Chapter 11 Discussion Questions

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Adult Intimate Partner Violence
Practice, Policy, and Prevention

Chapter 11

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Abused Partners: Practice, Policy, and Prevention-Primary Women

Agency Practices
Isolation of battered mothers is a primary concern for agency working with battered women
Social Support
What types of social support help? The type of support provided is crucial
Helpful agency actions include having battered women having more control when working with workers
Improving shelter services by making sure that a comprehensive abuse history is taken and screening for substance abuse

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Abused Partners: Practice, Policy, and Prevention-Primary Women, cont.

Admittance policies-battered women who strike back are not true female batterers
Teaching parenting skills-because battered women’s energy have often been sapped by violence, parenting classes are necessary for battered mothers
Transitional supportive housing should be expanded to respond to allow women to avoid homelessness

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Psychotherapists’ Practices

General counseling topics for battered women
Clinical screening should screen clients for male-to-female IPV, substance abuse, and trauma symptoms
Basic counseling goals should include how clients define the meaning of their partner violence, understanding the causes of it and the role it plays in their lives
Alcohol treatment to respond to the high number of IPV victims suffering from substance abuse
Remaking victims’ belief system is the most important therapeutic work

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Psychotherapists’ Practices, cont.

Dangers in leaving the abuser is a task that a counselor should apprise clients leaving an abusive relationship
Brain-based psychotherapy takes into consideration the brain’s role in developing problem feelings, thoughts and behaviors, and in modifying them
Individualized treatment is necessary because one size does not fit all
Victims’ attachment and grief-positive feelings towards abuser need to be acknowledged as negative feelings
Regulating closeness-Important to discuss regulating proximity/distance strategies

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Psychotherapists’ Practices, cont.

Coping styles of battered women are strongly related to help seeking behaviors
Personal empowerment strategies are an essential component of recovery
Forgiveness is a sensitive but necessary subject to discuss and should take into consideration cultural definitions
Policy-victims should be treated as experts in the area of policy making

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Discrimination Against Women

Discrimination against women in political and legal systems allows practices to undermine women’s attempts at independence
Discrimination against women occurs in many other settings
Discrimination in housing
Discrimination in the court systems
Legal changes

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Economic Support and Freedom from Battering

Discrimination in the workplace
Policies of corporation need to change to address abused employees’ needs
Shelter economic-skills services help women meet employment and educational needs
Training unskilled males
Legislators should strengthen existing laws

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Victim Services

Welfare while helpful can increase the risk of battering for some women because of regulations
Needed changes in welfare in ways that recipients are screen for intimate partner violence
Greater focus on MFIPV is needed
Misguided “welfare” programs can affect women negatively
Hiring and training welfare workers is needed because many workers are not aware on identifying domestic violence

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Health Care Providers

Since 1991 a number of physical and mental care organizations include a routine IPV screening as part of their medical screening
During 1990s mandated identification of battered women in the emergency room was initiated
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides more valuable about domestic violence
Medical professionals need more training in order to be more effective in screening and referring IPV victims

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Prevention Strategies

Needs to address sexist, patriarchal, and hostile attitudes toward women
College classes are not requiring freshmen to attend violence prevention classes
Public awareness programs may enable potential victims to avoid victimization
PREVENT program offers a relevant model of prevention program using a team approach

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Abusive Adult Partners: Practice

Much of the work with batterers focused on helping them recognize their abuse
The type of treatment used with batterers has been controversial mainly because of the split between trained, licensed mental health practitioners and trained feminist advocates
Examples of different approaches:
The Duluth model: Psychoeducational approaches
Eclectic approaches
Couples therapy (family therapy and systems therapy)

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Abusive Adult Partners: Practice, cont.

Alcohol and Drug Substance Abuse Treatment – Practitioners must address alcohol and other drugs abuse in the treatment of domestic violence
An integrated substance/domestic violence treatment program is the best strategy
Psychiatric-psychotropic medication treatments may be required for batterers who suffer from some form of psychopathology
Treatment effectiveness studies have not provided firm conclusions about the value of specific type of treatments

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Abusive Adult Partners: Practice, cont.

Challenges in Treatment Evaluation
Methodological deficiencies: lack of random assignment and attrition
Batterers treatment completion/non-completion
Effectiveness of Batterer Intervention Programs are evaluated by the following methods:
Consumer satisfaction surveys
Propensity Score Analysis
Post treatment changes among batterers

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Abusive Adult Partners: Prevention

Focus on finding ways to prevent male violence:
Public awareness campaigns
Educational programs
Changes in male socializations
Better clinical screening of offenders
Better training of treatment personnel
Better police procedures and specialized prosecutor units are being evaluated
Early identification of personality disorders followed by treatment would be beneficial

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Treatment for Female-to-Male Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators

Treatment programs should take into consideration gender distinctiveness
Practitioners should also screen routinely for female-male intimate partner violence
Female Offender Program focuses on contextualizing women’s violence is essential for treatment effectiveness
Treatment focuses on mediator variables that intervene between excessive drinking and female aggression

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Cross-Cultural Practice, Policy and Prevention

Male-to-female IPV is considered a human rights issue
Legal reforms are needed in many countries
Cross-culturally family violence is a health problem
Not addressing family violence is economically costly
Victims needs more resources and options for safety such as shelters and health clinics

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Cross-Cultural Practice, Policy and Prevention, cont.

Some suggestions for practice in specific countries:
Africa – health care professionals need to be more supportive of battered women and screen for violence
Iran – some gender awareness is taken place
Israel – Insight therapy is useful in increasing the awareness of attitudes of acceptability of violence
Middle East – Addressing poverty will do a great deal in reducing violence

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Cross-Cultural Practice, Policy and Prevention, cont.

Policies are needed across the world to address: Gender-biased beliefs and attitudes that support violence against women
Strategies that promote equity between women and men, economic opportunities and increase rights for women as well as effort to reach out to men and change societal beliefs and attitude are required

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Practice, Policy, and Prevention Among Immigrant/Ethnic/Racial Groups

Cultural Competence is critical for service providers working with immigrant/ethnic/racial groups
Studies show increased program completion when services are provided in the client’s language
Policies that reach out and adapt treatment standard to groups of immigrant, ethnic and or racial minority women need to expand
The focus of prevention that is most needed is challenging cultural norms that encourage violence against women and promoting women’s empowerment

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Practice, Policy, and Prevention Among Rural Battered Women

Practitioners working with rural battered women need to understand the culture of rural America
Policies that speaks to access to services and shelters, confidentiality and better responses from medical personnel and law enforcement are needed
Prevention services to rural battered women need to confront accessibility of pornography to teenage boys and adult men, adult alcohol consumption and adherence to familial patriachy

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Practice, Policy, and Prevention for Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence

Therapists working with clients experiencing same-sex IPV need to be familiar with gay-friendly resources and try to increase victim empowerment
Lesbians may experience difficulties feeling safe in ordinary domestic violence environments because access is easier for female batterer because of being same sex
Prevention with the lesbian community should focus on serial abusers, changing the heterosexual attitudes toward that group, revising legal protections, having neutrally worded statutes and giving access to protective orders.

Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition

Practice, Policy, and Prevention in the Military

There are particular issues that practitioners need to address when working with military personnel: treatment of PTSD, treatment of women with child sexual assault and/or military sexual assault and alcohol and other drug treatment
Effective prevention services in the military include: training volunteer victim advocates on how to respond to victims of physical or severe verbal IPV on scene