Domestic Violence Research Articles

A Comprehensive Review Aimed At Addressing Rural Indian Women's Health Literacy Needs To Prevent Intimate Partner Domestic Abuse.

This article focuses on domestic abuse that rural Indian women experience at the hands of their intimate partners, a problem exacerbated by the women's lack of health literacy.Our focus is on increasing the health literacy of rural women so that they can more easily understand the long-term health effects of domestic abuse by intimate partners. Objective-Our goal in doing this systematic review study is to determine whether increasing health literacy among rural women can prevent domestic abuse and increase their ability to defend themselves. Study design- This study design involves qualitative synthesis to conduct systematic review. Methods- We reviewed the published material in an all-inclusive, methodical manner. Results- Raising women's health literacy can aid in halting the psychological and physical harm that domestic abuse inflicts on rural women. Conclusion- Enhancing the health literacy of rural women can contribute to the greater social endeavor to stop and deal with domestic abuse.

Trends in Contacts Made by Immigrants to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Immigrants in the United States are more likely than nonimmigrants to experience risk factors for intimate partner violence (IPV) and problems in getting support. The COVID-19 pandemic and recent incidents of xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment may have exacerbated exposure to IPV risk factors. We examined immigrant experiences of IPV before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study identified changes in characteristics of abuse, services used, referrals, and barriers to services among those who contacted the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) and identified as immigrants, reported immigration status as a concern, needed immigration support, and/or identified immigration status as a barrier to accessing services (N = 49 817). We used joinpoint regressions to examine whether the rate of change differed significantly from 2016-2019 (before the pandemic) to 2019-2021 (during the pandemic). The number of immigrant contacts to NDVH peaked in 2017 (n = 9333) and declined 25% to 6946 in 2021. During 2016-2019, the percentage of contacts reporting the following increased significantly: technology-facilitated violence (+12.7 percentage points), economic/financial abuse (+10.8 percentage points), and involvement of firearms (+4.8 percentage points); during 2019-2021, these trends reversed. The percentage of contacts reporting separation or divorce was relatively flat until 2019 and then increased from 14.6% in 2019 to 19.9% in 2021 (+5.2 percentage points). Housing instability increased during 2017-2020 (+9.3 percentage points), but requests for shelters decreased (-4.5 percentage points). Immigration status and personal finances were commonly reported barriers to services; both decreased during 2016-2019 but then increased during 2019-2021. This study can inform prevention and response strategies relevant for immigrants experiencing or reporting IPV.

Domestic Violence and Custody Proceedings: An Analysis of Judicial Decisions in Portugal

Abstract Purpose To understand court decisions in custody cases involving allegations of domestic violence, a qualitative study was conducted among Portuguese family court magistrates. Methods A nonprobabilistic snowball sampling process, which involved six judges from Portuguese family courts who were authorized by the Superior Magistrate’s Court to participate in an interview, was used to construct the sample. Results When the data were analyzed, three main themes emerged, namely, the characteristics of the processes, the factors considered in the judicial decisions, and the impact of shared custody. The results also revealed several legal and extralegal aspects that influence judicial decisions, such as the characteristics of the violence, the mediation process, and the status attributed to victims, suggesting that there are objective and subjective factors in the perpetuation of violence. Conclusions Allegations of domestic violence in custody proceedings are not uncommon, and these allegations can complicate the process and delay a decision. Efforts by one parent to restrict contact with the other parent raise suspicions of attempted alienation that tend to undermine the risk assessment. There can also be overreliance on shared custody, potentially undermining children’s safety. The negative impacts of exposure to domestic violence and the instrumentalization of children are recognized, but it is questionable whether they are being prevented to the extent advocated by the Istanbul Convention. The effectiveness of communication between criminal and family courts is also debatable, despite its importance for protecting victims.

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Postpartum Depression in Palestinian Women in the Hebron Governorate, Palestine

Background Despite the increased interest from researchers in Postpartum depression (PPD) globally, related studies are limited in Palestine and do not provide a comprehensive understanding of PPD. Objective We examined the factors that determine post-partum depression among Palestinian mothers in Hebron governorate. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in 122 governmental primary healthcare clinics in Hebron Governorate. A convenient sampling method was used to collect data from 435 using a self-administered questionnaire using the Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale. Results The mean EPDS scale score was 10.56 (SD 5.273), and 36.1% had a score of ≥13, indicating moderate-to-severe depression symptoms. The study results revealed that psychosocial factors were significantly associated with PPDS and play a crucial role in the development of PPD, such as the history of depression, being exposed to domestic violence before and during pregnancy, poor husband support, unplanned pregnancy, fear of infant’s gender, and in addition to anemia than other factors. Conclusion A high prevalence of PPD was found among Palestinian women in this study. The study proposes screening women for trauma or domestic violence and assessing their social support, inquiring about pregnancy intention, and discussing family planning. Delivering iron supplements to pregnant or postpartum anemic women is important. Women who have a history of depression, domestic abuse, or lack social support should receive psychological and medical treatment. Mental health services must be included in the after-birth care protocol to train primary health clinic staff to recognize and treat PPD.

A comprehensive examination of the role of the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide, Domestic Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment, and Danger Assessment in Canadian courts and tribunals.

A comprehensive examination of the role of the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide, Domestic Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment, and Danger Assessment in Canadian courts and tribunals.

Legal Implementation of Domestic Violence: A Case Study of Military Justice and Social Issues in Ambon, Indonesia

Law enforcement of domestic violence (DV) cases involving members of the military in Indonesia presents unique and complex challenges, particularly as it involves the overlap between general criminal law and military criminal law. This study analyses the relevant legal foundations, namely the Military Criminal Code (KUHPM) and Law No. 23/2004 on the Elimination of Domestic Violence (PKDRT Law), in the context of handling domestic violence cases committed by members of the military. Using a case study method and interviews with victim-witnesses, this research reveals that the application of the law against domestic violence in the military often faces obstacles due to the military hierarchy and strict corps values. The research findings suggest the need for stronger integration between military and civilian legal frameworks, as well as policy reforms in the procedures for handling domestic violence cases in the military to ensure fairer and more transparent justice. In addition, the study also proposes the establishment of a special unit to handle domestic violence in the military, improved gender-sensitive training, and stricter implementation of a "Zero Tolerance" policy to prevent and effectively handle domestic violence cases. These reforms are expected to strengthen military integrity and discipline and protect the rights of victims of domestic violence in Indonesia.

'Are We Sure That He Knew That You Don't Want to Have Sex?': Discursive Constructions of the Suspect in Police Interviews with Rape Complainants.

Recent statistics reveal alarming flaws in the Criminal Justice System's (CJS) handling of rape cases, undermining the pursuit of justice for complainants seeking legal redress. This paper takes a novel approach to explore police rape stereotype use in interviews with rape complainants, utilising critical discourse analysis and conversation analysis and discursive psychology to understand and critique the balance of power within an interview and how this might impact attrition and prosecution decisions. Ten police interviews with rape complainants were analysed with several suspect discursive constructions present throughout, including the interviewer constructing the suspect as misunderstanding, the complainant as miscommunicating non-consent, or agentless and passive talk. A significant and original finding was the way constructions interacted with the spectrum of stranger-to-partner rapes. In stranger rape cases, passive language often obscures the suspect and emphasises the complainant's behaviour. Acquaintance rapes frequently involved misunderstandings centred on visible distress and mixed signals. Partner rapes highlighted issues around consent and coercion, with officers often ignorant of coercive control and domestic abuse. These findings align with Operation Bluestone Soteria (OSB); thus, the recommendations align with those made by OSB's Pillar One.

Psychosocial impact of adverse home environment on primary school performance in Cambodia

There is lack of an in-depth understanding of the impact of psychosocial problems at home on learning performance among primary school children in Cambodia. Hereafter, the aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the psychosocial challenges that primary school children in Cambodia face at home and how those affect their school performance. The semi-structure interviews were conducted with 86 participants in Battambang and Kampong Cham provinces, including students, parents/caregivers, and school officers. The thematic analysis was utilized. The findings show that primary school children who are exposed to family adversity, including domestic violence, family division, and household socio-economic crisis, demonstrate symptoms of psychological distress, impaired social interaction, and poor school performance. Low school performance was often anticipated by the lack of parental involvement and the overall deficient quality of teaching.

A PrEP decision aid for women survivors of intimate partner violence: Task-shifting implementation to domestic violence service settings.

Women exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) experience multiple social and structural barriers to accessing HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), despite being at increased risk for HIV. In addition, few existing HIV prevention interventions address IPV. A recently developed PrEP decision aid for women has the potential to reach IPV survivors at risk for HIV if it could be integrated into existing domestic violence agencies that prioritize trust and rapport with female IPV survivors. Leveraging non-traditional service delivery mechanisms in the community could expand reach to women who are IPV survivors for PrEP. We conducted qualitative interviews and online qualitative surveys with 33 IPV survivors and 9 domestic violence agency staff at two agencies in Connecticut. We applied the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to understand barriers and facilitators to delivering a novel PrEP decision aid to IPV survivors in the context of domestic violence service agencies. Most IPV survivors and agency staff thought the PrEP decision aid intervention could be compatible with agencies' existing practices, especially if adapted to be trauma-responsive and delivered by trusted counselors and staff members. PrEP conversations could be packaged into already well-developed safety planning and wellness practices. Agency staff noted some concerns about prioritizing urgent safety needs over longer-term preventive health needs during crisis periods and expressed interest in receiving further training on PrEP to provide resources for their clients. IPV survivors and agency staff identified key intervention characteristics of a PrEP decision aid and inner setting factors of the service agencies that are compatible. Any HIV prevention intervention in this setting would need to be adapted to be trauma-responsive and staff would need to be equipped with proper training to be successful.

Child Marriage and Domestic Violence Among Syrian Refugee Girls in Domiz Camp Kurdistan-Iraq

Child Marriage and Domestic Violence Among Syrian Refugee Girls in Domiz Camp Kurdistan-Iraq

On the development and validation of large language model-based classifiers for identifying social determinants of health

The assessment of social determinants of health (SDoH) within healthcare systems is crucial for comprehensive patient care and addressing health disparities. Current challenges arise from the limited inclusion of structured SDoH information within electronic health record (EHR) systems, often due to the lack of standardized diagnosis codes. This study delves into the transformative potential of large language models (LLM) to overcome these challenges. LLM-based classifiers-using Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) and A Robustly Optimized BERT Pretraining Approach (RoBERTa)-were developed for SDoH concepts, including homelessness, food insecurity, and domestic violence, using synthetic training datasets generated by generative pre-trained transformers combined with authentic clinical notes. Models were then validated on separate datasets: Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-III and our institutional EHR data. When training the model with a combination of synthetic and authentic notes, validation on our institutional dataset yielded an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.78 for detecting homelessness, 0.72 for detecting food insecurity, and 0.83 for detecting domestic violence. This study underscores the potential of LLMs in extracting SDoH information from clinical text. Automated detection of SDoH may be instrumental for healthcare providers in identifying at-risk patients, guiding targeted interventions, and contributing to population health initiatives aimed at mitigating disparities.

O SERVIÇO SOCIAL NO ENFRENTAMENTO À VIOLÊNCIA CONTRA MULHER: UMA EXPERIÊNCIA DE ESTÁGIO NO CAMPO SOCIOJURÍDICO

This present work aims to contemplate the activities carried out by the Social Service intern in the field of socio-legal internship, in one of the Courts Specialized in Combating Domestic and Family Violence Against Women, particularizing the role of Social Service and the Court. Social Services proposes to act in the expressions of the social issue, analyzing gender violence based on the processes that emerged with the capitalist system and the struggle of different generations of women who face this form of violence.

Gender and Rural Policing: Lack of Opportunities for Male Police Constables in Rural Police Departments in Trinidad and Tobago

Within the past two decades, there has been increased research interest in rural policing on a global level. While most of those studies were oriented in the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia, there is a slowly growing corpus of literature on rural policing in the Global South, including the Caribbean. Most of the studies on rural policing have examined rural policing in the context of domestic violence, mental health, administration of justice, conditions of employment, and female issues. Unfortunately, most of these scholarly efforts have not examined male police officers as a distinct group. As conjecture and media reports suggest that male police officers in rural locales in Trinidad and Tobago are treated indifferently, the current research effort presents data gathered from thirteen male police constables attached to rural police stations on the island. This research aims to understand whether this group of police officers suffer from lack of opportunities due to the rural location of their police stations. Three themes: (1) lack of access, (2) fathering/parenting challenges, and (3) favouritism, emanated from the data. Several forms of opportunities that are for male police officers attached to rural police stations in Trinidad and Tobago also emanated from the data and these are presented and discussed.

Supplemental Material for A Comprehensive Examination of the Role of the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide, Domestic Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment, and Danger Assessment in Canadian Courts and Tribunals

Supplemental Material for A Comprehensive Examination of the Role of the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide, Domestic Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment, and Danger Assessment in Canadian Courts and Tribunals

PROTEÇÃO JURÍDICA DAS CRIANÇAS VÍTIMAS DE VIOLÊNCIA DOMÉSTICA: A LEI HENRY BOREL (14.344/22) E A EDUCAÇÃO COMO FERRAMENTAS DE PREVENÇÃO E ENFRENTAMENTO.

This article aims to analyze the legal protection of children victims of domestic violence in Brazil, with an emphasis on protective measures and legal protection instruments provided for in legislation. Child domestic violence is presented as a public health problem and a serious threat to social development, recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO). Considering that this issue is closely linked to the pressing need for awareness and confrontation actions and that it is often neglected by society and rarely comes to the attention of the judicial system, child domestic violence tends to perpetuate itself over the years, going through successive generations. The research adopts an exploratory approach, based on a bibliographical review and theoretical-reflective analysis, aiming to conceptualize child domestic violence, present relevant data on available protective measures and highlight the role of education as a tool to raise awareness and combat the problem, with emphasis on in the Henry Borel Law and its prevention and protection mechanisms.

Decoding love signs: The role of perceived relational red flags in mate selection criteria among Filipino young adults

Abuse and infidelity are common relational conflicts in the Philippines. The prevalence of this growing social problem among Filipinos has also been observed in their calls regarding these warning signs in a romantic partner. Hence, this study explores how these issues influence young adults’ mate preferences by examining their lived romantic experiences. Utilizing criterion purposive sampling, ten diverse stories of heterosexuals were evaluated through semi-structured in-depth interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand the complexity of experiential meanings of participants who have had long-term relationships with their previous ex-lovers and are currently engaged in committed relationships. Participants denoted relational red flags encompassing emotional distance, deception, emotional labor, destruction, and emotional manipulation. These turbulent behavioral patterns deliberately cause the deterioration of their previous relationship while they consider the dimensions of warmth, competence, and attractiveness when choosing an ideal mate. These preferences mentioned are similar to the desirable qualities of their current partners. Findings also assert that relational red flags were perceived as the diametric bases for mate selection, non-negotiable deal breakers, and a lesson to captivate dealmakers. Considering the rising numbers of reported domestic violence victims, including psychological abuse in relationships, this research has compelling implications for Gender and Development and Anti-Violence Against Women. Further, it is also pertinent to counseling psychology practices, especially in the current status and emerging development of Couples Therapy, which primarily handles relationship issues during the pre-marital stage.

Comparative Analysis of the Gulabi Gang and the Anti-Liquor Movement in India

To explore progress on the Commission on the Status of Women’s 67th Session (2023) review theme, we examine two women-led rural social movements in India combating violence against women. Through in-depth case studies of the Gulabi Gang (GG) in Uttar Pradesh and the Anti-Liquor (AL) movement in Karnataka, we analyze their emergence, actions, tactics, progression, and outcomes. Findings reveal challenges faced by these movements in addressing women’s safety amid persistent domestic violence and gender inequality. The study emphasizes the need for sustained political support, efficient legal protection, and indigenous organizational empowerment, facilitated by international support, to drive effective social change.

Socio-Cultural Factors Propelling Domestic Violence Against Married Women In South-West Nigeria

Socio-Cultural Factors Propelling Domestic Violence Against Married Women In South-West Nigeria

Between a rock and a hard place: domestic abuse and being a migrant woman in England and Wales

Legal responses to domestic abuse have been a political priority of the UK Government since at least 2010, eventually leading to the passing of the seminal legislation in this area for England and Wales, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. However, the exclusion of protection for migrant victim-survivors with precarious immigration statuses under the Act demonstrates a failure in understanding that the experience and risk of domestic abuse differ for these individuals from that of the mainstream, due to their intersectional identities as (predominantly) migrant women. Many migrant victim-survivors still find themselves trapped in abusive situations, as the law fails to safeguard their rights to reside legally should they choose to present themselves to authorities by reporting their abuse. A distinct lack of acknowledgment as to inequalities faced by those at the intersection of migrant status and gender (Crenshaw, 1989; 1991) has led to increased insecurity for some of the most vulnerable. This article shines a light on this discrimination under the law in England and Wales. It adopts an intersectionality framework to examine such inequality, analysing Appendix Violence Domestic Abuse and the Migrant Victim Domestic Abuse Concession in UK immigration law, as well as the Support for Migrant Victims Pilot and its relevant Evaluation Report, against the international standards of the Istanbul Convention. It argues that the UK Government is failing to tackle the problem of migrant victim-survivors’ protection concerning domestic abuse, and in some situations, has made it worse.This article aims to state the law as of 1 May 2024.

Power and Possession: Analyzing Control in Robert Browning's 'My Last Duchess' and Its Reflections in Modern Society

Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess is among the most popular monologues of the Victorian era and a perfect case study for examining the depictions of power, possession, and control. From the face value, it is apparent from the poem that power resides with those who possess wealth and title. Additionally, those in power can become extremely controlling to the detriment of those subject to them. In this case, the duke embodies a controlling and possessive individual in a position of power. The main contrast between the poem and modern society is that it would not be possible for an individual today to commit murder with impunity regardless of wealth and power. The rationale is that in many societies, the power resides with the people, and the leaders are considered to serve the interests of the people. Even the dictators face the wrath of their subjects if they commit such acts. Additionally, even the most conservative societies today do not treat women the same way they were treated in the Victorian era. However, cases of female domination and control are still rampant. Domestic violence in modern society may reflect the need for some men to dominate and control their women with such desires that lead them to commit violence against them. However, such incidences are an oddity as opposed to the Victorian era, when they could have been common.