Underlying beliefs influencing Vietnamese nurses and doctors in screening for victims of domestic violence: An exploratory study

Many health professionals in Vietnam have limited knowledge and experience in coordinating care for victims of Domestic Violence (DV). This qualitative study aimed to elicit the beliefs of nurses and doctors that are influencing the care of victims of DV. Data were collected by semistructured interviews with nineteen nurses and doctors. Data were analyzed by content analysis and organized by three main themes; behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs and control beliefs. The outcomes of this study will inform the development of intervention strategies that will enable health professionals to better respond to and manage care for women who experience domestic violence in Vietnam.

Domestic violence (DV) service provision and the architecture of rural life: An Australian case study

This article uses the concept of the architecture of rural life to analyse domestic violence service provision in rural Australia. What is distinctive about this architecture is that it polices the privacy of the rural family. A tight cloak of silence is carved around instances of domestic violence. Imagined threats to rural safety are seen as coming from outsiders (i.e. urban influences or Indigenous), not insiders within rural families. This article draws on key findings from a study conducted in rural New South Wales, Australia. The study interviewed 49 rural service providers working in human services and the criminal justice system. The application of architecture of rural life as a conceptual tool demonstrates challenges with service provision in a rural setting. The main results of this study found that this architecture operates as a silencing form of social control in three distinctive ways. Firstly, shame about being a victim of domestic violence encourages rural women's complicity in remaining silent. Secondly, family privacy maintains a veil of silence that accentuates rural women's social and economic dependency on men. Thirdly, community sanctions act as a deterrent to women seeking help.

Romantic terrorism: An autoethnography of domestic violence, victimization and survival

Romantic Terrorism offers an innovative methodology in exploring the ways in which domestic violence offenders terrorise their victims. Hayes and Jeffries employ a collaborative auto-ethnographic approach to analyse their own lived experiences of domestic violence, particularly how romantic love is employed and distorted by abusers. Its focus on the insidious use of tactics of coercive control by abusers opens up much-needed discussion on the damage caused by emotional and psychological abuse, which are often overlooked or downplayed in both the literature and the criminal justice system. To this end, it offers strategic advice for policy-makers, practitioners, and criminal justice professionals involved in domestic violence service provision.

Development and validation of a questionnaire to measure health professionals' attitudes toward identification of female victimes of domestic violence

Background Domestic violence against women is a major public health problem and violations of women’s human rights. Health professionals could play an important role in screening for the victims. From the evidence to date, it is unclear whether health professionals do play an active role in identification of the victims. Objectives To develop a reliable and valid instrument to measure health professionals’ attitude to identifying female victims of domestic violence. Methods A primary questionnaire was constructed in accordance with established guidelines using the Theory of Planned Behaviour Ajzen (1975) to develop an instrument to measure health professionals’ attitudes in identifying female victim of DV. An expert panel was used to establish content validity. Focus groups amongst a group of health professionals (N = 5) of the target population were performed to confirm face validity. A pilot study (N = 30 nurses and doctors) was undertaken to elicit the feasibility and reliability of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was also administered a second time after one week to check the stability of the tests. Results Feedbacks of the expert panel’s and group discussion confirmed that the questionnaire had the content and face validity. Cronbach’s alpha values for all the items were greater than 0.7. Strong correlations between the direct and indirect measures confirmed that the indirect measures were well constructed. High test-retest correlations confirmed that the measures were reliable in the sense of temporal stability. Significance This tool has the potential to be used by researchers in expanding the knowledge base in this important area.

Romantic terrorism? Survivor narratives of psychological and emotional tactics of domestic violence

This paper draws on the theoretical arguments outlined in Hayes (2014) to frame critical analyses of two real life domestic violence narratives. The authors are both academic criminologists and victims/survivors of domestic violence, but within differing contexts – one a conventional heterosexual relationship, the other a female same-sex relationship. Their experiences are intertwined in an extensive collaborative auto-ethnographic analysis that spans seven years of working and socialising together, in which each provided a sounding board and support for the other. The analysis therefore documents two personal journeys. The academic and theoretical are intertwined with the personal and subjective to elicit an evocative and yet empirically validated study. The theoretical underpinnings of romantic love distortion, misogyny and sexism are used to frame these experiences of domestic violence and the differing sexualities of the authors provide a rich context for exploring the ways in which domestic violence victimisation experiences are impacted by gender, sexuality, and heteronormative discourses of love, sex and relationships.

Domestic violence on #qanda: The “Man” question in live Twitter discussion on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Q&A

Domestic violence is currently undergoing a period of heightened visibility in Australia. This article uses social media to analyze public discussions about this violence with respect to a specific theoretical frame, which Adrian Howe has called the “Man” question: where and how are men visible or invisible in narratives about their violence against women? The article presents a qualitative study of the Twitter conversation surrounding a special episode of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television program Q&A, themed around family violence, which aired in February 2015. We found that the place of men in this conversation was contested. Some tweets privileged men's voices and concerns, as did the organization and production of the program. However, feminist voices were also highly visible via presenting facts, legitimating survivor voices, and recuperating anti-feminist memes to challenge hegemonic patriarchal discourses on men's violence against women. La violence conjugale connait actuellement une visibilité accrue en Australie. Les auteures du présent article utilisent les réseaux sociaux pour analyser les débats publics sur cette violence selon un cadre théorique précis, qu'Adrian Howe a appelé la question de « l'homme » : où et comment les hommes sont-ils visibles ou invisibles dans les récits de leur violence envers les femmes? L'article présente une étude qualitative d'une conversation sur Twitter au sujet d'un épisode axé sur la famille diffusé en février 2015 dans le cadre de l'émission Q & A, à la télévision nationale d'Australie. Nous avons remarqué que dans cette conversation la place des hommes était remise en question. Certains tweets privilégiaient les voix et les craintes des hommes, comme l'ont fait les organisateurs et les producteurs de l'émission. Cependant, il y avait une forte présence de voix féministes dans la présentation des faits, légitimant le point de vue des survivantes et relevant des éléments culturels antiféministes afin de défier les discours hégémoniques et patriarcaux sur la violence des hommes envers les femmes.

A healthy settings framework: an evaluation and comparison of midwives' responses to addressing domestic violence

Objectives: to compare and contrast how midwives working in either hospital- or community-based settings address domestic violence by evaluating their views on: prevalence of domestic violence; their role in addressing domestic violence; the acceptability of routine enquiry; and barriers encountered in asking clients questions about violence and abuse in pregnancy. Design: a postal survey questionnaire. Setting: Northern Ireland. Study population: 983 hospital and community midwives. Findings: overall, 488 midwives returned a completed questionnaire; a 57% response rate. Comparisons were made using descriptive, inferential statistics and cross-tabulation. Although there were significant differences between hospital- and community-based midwives in relation to domestic violence, both groups of midwives tended to underestimate its prevalence. Key conclusions: the findings suggest that midwives per se identify and respond to a fraction of the cases of domestic abuse in pregnancy, due to lack of confidence, education and training. This reinforces the need for both hospital and community midwives to gain further confidence and an understanding of the many psychosocial factors that surround domestic violence. Implications for practice: healthy settings theory can be used effectively to identify good practice with women who experience domestic violence. Effective investment for health care requires the gaps between hospital- and community-based practice to be bridged, and for work to be integrated.

The Responses of States to the Comments of the CEDAW Committee on Domestic Violence

This article examines the question of how states have responded to the comments of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) on the issue of domestic violence, through an analysis of 11 Western European States. It is argued that the majority of the states surveyed are complying with only some of the recommendations of the Committee in relation to domestic violence. This finding serves to highlight the fact that there are certainly major difficulties regarding the implementation of human rights law. This article focuses on the Concluding Observations made by the CEDAW Committee on the reports submitted by the Member States, and problems surrounding these Concluding Observations and the work of the Committee are also examined.

The European Court of Human Rights and Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is an issue that affects vast numbers of women throughout the world. It seems to constitute a clear violation of at least three articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, however it has only been recognised as being a human rights issue relatively recently. Indeed, until 2007 domestic violence had not been directly addressed by the European Court of Human Rights. However, the Court has now addressed the issue in a series of recent cases. This paper discusses what positive obligations states parties to the Convention now have in relation to the issue of domestic violence. It proceeds to discuss the gaps in the Court’s jurisprudence in this area at present and how the case law of the Court may develop in the future.

The Victim Test under the Human Rights Act 1998 and its Implications for Domestic Violence Cases

The European Court of Human Rights has now clearly established that domestic violence constitutes a human rights issue. However, there are a number of difficulties involved in using the Human Rights Act 1998 in relation to violence against women in the home. One of these obstacles is the restrictive test of standing found in the Act, which is problematic as regards an ‘unseen crime’ such as domestic violence. This article examines this test of standing and the difficulties it poses in the context of violence against women in the home. It then considers alternative models for the standing requirement and assesses whether a change in the test of standing would produce beneficial results as regards the issue of domestic violence.

Male Perpetrators of Domestic Violence: How should we hold them to account?

Domestic violence is now widely acknowledged as being a significant social, health and legal issue. At both a national and transnational level governments have sought to develop strategies built upon prevention, support for victims and holding perpetrators to account through criminal justice sanctions. However, the current paradigm that informs the policy response to most perpetrators of domestic violence has failed to deliver the outcomes required, in terms of a reduction in levels of recidivism or the improved safety of women and children. It is argued that holding men to account through external controls has failed and that interventions should support men to take responsibility for their own behaviour.

Research Review: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children

This paper reviews the research on the prevalence and impact of domestic violence on children, and considers how professionals should respond to children’s needs to best provide support and ensure their safety.

Domestic violence in Brazil: social problems and legislative interventions

Recent statistical data confirms that domestic violence is a structural problem of exceptional gravity. We analyze the frequent legislative changes in Brazil since 2000 as a result of social pressure for protection of abused women. Only the Law 11.340 of 2006 was well received by lawyers, judges and the public opinion. We present the innovations and peculiarities of this statute and the allegations on unconstitutionality. We discuss cases of judicial review of this law and reject the arguments of unconstitutionality. That notwithstanding, we argue that penalization decisions is the wrong way from a criminological point of view because they do not take into consideration the desires and needs of the victims.