LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Research Paper: Increase of Domestic Violence Crisis during a Pandemic
Submitted to Dr. Shanyn Aystu-Isaac in partial fulfillment.
of the requirements for the completion of`
CRIS 608-B01
Trauma Assessment and Interventions
by
Carlinda Rashid
Student ID-L03511260
October 02, 2022
Contents
Abstract..................................................................................................................................3
Introduction/Thesis................................................................................................................4
How COVID-19 caused and increase in Domestic Violence.......................................................5
What Assistance is Available for Domestic Violence Victim.....................................................8
Medical and Mental Treatments are Available to help a Domestic Violence Victims..............10
Where to Seek Help..............................................................................................................11
Conclusion............................................................................................................................12
Bibliography..........................................................................................................................14
2
Abstract
“Domestic violence is one of the most pernicious gendered ailments of human society.
Researchers have confirmed the inevitable consequences of domestic violence (physical, sexual,
and emotional) in increased vulnerability to psychopathologies in addition to physical
morbidity.” (al. 2020) “The COVID-19 health pandemic has increased women’s vulnerability to
all forms of domestic and family violence (DFV). With more people confined to their homes, the
risk of (DFV) increase at the same time as access to support service was reduced.” (N. P. al.
2022) “Violence against women also reportedly increased significantly during the lockdown
(from 4.4 to 14.8%). Psychological abuse the most frequent type of violence (96%). Women who
had experienced abuse before the lockdown were at an increased risk of violence during
lockdown.” (S. S. al. 2020)
Keywords: Domestic Violence – COVID-19 – Spousal Abuse – Quarantine – Shelter-in-place
Introduction/Thesis
COVID-19 is a highly contagious virus that has caused global devastation, sociably,
economically, in wellness, and is causing an increase in domestic violence due to lockdowns.
COVID-19 is defined as “a mild to severe respiratory illness that is caused by a coronavirus
(severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 of the genus Beta coronavirus), is
transmitted chiefly by contact with infectious material (such as respiratory droplets) or with
objects or surfaces contaminated by the causative virus, and is characterized especially by
fever, cough, and shortness of breath and may progress to pneumonia and respiratory failure.”
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary n.d.) Domestic violence is defined as
“violent or abusive behavior directed by one family or household member against another.”
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary n.d.)
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“The last thing Sheila wanted to do on May 21 was drive her car. Getting behind the wheel with
a concussion, multiple skull hematomas, and bruises and abrasions across her body was a
decidedly bad idea. But it was the only way her husband would have let her out of the house.
She told him she was going out to buy him cigarettes. The truth was, Sheila (a pseudonym to
protect her identity) was heading to meet her pastor’s wife, who worked at one of the offices in
the city hall of her small Nebraska town, seeking help to escape the domestic hell in which she
had been living since the start of spring. That was when the first wave of COVID-19 began and
the economy collapsed, taking the trucking business her husband had started down with it. That
too was when she, her husband and their four children were, like hundreds of millions of other
people, forced into the high-stress, close quarters life of pandemic lockdowns.
And that too, she says, is when the beatings began. No sooner did the lockdown start than he
began using methamphetamine, according to Sheila, soon developing a consuming delusion that
she was cheating on him and hiding a secret computer tablet somewhere in the house on which
he would find evidence of her infidelity. He first confronted her in March, just as the
quarantining began— and first struck her then too. “He smacked me hard, I hit the floor, and
then he dumped his drink in my face,” she says. Her escape on May 21 put an end to the abuse.
With the help of her pastor and his wife, she connected with Bright Horizons, a shelter and
advocacy group for people who have experienced domestic abuse or sexual violence, and
separated from her husband, with divorce proceedings now underway. Additionally, law
enforcement intervened, and her husband is now facing jail time for his behavior.” (Kluger 2021)
In this paper there will be four points of discussion: First point of discussion, how COVID-
19 caused an increase in domestic violence. Second point of discussion, what assistance is
available for domestic violence victims. Third point of discussion, what medical and mental
treatments are available to help a domestic violence victim. And fourth point of discussion,
where to seek help.
How COVID-19 caused and increase in Domestic Violence
COVID-19 a devastating virus which caused to deaths of millions of people around the
world. Not only was this virus deadly, but it has destroyed marriages through domestic violence.
Many surveys have been conducted around the world for instances in the countries of India,
Australia, Norway, China, and United States. “Domestic violence is a key driver of women’s
inequality, ill-health, and homicide, which the United Nations has referred to as one of the most
significant issues to be addressed in our time. A research team from the QUT Centre for Justice
undertook a nationwide survey of the impact of COVID-19 on the DFV workforce. The
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overarching aim of the survey was to better understand the impact of the COVID pandemic and
associated lockdown restrictions experienced by the domestic violence workforce and their
clients.” (Carrington 2021)
COVID-19 caused an increase in domestic violence, “as the virus continues to spread
across the world, it brought with it multiple new stresses, including physical and psychological
health risks, isolation and loneliness, the closure of many schools and businesses, economic,
vulnerable to the risk of domestic violence. Home is not always a safe place to live; in fact, for
adults and children living in situations of domestic and familial violence, home is often the
space where physical, psychological, and sexual abuse occurs.
This is because home can be a place where dynamics of power can be distorted and subverted
by those who abuse, often without scrutiny from anyone “outside” the couple, or the family
unit. In the COVID-19 crisis, the exhortation to “stay at home” therefore has major implications
for those adults and children already living with someone who is abusive or controlling.” (Isham
2020)
“The UN Women’s report conducted a survey data collected in 13 countries across all
regions (Kenya, Thailand, Ukraine, Cameroon, Albania, Bangladesh, Colombia, Paraguay, Nigeria,
Cote D’Ivoire, Morocco, Jordan, and Kyrgyzstan), confirms the severity of the problem.” (Women
2021)
There are five key findings:
1. “The numbers vary across countries and demographics, but overall, the pandemic has
increased women’s experiences of violence and eroded their feelings of safety.
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A. 2-3 women report that they or a woman they know has experienced violence at some
point in their lifetime. The most common form is verbal abuse (50%), followed by
sexual harassment (40%), physical abuse (36%), denial of basic needs
(35%) and denial of means of communication (30%).” (Women 2021)
2. “Violence against women has had a significant impact on women’s mental during the
pandemic. The psychological toll of COVID-19, it has isolated us, upended our lives, and
made us afraid for our physical well-being. Women reported feeling unsafe at home or
in public and state that COVID has worsened their feelings of stress and anxiety,
particular those cases of physical violence.” (Women 2021)
3. “Socio-economic factors play a significant role in women’s experiences of violence.
Economic stressors are a know driver of violence against women, a trend that has clearly
held during COVID-19. Among women whose partner has no earnings, 4 in 5 report that
they or a woman they knew had experienced a least one form of violence. Food
insecurity is also a factor. Another factor, women’s economic roles within their
household also have an impact. Full-time unpaid caregivers are more likely to report
that they or a woman they know has experience violence. On the other side, earning an
income appears to reduce experiences of violence. The exception: women who out earn
their partner perceive domestic violence as more common and feel less safe at home
than those who do not.” (Women 2021)
4. “Age is no barrier when it comes to violence against women. While many surveys on
violence against women focus specifically on women of reproductive age (15-49), this
survey sought responses from all women 18+. The findings reveal that age does not
offer much protection: women over 60 experience violence at similar rates to younger
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women, with over half reporting that they or a woman they knew experienced some
form of violence.” (Women 2021)
5. Especially in domestic violence situations, women often do not seek outside help. When
asked who they thought women experiencing domestic violence would seek help from,
49% of the respondents said women would seek help from their family, while only 11%
said women would seek help from police, and 10% said they would go to support
centers(shelters, women’s centers etc.).” (Women 2021)
Countries around the world who have had an increase in domestic violence during COVID-19
pandemic for instance in the “United States there was a 10.2% increase in domestic violence call
in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United Kingdom domestic violence
increased 25% in the first week after the lockdown measures were implemented. In China,
domestic violence increased three times in Hubei Province during the lockdown.” (Xue 2020)
“Before the pandemic, gender base violence was already the leading cause of ill health,
disability, and death for one in three women globally—around 736 million in 2018. 35% of
women in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and 20-30% in the Americas and Europe
faced violence by an intimate partner. One in three women reported domestic violence during
or soon after pregnancy in India, Pakistan, Kenya, and Malawi. By June 2021, five months into
the pandemic, reports of domestic violence to India’s National Commission for Women had
reached a 20 year high.” (Jain 2021)
What Assistance is Available for Domestic Violence Victims
The question to begin this section of the paper is “what should I do to protect myself
from domestic violence during the pandemic? First a woman experiencing domestic violence
during a pandemic must: Step 1. “Find a place you can retreat to safety and remember to avoid
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the bathroom or kitchen. Step 2. Enlist support from a trusted friend or family member you can
call. Step 3. If necessary, use a code word or phrase to indicate you need help. Step 4.
Memorized phone numbers of people and agencies you might need to call in an emergency.
Step 5. Make sure you can easily access: Cash, Identification (Social Security card and Driver’s
license), birth and marriage certificates, credit cards, safe deposit box keys, and bank
information, health insurance information, and any documentation, photos, medical or police
reports relating to previous episodes of abuse.” (R.N. 2020)
Other services of assistance offered by different governments around the world. “The
burden of COVID-19 stretches the capacity of hospitals and clinics; the health sector can take
steps to mitigate the risk of violence against women during the pandemic restrictions and help
reduce its effects. Governments must include essential services to deal with violence against
women in COVID-19 response plans, resource them, and identify strategies to make them
accessible during physical distancing measures. Health facilities should identify locally available
support services for survivors (such as hotlines, shelters, rape crisis centers, counseling) and
refer women when they seek health services.” (Roesch 2020)
In the country of Norway, “reports both in media and by international organizations
emerged of an increase in domestic violence or risk of such violence in the wake of infection
control measures. After the first reports of a “spike” or “surge” in domestic violence against
women and children. Women shelters in efforts to prevent and combat domestic violence in
Norway. These shelters offer low-threshold temporary accommodations for victims of domestic
violence, as well as support and assistance for adults and children not living at the shelter, a
group called “day-users.” Staying at a shelter is free of charge and does not require referrals. The
shelters were initially staffed by volunteers and relied at least partly on funding from charities
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and other private donors. Domestic violence has gained increasing recognition in Norwegian
society as a social problem, demanding the attention and focus of both the authorities and
society.” (Bergman 2021; 2022)
“A major crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic reveal shortcomings in interagency
collaborations, including those between shelters and other relevant services such as housing,
employment, health, child welfare, and criminal justice. Norwegian shelters during the
pandemic may be seen as a contribution to research on how services for victims of violence in
the pandemic have been resourced and how the services have responded to the present crisis.”
(Bergman 2021; 2022) Many mandates have been put in place worldwide for assisting the
victims of domestic violence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Medical and Mental Treatments are Available to help a Domestic Violence Victims
“Due to COVID-19, domestic violence victims face a range of mental health, challenges,
resulting in substantial human and economic consequences. Domestic violence is a global
health crisis, with some statistics showing that one in every three individuals worldwide will
experience domestic violence in some form. There are three interventions that be
adapted and applied to the COVID-19 context to safeguard and improve domestic violence
victims’ mental health and well-being. The three multidisciplinary approaches that have the
potential to mitigate the unique mental health challenges domestic violence victims face amid
COVID-19:” (Zhoahui Su 2021)
1. “Reduce exposure to the abuser: Face-to-face help-seeking solutions. It is important
to note that even amid the intensive lockdowns, essential businesses. These societal
behavior changes present a valuable opportunity for health organization and
government agencies to establish help mechanisms to assist individuals in leaving
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their abusive environments amid and beyond the pandemic. Several European
countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, and Spain, have
all adopted a coding messaging system, using a specifically designated code, for
abused women to initiate help-seeking activities.”
(Zhoahui Su 2021)
2. “Increase Mental Health Resources: Shelter Homes amid COVID-19: Establish a
System that addresses the physiological and safety needs of individuals experiencing
domestic violence, ranging from food, shelter, safety to access to medicine, is
essential. Countries like Canada have these programs in place for victims of domestic
violence due to Covid-19.” (Zhoahui Su 2021)
3. “Education Programs: A growing body of research has examined intervention
programs for specific gender abusers in the domestic violence context. Educating
community members to intervene and help to protect women from further damages
of domestic violence is vital.” (Zhoahui Su 2021)
4. “Escape Plans: There is a need for more training on creating an escape plan if an
individual chooses to leave their abuser(s) during a lockdown. Escape from an abuser
can be dangerous, and both the benefits and risks will need to be considered for the
situation; especially if children are involved, as strategies that do not match risks and
circumstances may not improve safety and may even increase risks. One strategy is
to have organizations and businesses make resources, tips, and supplies available to
pick up discreetly and can be used to plan for an escape or to help enable women to
make up an escape bag.” (Zhoahui Su 2021)
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5. “Laws and Regulations: One approach that can address the prevalence of domestic
violence in countries is a national domestic violence registration system. This
registration is like the National Sex Offender Registry. Having a national domestic
violence registration system has the potential to allow individuals to check whether
their potential partners have a violent and abusive history before forging a
relationship with perpetrators.” (Zhoahui Su 2021)
Where to Seek Help
“Though instances of domestic violence are on the rise during COVID-19, calls to some
national hotlines have declined.
1. National Domestic Violence Hotline : Call 1-800-799-SAFE, or chat online.
2. Alliance for Hope International : This national agency provides many different resources
for adults and children who are survivors of domestic abuse. There are 24 supported
centers in California alone.
3. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV): The NCADV advocate For policy
changes to protect and serve victims and survivors of domestic violence, and shares
resources and education to support men, women, and children.
4. Your nurse or doctor may have asked you at your last wellness exam or most recent
appointment if you feel safe at home. More and more frequently, primary care providers
are asking all patients how things are going at home—not out of judgment, but as a way
to give patients the opportunity and safe space they may need to get help.”
(Providence.org 2021)
Conclusion
In conclusion, the pandemic of COVID-19 in many countries has lessen to the point
restrictions has been lifted, but in third world countries where poverty is at all time high
infectious illnesses are still spreading. This virus has caused the deaths of so many people
worldwide, but two factors that stands prevalent from this research. First, following the
recommendations of presented by World Health Organization and other medical associations.
The advancement is medical technology help develop a vaccine that help curved the continual
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progression of this virus. Second factor, this pandemic uncovered an ongoing crisis around the
world, which is domestic violence. Domestic violence has changed the family dynamic to the
point in many cases a death of a marriage.
“Domestic Violence is a largely “hidden” epidemic, and never more so than in our
current state of necessary and mandated seclusion.” (Garfin 2020) There are services available,
but many women will not seek that help for out of fear or the loss of their children depending
on the country, where the word of the man is received over his spouse. Sadly, help is available,
but many women do not seek that help some are abused to the point they many are killed.
Galatians 6:2 states “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of
Christ.” (The Holy Bible-New International Version 2011) John 15:12 states “ (The Holy Bible-
New International Version 2011) As Christians it is our job to help those in need, especially
those currently experiencing domestic violence due to COVID-19. The first step for helping is to
love one another.
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