This study aimed to investigate whether there was any association between maternal exposure of lifetime violence (Emotional, physical, sexual, and any violence) and under-5 child mortality.  Method  The study was a cross-sectional study based on secondary data from Nigerian demographic health surveys (DHS) from 2018. The study sample consisted of 8389 married and non-married women, aged 15-49 years who completed the domestic violence module, with a dead or alive first-born child. To assess the associations between maternal experience of lifetime exposure of different types of violence (Emotional, physical, sexual, and any violence) and under-5 child mortality Chi-squared tests were performed, followed by logistic regression. Result In this study, the prevalence of emotional violence was 33,6 %, physical violence 21,3 %, sexual violence 7,7 % and any violence 38,5 %. Moreover, 6,7 % of the children in the sample were dead. The results showed that emotional violence, physical violence, and any violence were not significantly associated with under-5 child mortality. However, sexual violence showed an association with under-5 child mortality (P-value: 0,002). In addition, logistic regression showed that religion was associated with under-5 child mortality (P-value: &lt;0,001). Muslim women had increased odds of child death, compared with Christian women(aOR:0,63, CI:0,50-0,78). The oldest women aged 40-49 years were found to be associated with under-5 child mortality (P-value:&lt; 0,001). High maternal age increased the odds for under-5 child mortality (aOR: 2,08, CI:1,58-2,75). Moreover, maternal working status was associated with under-5 child mortality (P-value: &lt;0,001). Working women had increased odds for experiencing child death, compared with the non-working women (aOR: 7,04, CI: 4,99-9,92). Finally, wealth was negatively associated with the outcome of under-5 child mortality (P-value: 0,007). The richest women had the lower odds of under-5 mortality, compared with the poorest women (aOR: 0,62, CI: 0,44-0,88). Conclusion The study showed an association between sexual violence and under-5 child mortality. Both sexual IPV and under-5 child mortality must be addressed urgently because it has detrimental effects on both women’s and children’s health in Nigeria. The study also found that high maternal age increases the odds for under-5 child mortality, and adequate age for motherhood must be promoted, to save the lives of children. Moreover, belonging to a low wealth quintile increases the risk for child death, and therefore poverty must be relived in Nigeria, so SDG 3.2.1 can be reached: “End all preventable deaths under 5 years and not more than 25 child deaths per 1000 live births by 2030”.

Bakgrund: Tonårsperioden är en avgörande tid för unga. Ungdomars utsatthet för våld utgör en väsentlig folkhälsofråga globalt och nationellt. Vid mötet med ungdomar kan barnmorskor på ungdomsmottagningar ta upp ämnen som relationer, livsstil och sexuellt beteende. Västra Götalandsregionen har utvecklat SEXIT, en metod som kan bidra till att identifiera ungdomars sexuella risker och våldsutsatthet.   Motiv: Ungdomars sexuella och reproduktiva hälsa och rättigheter behöver förbättras. Genom att kartlägga ungdomars självrapporterade sexuella beteende och erfarenheter av våldsutsatthet kan en bättre uppfattning om vilka risker som de utsätter sig eller andra för nås.    Syfte: Att via SEXIT kartlägga ungdomars sexuella beteende och deras utsatthet för våld samt att utforska eventuella skillnader mellan ålder och kön.   Metod: Stickprovsundersökning med 284 ungdomar vid en ungdomsmottagning i Norrland under 2022, som besvarat SEXIT enkäten som innehöll bakgrundsfrågor, våldsutsatthet och sexuella riskbeteenden. 96 sorterades bort, 188 deskriptiva statistiska analyser utfördes i statistikprogrammet Jamovi 2.4.8.0., med uppdelning i ungdomar och unga vuxna samt jämförelser mellan våldsutsatthet, sexuellt risktagande, ålder och kön.   Resultat: En hög andel ungdomar och unga vuxna rapporterade utsatthet för fysiskt, psykiskt och sexuellt våld. Fler kvinnor uppger att de blev pressade till sex (kvinnor 22%, män 3%). Mer än en tredjedel (34%) av kvinnor rapporterade utsatthet för psykiskt våld och motsvarande siffra för män är 38%. Unga vuxna män angav att de oftare har blivit utsatt för fysiskt våld jämfört med unga vuxna kvinnor (p=0.018). Mer än hälften av kvinnor (60%), rapporterade att de hade utsatts för oönskade handlingar mot sin vilja. 15% använde sex som en strategi för att hantera känslomässiga svårigheter eller en form av självskada.  Konklusion: En betydande andel ungdomar rapporterade att de utsatts för psykiskt, fysiskt och sexuellt våld, och de tar stora sexuella risker. Tillgängliga ungdomsmottagningar är väsentligt för deras hälsa. / Background: Adolescence is a crucial period for youth. Youth exposure to violence is a public health issue globally and nationally. Midwives at youth clinics adress topics such as relationships, lifestyle and sexual behaviour. Västra Götaland Region has developed SEXIT, method to identify youth’s sexual risks and experiences of violence.  Motive: Adolescents' sexual and reproductive health needs to be improved and their rights strengthened. By mapping young people's sexual behavior and experiences of violence, we can see what risks they expose themselves to or expose others to.  Aim: to map adolescens´ sexual behavior and their exposure to violence through SEXIT and to explore potential differenses between age and gender.  Method: Survey with 284 youths at a youth clinic in Norrland during 2022, responding to the SEXIT questionnaire containing background questions,exposure to violence, and sexual risk behaviors. 96 were excluded, and 188 analyses were conducted using the statsistical software Jamovi 2.4.8.0, categorized by youths and young adults, including comparisions between exposure to violence, sexual risk-taking, age and gender.   Results: A high proportion of adolescents and young adults reported exposure to physical, psychological and sexual violence. More women state that they are pressured into sex (women 22%, men 3%). Over a third(34%) of women report exposure to psychological violence, corresponting to men who report 38%. Young adult men indicated that they have often been exposed to physical violence compared to young adult women (p=0.018)  More than half of women reported experiencing unwanted actions against their will. 15% used sex as a strategy to cope with emotional difficulties or as a form of self-harm.   Conclusion: A significant proportion of youths report exposure to psychological, physical and sexual violence, and they take substantial sexual risks. Accessible youth clinics are crucial for their health.