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Domestic violence research topics.

The list of domestic violence research paper topics below will show that domestic violence takes on many forms. Through recent scientific study, it is now known that domestic violence occurs within different types of households. The purpose of creating this list is for students to have available a comprehensive, state-of-the-research, easy-to-read compilation of a wide variety of domestic violence topics and provide research paper examples on those topics.

Domestic violence research paper topics can be divided into seven categories:

• Victims of domestic violence,
• Theoretical perspectives and correlates to domestic violence,
• Cross-cultural and religious perspectives,
• Understudied areas within domestic violence research,
• Domestic violence and the law,
• Child abuse and elder abuse, and
• Special topics in domestic violence.

100+ Domestic Violence Research Topics

Victims of domestic violence.

Initial research recognized wives as victims of domestic violence. Thereafter, it was acknowledged that unmarried women were also falling victim to violence at the hands of their boyfriends. Subsequently, the term ‘‘battered women’’ became synonymous with ‘‘battered wives.’’ Legitimizing female victimization served as the catalyst in introducing other types of intimate partner violence.

• Battered Husbands
• Battered Wives
• Battered Women: Held in Captivity
• Battered Women Who Kill: An Examination
• Cohabiting Violence
• Dating Violence
• Domestic Violence in Workplace
• Intimate Partner Homicide
• Intimate Partner Violence, Forms of
• Marital Rape
• Mutual Battering
• Spousal Prostitution

Read more about victims of domestic violence .

Part 2: Research Paper Topics on

Theoretical Perspectives and Correlates to Domestic Violence

There is no single causal factor related to domestic violence. Rather, scholars have concluded that there are numerous factors that contribute to domestic violence. Feminists found that women were beaten at the hands of their partners. Drawing on feminist theory, they helped explain the relationship between patriarchy and domestic violence. Researchers have examined other theoretical perspectives such as attachment theory, exchange theory, identity theory, the cycle of violence, social learning theory, and victim-blaming theory in explaining domestic violence. However, factors exist that may not fall into a single theoretical perspective. Correlates have shown that certain factors such as pregnancy, social class, level of education, animal abuse, and substance abuse may influence the likelihood for victimization.

• Animal Abuse: The Link to Family Violence
• Assessing Risk in Domestic Violence Cases
• Attachment Theory and Domestic Violence
• Battered Woman Syndrome
• Batterer Typology
• Bullying and the Family
• Coercive Control
• Control Balance Theory and Domestic Violence
• Cycle of Violence
• Depression and Domestic Violence
• Education as a Risk Factor for Domestic Violence
• Exchange Theory
• Feminist Theory
• Identity Theory and Domestic Violence
• Intergenerational Transfer of Intimate Partner Violence
• Popular Culture and Domestic Violence
• Post-Incest Syndrome
• Pregnancy-Related Violence
• Social Class and Domestic Violence
• Social Learning Theory and Family Violence
• Stockholm Syndrome in Battered Women
• Substance Use/Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence
• The Impact of Homelessness on Family Violence
• Victim-Blaming Theory

Read more about domestic violence theories .

Part 3: Research Paper Topics on

Cross-Cultural and Religious Perspectives on Domestic Violence

It was essential to acknowledge that domestic violence crosses cultural boundaries and religious affiliations. There is no one particular society or religious group exempt from victimization. A variety of developed and developing countries were examined in understanding the prevalence of domestic violence within their societies as well as their coping strategies in handling these volatile issues. It is often misunderstood that one religious group is more tolerant of family violence than another. As Christianity, Islam, and Judaism represent the three major religions of the world, their ideologies were explored in relation to the acceptance and prevalence of domestic violence.

• Africa: Domestic Violence and the Law
• Africa: The Criminal Justice System and the Problem of Domestic Violence in West Africa
• Asian Americans and Domestic Violence: Cultural Dimensions
• Child Abuse: A Global Perspective
• Christianity and Domestic Violence
• Cross-Cultural Examination of Domestic Violence in China and Pakistan
• Cross-Cultural Examination of Domestic Violence in Latin America
• Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Domestic Violence
• Cross-Cultural Perspectives on How to Deal with Batterers
• Dating Violence among African American Couples
• Domestic Violence among Native Americans
• Domestic Violence in African American Community
• Domestic Violence in Greece
• Domestic Violence in Rural Communities
• Domestic Violence in South Africa
• Domestic Violence in Spain
• Domestic Violence in Trinidad and Tobago
• Domestic Violence within the Jewish Community
• Human Rights, Refugee Laws, and Asylum Protection for People Fleeing Domestic Violence
• Introduction to Minorities and Families in America
• Medical Neglect Related to Religion and Culture
• Multicultural Programs for Domestic Batterers
• Qur’anic Perspectives on Wife Abuse
• Religious Attitudes toward Corporal Punishment
• Rule of Thumb
• Same-Sex Domestic Violence: Comparing Venezuela and the United States
• Worldwide Sociolegal Precedents Supporting Domestic Violence from Ancient to Modern Times

Part 4: Research Paper Topics on

Understudied Areas within Domestic Violence Research

Domestic violence has typically examined traditional relationships, such as husband–wife, boyfriend–girlfriend, and parent–child. Consequently, scholars have historically ignored non-traditional relationships. In fact, certain entries have limited cross-references based on the fact that there were limited, if any, scholarly publications on that topic. Only since the 1990s have scholars admitted that violence exists among lesbians and gay males. There are other ignored populations that are addressed within this encyclopedia including violence within military and police families, violence within pseudo-family environments, and violence against women and children with disabilities.

• Caregiver Violence against People with Disabilities
• Community Response to Gay and Lesbian Domestic Violence
• Compassionate Homicide and Spousal Violence
• Domestic Violence against Women with Disabilities
• Domestic Violence by Law Enforcement Officers
• Domestic Violence within Military Families
• Factors Influencing Reporting Behavior by Male Domestic Violence Victims
• Gay and Bisexual Male Domestic Violence
• Gender Socialization and Gay Male Domestic Violence
• Inmate Mothers: Treatment and Policy Implications
• Intimate Partner Violence and Mental Retardation
• Intimate Partner Violence in Queer, Transgender, and Bisexual Communities
• Lesbian Battering
• Male Victims of Domestic Violence and Reasons They Stay with Their Abusers
• Medicalization of Domestic Violence
• Police Attitudes and Behaviors toward Gay Domestic Violence
• Pseudo-Family Abuse
• Sexual Aggression Perpetrated by Females
• Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: The Need for Education in Servicing Victims of Trauma

Part 5: Research Paper Topics on

Domestic Violence and the Law

The Violence against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 helped pave domestic violence concerns into legislative matters. Historically, family violence was handled through informal measures often resulting in mishandling of cases. Through VAWA, victims were given the opportunity to have their cases legally remedied. This legitimized the separation of specialized domestic and family violence courts from criminal courts. The law has recognized that victims of domestic violence deserve recognition and resolution. Law enforcement agencies may be held civilly accountable for their actions in domestic violence incidents. Mandatory arrest policies have been initiated helping reduce discretionary power of police officers. Courts have also begun to focus on the offenders of domestic violence. Currently, there are batterer intervention programs and mediation programs available for offenders within certain jurisdictions. Its goals are to reduce the rate of recidivism among batterers.

• Battered Woman Syndrome as a Legal Defense in Cases of Spousal Homicide
• Batterer Intervention Programs
• Clemency for Battered Women
• Divorce, Child Custody, and Domestic Violence
• Domestic Violence Courts
• Electronic Monitoring of Abusers
• Expert Testimony in Domestic Violence Cases
• Judicial Perspectives on Domestic Violence
• Lautenberg Law
• Legal Issues for Battered Women
• Mandatory Arrest Policies
• Mediation in Domestic Violence
• Police Civil Liability in Domestic Violence Incidents
• Police Decision-Making Factors in Domestic Violence Cases
• Police Response to Domestic Violence Incidents
• Prosecution of Child Abuse and Neglect
• Protective and Restraining Orders
• Shelter Movement
• Training Practices for Law Enforcement in Domestic Violence Cases
• Violence against Women Act

Read more about Domestic Violence Law .

Part 6: Research Paper Topics on

Child Abuse and Elder Abuse

Scholars began to address child abuse over the last third of the twentieth century. It is now recognized that child abuse falls within a wide spectrum. In the past, it was based on visible bruises and scars. Today, researchers have acknowledged that psychological abuse, where there are no visible injuries, is just as damaging as its counterpart. One of the greatest controversies in child abuse literature is that of Munchausen by Proxy. Some scholars have recognized that it is a syndrome while others would deny a syndrome exists. Regardless of the term ‘‘syndrome,’’ Munchausen by Proxy does exist and needs to be further examined. Another form of violence that needs to be further examined is elder abuse. Elder abuse literature typically focused on abuse perpetrated by children and caregivers. With increased life expectancies, it is now understood that there is greater probability for violence among elderly intimate couples. Shelters and hospitals need to better understand this unique population in order to better serve its victims.

• Assessing the Risks of Elder Abuse
• Child Abuse and Juvenile Delinquency
• Child Abuse and Neglect in the United States: An Overview
• Child Maltreatment, Interviewing Suspected Victims of
• Child Neglect
• Child Sexual Abuse
• Children Witnessing Parental Violence
• Consequences of Elder Abuse
• Elder Abuse and Neglect: Training Issues for Professionals
• Elder Abuse by Intimate Partners
• Elder Abuse Perpetrated by Adult Children
• Filicide and Children with Disabilities
• Mothers Who Kill
• Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome
• Parental Abduction
• Postpartum Depression, Psychosis, and Infanticide
• Ritual Abuse–Torture in Families
• Shaken Baby Syndrome
• Sibling Abuse

Part 7: Research Paper Topics on

Special Topics  in Domestic Violence

Within this list, there are topics that may not fit clearly into one of the aforementioned categories. Therefore, they are be listed in a separate special topics designation. Analyzing Incidents of Domestic Violence: The National Incident-Based Reporting System

• Community Response to Domestic Violence
• Conflict Tactics Scales
• Dissociation in Domestic Violence, The Role of
• Domestic Homicide in Urban Centers: New York City
• Fatality Reviews in Cases of Adult Domestic Homicide and Suicide
• Female Suicide and Domestic Violence
• Healthcare Professionals’ Roles in Identifying and Responding to Domestic Violence
• Measuring Domestic Violence
• Neurological and Physiological Impact of Abuse
• Social, Economic, and Psychological Costs of Violence
• Stages of Leaving Abusive Relationships
• The Physical and Psychological Impact of Spousal Abuse

Domestic violence remains a relatively new field of study among social scientists but it is already a popular research paper subject within college and university students. Only within the past 4 decades have scholars recognized domestic violence as a social problem. Initially, domestic violence research focused on child abuse. Thereafter, researchers focused on wife abuse and used this concept interchangeably with domestic violence. Within the past 20 years, researchers have acknowledged that other forms of violent relationships exist, including dating violence, battered males, and gay domestic violence. Moreover, academicians have recognized a subcategory within the field of criminal justice: victimology (the scientific study of victims). Throughout the United States, colleges and universities have been creating victimology courses, and even more specifically, family violence and interpersonal violence courses.

The media have informed us that domestic violence is so commonplace that the public has unfortunately grown accustomed to reading and hearing about husbands killing their wives, mothers killing their children, or parents neglecting their children. While it is understood that these offenses take place, the explanations as to what factors contributed to them remain unclear. In order to prevent future violence, it is imperative to understand its roots. There is no one causal explanation for domestic violence; however, there are numerous factors which may help explain these unjustified acts of violence. Highly publicized cases such as the O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson trials have shown the world that alleged murderers may not resemble the deranged sociopath depicted in horror films. Rather, they can be handsome, charming, and well-liked by society. In addition, court-centered programming on television continuously publicizes cases of violence within the home informing the public that we are potentially at risk by our caregivers and other loved ones. There is the case of the au pair Elizabeth Woodward convicted of shaking and killing Matthew Eappen, the child entrusted to her care. Some of the most highly publicized cases have also focused on mothers who kill. America was stunned as it heard the cases of Susan Smith and Andrea Yates. Both women were convicted of brutally killing their own children. Many asked how loving mothers could turn into cold-blooded killers.

Browse other criminal justice research topics .

SAFETY ALERT:  If you are in danger, please use a safer computer and consider calling 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 / TTY 1-800-787-3224 or the StrongHearts Native Helpline at 1−844-762-8483 (call or text) are available to assist you.

Please review these safety tips .

Research & Evidence

NRCDV works to strengthen researcher/practitioner collaborations that advance the field’s knowledge of, access to, and input in research that informs policy and practice at all levels. We also identify and develop guidance and tools to help domestic violence programs and coalitions better evaluate their work, including by using participatory action research approaches that directly tap the diverse expertise of a community to frame and guide evaluation efforts.

Safety & Privacy in a Digital World

Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence  

Teen Dating Violence

Housing and Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence in LGBTQ Communities

Trans and Non-Binary Survivors

The Difference Between Surviving & Not Surviving

Earned Income Tax Credit & Other Tax Credits

For an extensive list of research & evidence materials check out the research & statistics section on VAWnet

The Domestic Violence Evidence Project (DVEP) is a multi-faceted, multi-year and highly collaborative effort designed to assist state coalitions, local domestic violence programs, researchers, and other allied individuals and organizations better respond to the growing emphasis on identifying and integrating evidence-based practice into their work. DVEP brings together research, evaluation, practice and theory to inform critical thinking and enhance the field's knowledge to better serve survivors and their families.

The Community Based Participatory Research Toolkit  (CBPR) is for researchers and practitioners across disciplines and social locations who are working in academic, policy, community, or practice-based settings. In particular, the toolkit provides support to emerging researchers as they consider whether and how to take a CBPR approach and what it might mean in the context of their professional roles and settings. Domestic violence advocates will also find useful information on the CBPR approach and how it can help answer important questions about your work.

For over two decades, the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence has operated  VAWnet , an online library focused on violence against women and other forms of gender-based violence.  VAWnet.org  has long been identified as an unparalleled, comprehensive, go-to source of information and resources for anti-violence advocates, human service professionals, educators, faith leaders, and others interested in ending domestic and sexual violence.

Safe Housing Partnerships , the website of the Domestic Violence and Housing Technical Assistance Consortium , includes the latest research and evidence on the intersection of domestic and sexual violence, housing, and homelessness. You can also find new research exploring different aspects of efforts to expand housing options for domestic and sexual violence survivors, including the use of flexible funding approaches, DV Housing First and rapid rehousing, DV Transitional Housing, and mobile advocacy.

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Changes in Prevalence and Severity of Domestic Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Freya thiel.

1 Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

2 Institute for Systems Medicine (ISM) and Faculty of Medicine, MSH Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Verena C. S. Büechl

Franciska rehberg, amera mojahed, judith k. daniels.

3 Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

4 Psychologische Hochschule Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Julia Schellong

5 Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Susan Garthus-Niegel

6 Department of Child Health and Development, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

Associated Data

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/ Supplementary Material , further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

To contain the spread of COVID-19, governmental measures were implemented in many countries. Initial evidence suggests that women and men experience increased anger and aggression during COVID-19 lockdowns. Not surprisingly, media reports and initial empirical evidence highlight an increased risk for domestic violence (DV) during the pandemic. Nonetheless, a systematic review of studies utilizing participants' reports of potential changes in DV prevalence and severity during the pandemic as compared to pre-pandemic times is needed.

To examine empirical, peer-reviewed studies, pertaining to the potential change in prevalence and severity of different types of DV during the COVID-19 pandemic, as reported by study participants.

Data Sources

Electronic EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL searches were conducted for the period between 2020 and January 5, 2022. References of eligible studies were integrated by using a snowballing technique.

Study Selection

A total of 22 primary, empirical, peer-reviewed studies published in English or German were included.

Of the 22 studies, 19 were cross-sectional whereas 3 included both pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments. Data synthesis indicates that severity of all types of DV as well as the prevalence of psychological/emotional and sexual DV increased for a significant number of victims in the general population during the pandemic. Evidence for changes in prevalence regarding economic/financial, physical, and overall DV remains inconclusive. There was considerable between-study variation in reported prevalence depending on region, sample size, assessment time, and measure.

Conclusions

Data synthesis partly supports the previously documented increase in DV. Governmental measures should consider the availability of easily accessible, anonymous resources. Awareness and knowledge regarding DV need to be distributed to improve resources and clinical interventions.

Introduction

In order to contain the global spread of COVID-19, measures such as social isolation/distancing, quarantine, and stay-at-home orders have been implemented in many countries ( 1 , 2 ). Although effective in decelerating the spread of COVID-19 ( 3 , 4 ), these measures also have major social consequences, which may have a substantial impact on mental health, wellbeing, and life satisfaction ( 5 , 6 ). Empirical research pertaining to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic indicates increased levels of anxiety, depression, insomnia, and psychological distress ( 7 ). Feelings of loneliness resulting from measures such as social isolation or stay-at-home orders, may not only lead to an increase in depressive symptoms ( 8 ), but may also impair self-regulation abilities ( 9 ), which can lead to dysfunctional behavioral patterns, such as alcohol and drug abuse ( 10 , 11 ), as well as violent behavior ( 12 ). Initial evidence suggests that during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany, both women and men experienced increased anger and aggression and tended to direct their anger at others ( 13 ). Over the course of the pandemic, media reports have highlighted an alarming increase in rates of domestic violence among intimate partners and against children during lockdown periods ( 14 – 16 ) and web searches related to support for domestic abuse have expanded since the beginning of the pandemic ( 17 ).

Domestic violence (DV) is defined as “a pattern of behavior that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner in a relationship, a child, another relative or any other household member” ( 18 ). DV may affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, ethnic or socioeconomic background, religious or sexual orientation, or type of relationship ( 18 , 19 ). To this end, DV can also include intimate partner violence (IPV). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), IPV pertains to “any act or behavior within a present or former intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological, or sexual harm” ( 20 ). Among others, these behaviors may include (a) psychological/emotional or verbal violence (e.g., insulting, threatening, humiliating), (b) sexual violence (e.g., forced sexual intercourse), (c) physical violence (e.g., beating, kicking), (d) economic/financial violence ( 20 , 21 ).

Reports on DV or IPV have largely focused on violence committed against women. To this end, it has been documented that globally one in three women will experience physical or sexual violence committed by an intimate partner during her life ( 20 ), making IPV the most common form of violence against women. Nonetheless, public, empirical, and clinical attention toward DV or IPV against men has grown. Similar to violence against women, it is estimated that one in four men will experience physical violence by an intimate partner during his life ( 22 – 25 ). As described above, governmental restrictions to slow down the spread of COVID-19, such as social isolation, have been linked to increased anger and aggression ( 13 ), which may in turn increase the risk for DV victimization and/or perpetration. Finally, a recent review documents that both social and geographic isolation represent crucial risk factors for IPV ( 1 ).

Despite the positive effects of governmental restrictions on containment of the virus, these measures also deteriorated conditions for victims of DV, finding them trapped at home with their perpetrators and minimizing their access to social support systems like friends and family outside the abusive relationship ( 15 , 26 ). Further, stay-at-home orders and lockdowns might make it easier for perpetrators to socially isolate and surveil their victim, which may be used to control intimate partners or family members ( 26 ). Thus, during the pandemic, the risk of DV may have increased because of domestic confinement with possible perpetrators, while at the same time access to private and public help resources such as protection services has been limited ( 2 , 15 , 26 ). Regional and societal factors may further impact victims' and perpetrators' access to help resources. For instance, in many settings around the world, patriarchal views of the family, social norms, or geographical distance from professional and private support resources may offer potential explanations for the increased risk of IPV ( 1 , 27 – 29 ).

Although worldwide media reports suggest increasing rates of DV over the course of the pandemic ( 14 – 16 ) and initial empirical evidence highlights that social and geographical isolation may augment DV ( 1 ), empirical studies pertaining to a potential increase in DV cases or severity during the pandemic had to be designed, conducted, and had to undergo rigorous peer-review processes before publication. Since the global onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the amount of empirical, peer-reviewed studies has grown.

To date, several reviews focusing on a change in DV prevalence are available. First, an initial systematic review of 32 studies published until July 2020 documented evidence for an increase in DV cases, specifically during the first week of COVID-19 lockdowns in various countries. Nonetheless, this review was conducted in the early stages of the pandemic—thus, the majority of included studies reported on police or helpline reports to assess DV prevalence and not all included reports and studies had been peer-reviewed ( 30 ). Second, a systematic review and meta-analysis of 18 studies published until January 2021 focused exclusively on administrative/official data (e.g., police records), documenting an increase in DV following stay-at-home orders or lockdown, with the majority of studies stemming from the U.S. ( 31 ). Third, a systematic review focused solely on IPV, including 19 studies, eight of which focused on reports by victims and 11 on reports by help professionals (i.e., police officers, DV resource center staff, healthcare providers). Results outlined an increase in the episodes of IPV as reported by victims (i.e., cross-sectional studies) and help professionals ( 32 ). Fourth, a systematic review focusing on IPV as well as sexual functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic included 11 cross-sectional studies published until the end of 2020, 5 of which reported on IPV. The authors showed that IPV against women increased during the COVID-19 pandemic ( 33 ). Taken together, all prior reviews suggest an increase in DV during the pandemic. It should however be noted that prior reviews were limited by the timing of literature and it can be assumed that additional literature has been published since. Further, initial research primarily focused on administrative/official reports to assess a potential change in DV during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, initial studies focusing on administrative/official reports may reflect changes in help-seeking behavior rather than changes in prevalence, highlighting the importance for empirical studies assessing participants.

We therefore set forth to examine empirical, peer-reviewed studies reporting on original participant data regarding a change in the prevalence and/or severity of DV over the course of the pandemic as compared to pre-pandemic times. Given the acute nature of the topic and the time needed to plan, conduct, and publish relevant data, we expected the majority of studies to have employed cross-sectional designs. Nonetheless, we also expected initial evidence from longitudinal studies or those with repeated pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments to be available by the time of the current literature search.

Materials and Methods

Search strategy.

In order to examine the research question of whether there was a change in DV prevalence and/or severity during the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to pre-pandemic times, we followed the PRSIMA ( 34 ) approach: Electronic EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL searches were conducted from 2020 to January 5, 2022 to identify research articles for inclusion in this review. Separate searches for each primary database combined terms relating to DV and the COVID-19 pandemic, applying the Boolean operators (AND) and (OR), accordingly. For MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL searches, we used the search string “TI (domestic OR intimate OR interpersonal OR partner OR marital OR couple OR relationship) AND TI (violence or abuse) AND TI (covid * OR pandemic OR corona)”. For EMBASE, the string was adapted to “((domestic OR interpersonal OR intimate OR partner OR marital OR couple OR relationship) AND (violence OR abuse) AND (covid OR pandemic OR corona)).ti.”. Additionally, references of eligible studies were integrated by using a snowballing technique.

Eligibility Criteria

For inclusion in this review, we considered primary, peer-reviewed, empirical studies pertaining to a potential change in DV prevalence and/or severity during the COVID-19 pandemic as reported by participants, published in English or German. Studies examining participant-reported violence in a domestic context during the pandemic, including different age groups, genders, and any form of intimate relationship (e.g., intimate partner, relationship, marital or couple violence, violence against children in the household) were incorporated. Thus, studies utilizing official records (e.g., police, helpline, or hospital records) without participant assessment were excluded in order to focus specifically on the potential change in DV prevalence rather than a change in help-seeking behavior. Empirical quantitative studies, such as cross-sectional, longitudinal, and clinical studies, published in peer-reviewed journals were included. Qualitative studies, conference abstracts, case studies, and dissertations/theses with a peer-reviewed published version were excluded.

Data Collection Process

All studies identified through the database searches were imported into the systematic review tool Rayyan QRCI ( 35 ). Titles and abstracts were screened by two reviewers (VCSB and FR). Studies which did not meet eligibility criteria were excluded. In case of any uncertainties, a third reviewer (FT) was consulted. Subsequently, full texts were reviewed by the same reviewers as above (VCSB and FR) and screened for final inclusion in the current review. Again, a third reviewer (FT) was consulted in case of insecurities. Included studies were then retained for data extraction.

Risk of Bias (Quality) Assessment

Studies identified for inclusion in the current review were assessed for risk of bias using the JBI critical appraisal checklist for prevalence studies ( 36 ). It includes nine appraisal criteria pertaining to the appropriateness of a study's (1) target population (i.e., sample frame addresses target population), (2) recruitment method (i.e., appropriate to recruit representative sample), (3) sample size (i.e., power calculation provided), (4) description of subjects and setting (i.e., sufficient detail on sample and setting), (5) data analyses (i.e., sufficient coverage of all subgroup samples), (6) measurement validity (i.e., validated measure used to assess DV), (7) measurement reliability (i.e., DV measured in same way for all participants), (8) statistical analyses (i.e., significance test for change in DV prevalence/severity), and (9) response rate. The full checklist and a detailed description of appraisal criteria are available at https://jbi.global/critical-appraisal-tools . After a pilot trial on one included study to ensure feasibility of the JBI checklist for the current purpose, each study was assessed for risk of bias by two independent reviewers (FT and VCSB/FR). Initial inter-rater agreement was high (93%) and disagreements were discussed to reach consensus. Of the nine checklist criteria, appropriateness of the sample size as well as measurement validity and reliability were considered particularly relevant for the current review and thus defined as major domains. Overall, we considered a study to present low risk of bias if at least five of the JBI checklist criteria were fulfilled, including at least one of the three major domains.

Data Synthesis

Results were synthesized narratively and in tabular form. Studies on DV prevalence can be expected to exhibit high heterogeneity pertaining to target population as well as conceptualization and assessment of violence. We therefore did not conduct any quantitative analyses for this review. Data from identified studies were tabulated in a data extraction form developed by FT and VCSB. With the help of AM, data pertaining to author and year of publication, country, setting (e.g., clinical or population-based) and study period (i.e., time point of COVID-19 pandemic), study design, sample size and characteristics (e.g., final sample, target population, age, gender), measure used to assess DV (e.g., validated measure, self-generated questions), direction of DV (i.e., victimization, perpetration), DV prevalence estimates, and type of DV (i.e., psychological/emotional or verbal, sexual, physical, economic/financial) were extracted. Further, results from risk of bias assessments were visualized and synthesized in tabular form.

Description of Studies

Electronic EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL searches revealed a total of 521 studies. After exclusion of duplicates, titles and abstracts of 262 studies were screened. Based on title/abstract screening, 171 studies were discarded. The remaining 91 studies were retained for full-text screening. Based on full-text screening, 69 studies were excluded because they did not fulfill the eligibility criteria outlined above. Hence, the screening process resulted in the identification and inclusion of 22 studies ( 13 , 37 – 57 ). An overview of the study selection process is provided in Figure 1 .

Study selection process.

Characteristics of Included Studies

All 22 studies were written in English and published between October 2020 and December 2021, with n = 3 published in 2020 and n = 19 published in 2021. The studies originated from various countries, with the majority coming from the U.S. ( n = 4), followed by India ( n = 3), Germany ( n = 2), and Bangladesh ( n = 2). Further studies in this review were conducted in Austria, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Nigeria, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Tunisia. Ten studies included only females ( 37 , 41 – 43 , 46 – 49 , 51 , 54 ), 10 further studies included both female and male participants ( 13 , 39 , 44 , 45 , 50 , 52 , 53 , 55 – 57 ), and two studies assessed DV in males only ( 38 , 40 ). Without exception, all studies reported on DV against adults, with only one study further reporting on violence against children ( 55 ). Most studies were cross-sectional ( n = 19) ( 13 , 37 – 54 ), while only few longitudinal studies or studies with repeated pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments were identified ( n = 3) ( 55 – 57 ) (see Table 1 ).

Study characteristics.

IPV, Intimate Partner Violence; DV, Domestic Violence; NR, Not Reported .

The majority of the n = 19 cross-sectional studies assessed different types of DV. To this end, 12 studies reported on changes in psychological/emotional or verbal DV ( 13 , 37 – 40 , 42 , 45 , 46 , 48 – 50 , 53 ), 11 on sexual DV ( 13 , 37 – 39 , 42 , 45 , 46 , 48 – 50 , 53 ), 12 reported on physical DV ( 13 , 37 – 39 , 42 , 45 , 46 , 48 – 50 , 52 , 53 ), and 4 included economic/financial DV ( 39 , 49 , 50 , 53 ). One study did not provide a differentiation of DV type ( 54 ). All cross-sectional studies included participant report on DV victimization, whereas two studies further included assessment of DV perpetration ( 38 , 40 ). Most cross-sectional studies investigated DV in the general population ( n = 14) ( 13 , 39 , 41 – 43 , 45 , 47 – 54 ), while some studies focused on specific samples ( n = 5) ( 37 , 38 , 40 , 44 , 46 ). Assessment of DV was heterogeneous regarding the methodological approach—five studies used validated questionnaires [i.e., (Extended-) Hurt, Insult, Threaten, Scream Scale [(E-)HITS]; Composite Abuse Scale Revised Short Form (CASR-SF); Domestic Violence Questionnaire (DVQ); Gay and Bisexual Men Intimate Partner Violence scale (IPV-GBM)] ( 38 , 40 , 44 , 45 , 54 ), nine studies relied on self-generated questions ( 13 , 39 , 41 – 43 , 49 , 50 , 52 , 53 ), five studies used scales from the “ WHO Multi-Country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women ” ( 37 , 47 ), the “ World Health Organization's Domestic Violence Questionnaire Screening Tool” ( 46 ), or DV self-generated questionnaires based on questionnaires developed by the WHO ( 48 , 51 ). Further, the majority utilized online surveys ( n = 14) ( 13 , 38 – 43 , 45 – 47 , 49 – 51 , 53 ), whereas some studies conducted in-person ( n = 2) ( 37 , 54 ) or telephone interviews ( n = 3) ( 44 , 48 , 52 ).

Compared to the numerous cross-sectional studies, studies with repeated pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments were still scarce at the time of literature search for the current review. Three empirical, peer-reviewed studies were identified. Of these, two employed longitudinal designs ( 56 , 57 ) and one compared two representative population surveys from 2016 to 2021 ( 55 ). Two studies utilized samples from the general population in Germany and Switzerland ( 55 , 56 ), with one solely focusing on perpetration of physical DV but not victimization ( 56 ), and the other focusing on victimization and perpetration of physical IPV and perpetration of physical and psychological/emotional violence against children in the household ( 55 ). The third study was conducted in the U.S. and focused specifically on DV survivors in precarious or unstable housing conditions ( 57 ). While two studies conducted in-person interviews at all measurement points ( 55 , 57 ), one study supplemented pre-pandemic interviews with data collected via online surveys during the pandemic ( 56 ).

Quality of Included Studies

Of the 22 studies, half were rated as having high risk of bias ( 13 , 37 , 39 , 41 – 43 , 45 , 48 , 50 , 53 , 55 ) and half were rated as having low risk of bias ( 38 , 40 , 44 , 46 , 47 , 49 , 51 , 52 , 54 , 56 , 57 ). The distribution of ratings on each of the nine JBI checklist criteria ( 36 ) can be found in Figure 2 . Participant recruitment was rated as holding high risk of bias for 13 of the included studies. This risk of bias mostly pertained to potential selection bias given recruitment for online surveys using snowballing sampling and/or survey distribution via various (social) media sites. Sample size was rated as holding low risk of bias only if a power analysis was provided by the original authors and an appropriate sample size was reached. More than half of the included studies ( n = 12) did not report a power calculation and were consequently rated as “unclear”. Measurement validity was assessed based on the utilization of a generally validated DV measure, without guaranteeing the instrument's validation for use in specific populations or validation of specific translated or adapted versions. Consequently, risk of bias pertaining to measurement validity was rated as low for 11 of the included studies. Although some of the included cross-sectional studies utilizing online surveys reported how many individuals accessed their survey in comparison to the number of completed surveys, an actual response rate cannot be provided—for these studies, the response rate criterion was thus not applicable. Further, because some studies only reported a change in DV prevalence and/or severity in a descriptive manner and did not provide tests of statistical significance for change estimates, 10 of the included studies were rated as holding high risk regarding the statistical analysis criterion. Risk of bias assessment by JBI checklist items for each included study can be found in Supplementary Table S1 .

Risk of bias of included studies with percentages of ratings on JBI checklist.

Domestic Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Victimization of violence.

Without exception, all cross-sectional as well as two of the three studies with longitudinal/repeated pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments reported on changes in DV in the context of victimization (for reports pertaining to DV perpetration, please refer to Section Perpetration of Violence). In the following, we will report results pertaining to changes in each type of DV (i.e., psychological/emotional or verbal, sexual, physical, economic/financial) and changes in overall DV. In each section, we will first present results from studies with longitudinal/repeated pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments, followed by results from cross-sectional studies. For cross-sectional studies, we will first focus on the change in prevalence and the change in severity in samples from the general population, followed by studies utilizing specific samples. As outlined in the introduction, some studies investigated IPV, which we here conceptualize as a specific type of DV ( n = 14). We will therefore refer to either IPV or DV depending on the particular focus of the original study.

Psychological/Emotional or Verbal Violence

Prevalence of current psychological/emotional or verbal violence varied widely across studies, depending on region, sample size, assessment time, and assessment measure. Only one longitudinal study investigated psychological/emotional violence. Chiaramonte et al. ( 57 ) used data from an ongoing longitudinal study in the U.S. to examine the impact of the COVID-19 stay-at-home order (March 15, 2020) on DV survivors who had sought service from DV agencies and were currently in precarious or unstable housing conditions. Five in-person interviews were conducted every 6 months over a 2-year period, assessing psychological/emotional violence via the Composite Abuse Scale (CAS). In this specific sample of DV survivors, there was a significant decrease in psychological/emotional DV in the 24 months prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic—thus, since seeking help from a DV agency. No significant changes were found after the onset of the pandemic ( 57 ).

Among the n = 10 cross-sectional studies reporting on psychological/emotional DV, n = 6 studies reported a specific change in psychological/emotional DV prevalence or severity compared to pre-pandemic levels in samples from the general population ( 39 , 42 , 45 , 48 – 50 ), with three studies documenting an increase in overall prevalence and one study documenting a decrease. Two studies reported a significant increase in psychological/emotional DV between 5 and 6% during or after the first lockdown in samples of 346 married women in the Kurdistan region of Iraq ( 42 ) and 490 Arab women from 14 different countries (see Table 1 ) ( 49 ). An additional study reported an increase of 3% in a sample of 136 Bangladeshi females and males, but did not report a significance test for this potential increase ( 50 ). In contrast, Ojeahere et al. reported a decrease of 7% in a Nigerian sample of 474 female and male participants during the first lockdown using self-generated questions in an online survey ( 39 ). All four studies utilized self-generated questions to assess DV via online surveys ( 39 , 42 , 49 , 50 ).

Regarding a change in severity, two cross-sectional studies specifically reported on changes in psychological/emotional violence among those experiencing DV in samples from the general population ( 45 , 48 ). To this end, Hamadani et al. differentially examined insults, humiliation, and intimidation as specific types of psychological/emotional IPV via telephone interviews in a sample of 2,174 mothers in Bangladesh, recruited from a study in which their children were enrolled. Of those reporting IPV, 68, 66, and 69% reported insults, humiliation, and intimidation to have increased during the first lockdown, respectively ( 48 ). Additionally, Jetelina et al. found that among those reporting psychological/emotional IPV in an online survey of 1,730 female and male participants in the U.S., 20% reported violence to have worsened since the COVID-19 outbreak, whereas 36% reported violence to have improved, and 44% reported violence to not have changed ( 45 ).

Further, n = 4 cross-sectional studies focused on specific populations, namely currently pregnant women in Ethiopia ( 37 ) and Jordan ( 46 ), as well as gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in the U.S. ( 38 , 40 ). Regarding psychological/emotional DV among pregnant women, Abujilban et al. reported a 15% decrease during the first lockdown in an Jordanian sample of 215 pregnant women when using the World Health Organization's Domestic Violence Questionnaire Screening Tool (DVQST) in an online survey ( 46 ). Conversely, using in-person interviews, Teshome et al. documented that among those reporting IPV within the last year (i.e., 2020) in their sample of 464 pregnant Ethiopian women, half the women reported psychological/emotional violence to have increased after the COVID-19 outbreak ( 37 ). Regarding psychological/emotional DV among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) in the U.S., using the Gay, and Bisexual Men Intimate Partner Violence Scale in an online survey, Walsh et al. documented that out of those reporting psychological/emotional IPV, 11% reported experiencing new or more frequent psychological/emotional IPV during the pandemic ( 40 ). Further, Stephenson et al. report that 1% of the 516 men in their sample indicated having experienced psychological/emotional violence for the first time during the first lockdown ( 38 ).

In addition, n = 4 cross-sectional studies reported a specific change in verbal DV prevalence to pre-pandemic levels in the general population ( 13 , 45 , 49 , 53 ). To this end, two studies indicated verbal DV among 3,545 females and males in Germany ( 13 ) and 94 females and males in India ( 53 ) who reported experiencing IPV or DV to have increased by 57–78% during the first lockdown. Both studies relied on self-generated questions to assess verbal IPV/DV in online surveys ( 13 , 53 ). Jetelina et al., however, documented that among those reporting verbal IPV in an online survey of 1,730 female and male participants in the U.S., 17% reported violence to have worsened since the COVID-19 outbreak, whereas 31% reported violence to have improved, and 54% reported violence to not have changed ( 45 ). In contrast, El-Nimr et al. found no significant change in verbal IPV during the first lockdown in a sample of 490 Arab women ( 49 ). No studies with longitudinal/repeated pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments of verbal violence were identified.

Taken together, included studies suggest an increase in cases and severity of psychological/emotional DV in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic. The limited number of studies focusing on specific samples point toward unchanged or even decreased psychological/emotional DV cases, whereas severity of DV may have increased for a significant proportion of victims. Studies pertaining to verbal DV were limited to reports on severity, suggesting verbal DV to have worsened for many victims since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sexual Violence

Only one longitudinal study investigated sexual violence. Chiaramonte et al. ( 57 ) used data from an ongoing longitudinal study in the U.S. to examine the impact of the COVID-19 stay-at-home order (March 15, 2020) on DV survivors who had sought service from DV agencies and were currently in precarious or unstable housing conditions (see above). In this specific sample of DV survivors, there was a significant decrease in sexual DV in the 24 months prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic—thus, since seeking help from a DV agency. No significant changes were found after the onset of the pandemic ( 57 ).

Among the n = 11 cross-sectional studies reporting on sexual DV, n = 8 studies reported a specific change in sexual DV prevalence or severity to pre-pandemic levels in samples from the general population ( 13 , 39 , 42 , 45 , 48 – 50 , 53 ), of which three indicated an increase and one a decrease in overall prevalence. Two studies reported significant overall increases of sexual DV by 3–5% during the first lockdown in samples of Arab women ( 49 ) and women in the Kurdistan region of Iraq ( 42 ). An additional study reported an increase of 1% in a sample of 136 Bangladeshi females and males, but did not report a significance test for this potential increase ( 50 ). In contrast, Ojeahere et al. documented a decrease of 2% in a sample of 474 females and males during the lockdown in Nigeria ( 39 ). All four studies utilized self-generated questions to assess sexual DV via online surveys ( 39 , 42 , 49 , 50 ).

Regarding a change in severity, four studies specifically reported on changes in sexual violence during the first lockdown among those experiencing DV ( 13 , 45 , 48 , 53 ). In a sample of 3,545 females and males in Germany, 3% of the women reported sexual violence to have worsened ( 13 ). Similarly, in a sample of 94 Indian females and males, 14% of those experiencing DV reported an increase of sexual violence ( 53 ). Hamadani et al. reported that out of those experiencing IPV in a sample of 2,174 mothers in Bangladesh, 51% reported sexual violence to have increased ( 48 ). Even more specifically, Jetelina et al. documented that among those experiencing sexual IPV in a sample of 1,730 females and males in the U.S., 28% reported violence to have worsened since the COVID-19 outbreak, whereas 26% reported violence to have improved, and 47% reported violence to not have changed ( 45 ).

The remaining n = 3 cross-sectional studies focused on specific populations, namely currently pregnant women in Ethiopia ( 37 ) and Jordan ( 46 ), and GBMSM in the U.S. ( 38 ). Regarding sexual DV among pregnant women, Abujilban et al. reported a 4% decrease during the first lockdown in a Jordanian sample of 215 pregnant women when using the World Health Organization's Domestic Violence Questionnaire Screening Tool (DVQST) in an online survey ( 46 ). Nonetheless, using in-person interviews, Teshome et al. documented that among those reporting IPV within the last year (i.e., 2020) in their sample of 464 pregnant Ethiopian women, 25% reported sexual violence to have increased after the COVID-19 outbreak ( 37 ). In the sample of GBMSM men in the U.S., Stephenson et al. documented that 2% indicated having experienced sexual violence for the first time during lockdown ( 38 ).

Overall, included studies suggest an increase in cases and severity of sexual DV in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar to studies on psychological/emotional violence, the limited number of studies focusing on specific samples point toward unchanged or even decreased sexual DV cases, whereas severity of sexual DV may have increased for a significant proportion of victims.

Physical Violence

Two studies with longitudinal/repeated pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments reported on changes in physical violence. First, Kliem et al. ( 55 ) utilized data from in-person interviews between January and March 2016 (i.e., pre-pandemic) and February and March 2021 (i.e., during-pandemic) in representative samples of 1,317 (2016) and 1,005 (2021) participants from the general German population. At both time points, participants reported on physical IPV within the past 12 months. No significant difference between 12-month prevalence from 2016 vs. 2021 were found regarding physical IPV, with the 12-month prevalence remaining stable at around 9% for women and 7–9% for men ( 55 ). Second, Chiaramonte et al. ( 57 ) used data from an ongoing longitudinal study in the U.S. to examine the impact of the COVID-19 stay-at-home order (March 15, 2020) on DV survivors (see above). In this specific sample of DV survivors, there was a significant decrease in physical DV in the 24 months prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic—thus, since seeking help from a DV agency. No significant changes were found after the onset of the pandemic ( 57 ).

Among the n = 12 cross-sectional studies reporting on physical DV, n = 9 studies reported a specific change in physical DV prevalence to pre-pandemic levels in samples from the general population ( 13 , 39 , 42 , 45 , 48 – 50 , 52 , 53 ), with three studies documenting an increase in overall prevalence and two studies documenting a decrease. Three studies reported significant overall increases of physical DV by 5–8% during the first lockdown in samples of 490 Arab women ( 49 ), 346 women in the Kurdistan region of Iraq ( 42 ), and 1,992 young Peruvian female and male adults ( 52 ). Two studies utilized self-generated questions to assess physical DV via online surveys ( 42 , 49 ), whereas one study conducted phone interviews ( 52 ). In contrast, using self-generated questions in an online survey, Ojeahere et al. documented a slight decrease of 2% in a sample of 474 females and males during the lockdown in Nigeria ( 39 ). Further, Rashid Soron et al. reported a decrease of 8% in a sample of 136 Bangladeshi females and males, but did not report a significance test for this potential decrease ( 50 ).

Regarding a change in severity, four studies specifically reported on changes in physical violence among those experiencing DV ( 13 , 45 , 48 , 53 ). Among those reporting DV in a sample of 3,545 females and males in Germany, severity of physical DV increased by almost 15% in females and 21% in males during the first lockdown ( 13 ). Similarly, in a sample of 94 Indian females and males, 29% of those experiencing DV reported physical violence to have increased during the first lockdown ( 53 ). Hamadani et al. reported higher numbers, documenting that out of those experiencing IPV in a sample of 2,174 mothers in Bangladesh, 56% reported physical violence to have increased during the lockdown using self-generated questions in a phone-based survey ( 48 ). Even more specifically, Jetelina et al. documented that among those experiencing physical IPV in a sample of 1,730 females and males in the U.S., 27% reported violence to have worsened since the COVID-19 outbreak, whereas 50% reported violence to have improved, and 23% reported violence to not have changed ( 45 ).

The remaining n = 3 cross-sectional studies focused on specific populations, namely currently pregnant women in Ethiopia ( 37 ) and Jordan ( 46 ), and GBMSM in the U.S. ( 38 ). Regarding currently pregnant women, Abujilban et al. reported a 49% decrease during the first lockdown in an Jordanian sample of 215 pregnant women when using the World Health Organization's Domestic Violence Questionnaire Screening Tool (DVQST) in an online survey ( 46 ). Nonetheless, using in-person interviews, Teshome et al. documented that among those reporting IPV within the last year (i.e., 2020) in their sample of 464 pregnant Ethiopian women, 25% reported physical violence to have increased since the COVID-19 outbreak ( 37 ). In the sample of GBMSM in the U.S., Stephenson et al. documented that 1% indicated having experienced physical violence for the first time during the lockdown ( 38 ).

Taken together, regarding changes in cases of physical DV in the general population, three cross-sectional studies reported increases, whereas two studies reported decreases during the pandemic. The two studies with longitudinal/repeated pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments reported no change in cases of physical DV in the general population and among DV survivors. It should however be noted that all studies originated in different countries, making direct comparison difficult. Regarding changes in severity of physical DV, included studies highlight that during the pandemic, physical violence worsened for a significant number of victims. Again, the limited number of studies focusing on specific samples point toward an unchanged or even decreased number of physical DV cases, whereas severity of DV may have increased for a significant proportion of victims.

Economic/Financial Violence

Only one longitudinal study investigated economic violence. Chiaramonte et al. ( 57 ) used data from an ongoing longitudinal study in the U.S. (see above), assessing economic violence via The Revised Scale of Economic Abuse (SEA2). In this specific sample of DV survivors, there was a significant decrease in economic DV in the 24 months prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic—thus, since seeking help from a DV agency. No significant changes were found after the onset of the pandemic ( 57 ).

Without exception, all n = 4 cross-sectional studies reporting a specific change in economic/financial DV prevalence to pre-pandemic levels utilized samples from the general population ( 39 , 49 , 50 , 53 ). Rashid Soron et al. reported a 10% increase during the first lockdown in a sample of 136 Bangladeshi females and males using self-generated questions in an online survey, although no significance test was performed for this potential increase ( 50 ). In contrast, also utilizing self-generated questions in online surveys, the two remaining studies did not find any significant change in economic/financial DV during the lockdown in samples of 474 females and males in Nigeria ( 39 ) and 490 Arab women ( 49 ). Nonetheless, of those experiencing DV in a sample of 94 females and males, 29% reported economic violence to have increased during the first lockdown in India ( 53 ).

Overall, three of the four cross-sectional studies as well as the only longitudinal study identified for this review reported no change in economic/financial DV cases during the COVID-19 pandemic in the general population. Nonetheless, for many of those experiencing DV, severity of economic/financial violence may have increased.

Changes in Overall Violence

A total of n = 14 cross-sectional studies documented changes in overall DV, i.e., regardless of DV type, either through participants' retrospective reports for a time point prior to the pandemic ( 38 – 43 , 45 , 47 , 49 , 51 , 53 , 54 ) or through comparison of cross-sectional data to data collected as part of a prior study ( 44 ). Of these, n = 10 studies utilized samples from the general population. Four studies reported significant increases in overall DV of 7–33% during the first lockdown in samples of 490 Arab women ( 49 ), 346 women in the Kurdistan region of Iraq ( 42 ), 751 Tunisian ( 41 ), and 560 Indian women ( 43 ). All four studies utilized self-generated questions to assess DV via online surveys and exclusively focused on violence against women. In contrast, three studies documented decreases in overall DV. To this end, Ojeahere et al. reported a 7% decrease of any type of DV during the first lockdown as compared to pre-lockdown times in a Nigerian sample of 474 females and males using self-generated questions in an online survey ( 39 ). Similarly, Alharbi et al. documented an overall 9% decrease of IPV during the first lockdown in a Saudi Arabian sample of 1,901 married women using the WHO multi-country instrument in an online survey ( 47 ). Although utilizing mean IPV scores rather than prevalence rates, Plášilová et al. found a small, significant decrease in mean IPV incidence from 3 months prior to the pandemic to measurement time points during the first and second COVID-19 waves in a sample of 429 women in the Czech Republic ( 51 ).

Regarding a change in severity, n = 4 cross-sectional studies documented changes in those with DV experiences specifically. To this end, Pattojoshi et al. reported that among the 560 women in their sample who experienced IPV before the first lockdown in India, 78% reported an increase in violence since the beginning of the lockdown ( 43 ). Similarly, in a sample of 94 females and males, Sharma and Khokhar documented that of those experiencing DV during the lockdown in India, 86% reported increased violence as compared to the time before the pandemic ( 53 ). Slightly lower increases were reported by Indu et al. who found that among those having experienced DV perpetrated by their husbands within the previous 12 months in a sample of 209 Indian women, 6% indicated violence to have worsened during the lockdown and 11% reported violence to have begun during the pandemic ( 54 ). Even more specifically, Jetelina et al. documented that among those experiencing IPV in a sample of 1,730 females and males in the U.S., 17% reported violence to have worsened since the COVID-19 outbreak, whereas 30% reported violence to have improved, and 54% reported violence to not have changed ( 45 ). Further, Alharbi et al. found that among those indicating ever having experienced IPV in a sample of 1,901 married women in Saudi Arabia, 40% reported violence to have increased since the COVID-19 outbreak, whereas 13% reported a decrease, 43% reported no change, and 4% reported violence to have stopped ( 47 ).

Four cross-sectional studies focused on specific populations, namely currently pregnant women in Ethiopia ( 37 ), GBMSM in the U.S. ( 38 , 40 ), and participants with a history of DV in Austria ( 44 ). Using in-person interviews, Teshome et al. documented that out of those reporting IPV within the last year (i.e., 2020) in their sample of 464 pregnant Ethiopian women, 18% reported experiencing increased violence ( 37 ). Two studies investigated IPV in U.S. samples of 516 ( 38 ) and 214 ( 40 ) GBMSM. Stephenson et al. reported that among self-reported victims of IPV, 5% indicated having experienced IPV for the first time during the first lockdown ( 38 ). Walsh et al. documented that among self-reported victims of IPV, 47% reported experiencing new or more frequent IPV since the COVID-19 outbreak ( 40 ). Finally, Lampe et al. ( 44 ) compared DV during the lockdown in Austria in a sample of female and male participants with ( n = 34) or without ( n = 33) prior DV experiences. Those with prior DV experiences reported more DV than those without prior DV experiences. Importantly, while DV remained stable compared to pre-lockdown values for those without prior DV experiences, it decreased in the group with prior DV experiences. Nonetheless, DV during the lockdown remained significantly higher in the group with prior DV experiences ( 44 ). No studies with repeated longitudinal/pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments of overall violence were identified.

Taken together, evidence pertaining to changes in overall DV cases remains inconclusive with four cross-sectional studies reporting increases and three cross-sectional studies reporting decreases. Regarding changes in DV severity however, across different samples from the general population in various countries, 6–86% of those experiencing DV reported violence to have worsened during the first lockdown in their respective country or since the COVID-19 outbreak. Again, the limited number of studies focusing on specific samples does not allow for conclusions regarding changes in the number of overall DV cases, while severity of DV may have increased for a significant proportion of victims.

Perpetration of Violence

Besides the focus on victims of DV, n = 2 studies with longitudinal/repeated pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments reported on DV perpetration. First, Steinhoff et al. ( 56 ) used interview data from a Swiss longitudinal study to compare DV perpetration in a representative sample of 786 young adults. To this end, pre-pandemic in-person interview reports from 2018 and four during-pandemic online survey measurements between spring and fall 2020 were included. The risk of DV perpetration doubled over the early course of the pandemic from 5% in April 2020 to 10% in May 2020 for men, but no change was observed for women ( 56 ). Second, Kliem et al. ( 55 ) utilized data from in-person interviews between January and March 2016 (i.e., pre-pandemic) and February and March 2021 (i.e., during-pandemic) in representative samples of 1,317 (2016) and 1,005 (2021) participants from the general German population. At both time points, participants reported on physical IPV perpetration and physical or psychological violence against the youngest child in the household within the past 12 months. No significant difference in the 12-month prevalence from 2016 vs. 2021 were found regarding IPV perpetration or for physical or psychological violence directed against children. IPV 12-month prevalence remained stable with around 6% of women and 6–9% of men reporting IPV perpetration in 2016 and 2021. Similarly, DV directed against children over the past 12 months remained stable with 16–20% of women and 18–22% of men indicating having been physically violent and 7–10% of women and 9–11% of men indicating psychological violence against a child in 2016 and 2021 ( 55 ).

Further, n = 2 cross-sectional studies examined rates in DV perpetration during the pandemic, both utilizing U.S. samples of GBMSM ( 38 , 40 ). In their sample of 516 men, Stephenson et al. ( 38 ), 6% of participants reported having perpetrated any type of IPV, with emotional IPV being the most common type. Only 1% of men indicated first-time perpetration during the lockdown ( 38 ). Reports of perpetration were slightly higher in Walsh et al.'s ( 40 ) sample of 214 men, recruited from two previous male couples/HIV-related studies. Overall, 15% reported IPV perpetration, with 7% reporting perpetration but not victimization and 8% reporting both perpetration and victimization. Among the self-reported perpetrators, around a third indicated their behavior to have increased since the COVID-19 outbreak. Interestingly, however, Walsh et al. further documented that among couples within the sample, reports of perpetration and victimization were not always congruent ( 40 ).

Overall, the limited number of included studies reporting on DV perpetration does not allow for definite conclusions. Nonetheless, across studies, self-reported perpetration seems to have remained unchanged as compared to pre-pandemic times. The single study documenting perpetration across the pandemic however, indicates that for men, risk of DV perpetration may have increased over time since the COVID-19 outbreak. This finding highlights the need for data from multiple measurement points over the course of the pandemic rather than solely comparing pre-pandemic levels to during-pandemic levels.

The aim of our review was to examine the change in prevalence of domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic in empirical, peer-reviewed studies. We opted to only include self-report studies to approximate prevalence rates not biased by help seeking behavior, which in itself might have been altered by the pandemic. Overall, 22 studies were included-−19 were cross-sectional whereas 3 included both pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments. Of the 22 studies, 17 utilized samples from the general population, while 5 included samples from specific populations [i.e., DV survivors; pregnant women; gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM)].

Taken together, these studies suggest (1) an increase in cases and severity of psychological/emotional and sexual DV in the general population, (2) no change in number of economic/financial DV cases in the general population, and (3) an increase in severity of DV of any type for a significant number of victims during the pandemic. Evidence for changes in prevalence regarding verbal DV remains inconclusive because of the limited number of studies reporting on verbal DV. Further, despite a larger number of available studies, evidence for changes in prevalence regarding physical and overall DV remains inconclusive.

As mentioned above, only five of the 22 included studies focused on samples from specific populations, namely DV survivors, pregnant women, and GBMSM. Although it should be assumed that individuals from these three groups would be included in representative samples from the general population, several considerations should be noted. First, although valuable information pertaining to a change in DV severity may be drawn from studies utilizing samples of DV survivors, given the fact that prior DV experience is a risk factor for future DV experiences, a potential change in DV prevalence from pre-pandemic to pandemic times in these samples may not be generalizable to the general nor other populations. Second, we here treated studies on pregnant women as a specific sample because of the additional stress pregnancy and the transition to parenthood may represent for the entire family. To this end, pregnancy-specific factors, such as becoming a first-time parent and the pregnancy being unwanted have been found to put pregnant women at an increased risk for DV victimization ( 58 ). Further, violence during pregnancy may have severe adverse consequences for both, the mother and the unborn child. For instance, while physical violence against the pregnant woman may also lead to injuries of the unborn child, implications of maternal mental health complications during pregnancy, potentially resulting from violence victimization, may bear further adverse implications for pregnancy and birth outcomes, as well as child development ( 59 – 63 ). Third, we also treated studies on GBMSM as a specific sample because prior research indicates higher risk for IPV and/or DV among GBMSM than among heterosexual men ( 64 – 66 ). In addition, it has been suggested that sexual minorities may be disproportionately affected by pandemic-related stressors relating to employment, finances, and (mental) health ( 40 ). For these reasons, it is noteworthy that only a very limited number of studies on specific (at-risk) groups was available for inclusion in this review. Examinations of other at-risk groups, such as sexual minorities apart from GBMSM and investigations of at-risk samples in different countries is currently still lacking. Thus, changes in DV prevalence and severity in specific (at-risk) groups requires additional scientific attention.

Similarly, it should be highlighted that the majority of included studies reporting on samples from the general population focused on violence against women, with 10 studies exclusively assessing females. Although 10 further studies included both, females and males, there is currently a lack of studies reporting on male victimization. This lack however does not only pertain to DV during the pandemic, but can be pointed out as a gap in the current literature pertaining to DV in general. Additionally, only one of the included studies reported on DV against children. On the one hand, this may be attributable to the current inclusion criterion of solely incorporating studies which presented participant reports. For instance, studies utilizing official/administrative data indicate that DV against children may oftentimes be reported by third parties and that opportunities for third-party observations and report are limited by governmental measures such as social distancing, school closures, and lockdown ( 67 , 68 ). On the other hand, this may be at least partially explained by the current focus on DV victimization. Only few studies in this review included participant reports regarding DV perpetration. Although not surprising given the topic's sensitive nature and potential biases in self-reports, such as social desirability, examining victimization and perpetration in isolation may not reflect the true complexity and oftentimes bidirectionality of DV, where many individuals may, at least temporarily, be victim and perpetrator rather than one of the two exclusively ( 69 , 70 ). Nevertheless, a clear picture of DV perpetration and its risk factors is crucial for the development and implementation of resources and (preventive) interventions as well as de-stigmatization of help seeking among perpetrators.

As noted above, at the time of the literature search for this review, only three studies with longitudinal/repeated pre-pandemic and during pandemic assessments were identified. Of these, two utilized samples from the general population in Germany and Switzerland ( 55 , 56 ), with one solely focusing on perpetration of physical DV but not victimization ( 56 ), and the other focusing on victimization and perpetration of physical IPV and perpetration of psychological/emotional and physical violence against children in the household ( 55 ). The third study focused specifically on U.S. DV survivors in precarious or unstable housing conditions ( 57 ). Without question, more time is required for studies utilizing repeated assessments over time to be conducted and for results to be published. Nonetheless, studies identified for this review highlight a need for data pertaining to prevalence and severity of different types of DV from multiple timepoints prior to the COVID-19 outbreak and over the course of the pandemic with multiple measurements during the pandemic. Repeated assessments over the course of the pandemic are further warranted given different pandemic phases and waves, which in turn may be characterized by differential stressors ( 71 , 72 ). For instance, the COVID-19 outbreak and immediate governmental measures represented an entirely new and unknown situation for most of the global population, characterized by uncertainty and an immediate increase in stress related to employment and finances for many. Although this initial uncertainty may by now have decreased, long-term adjustment to the pandemic and the ever-changing implications for day-to-day life may vary considerably among individuals given their specific experiences and living conditions. Thus, repeated assessments of DV over the course of the pandemic may offer the opportunity to distinguish between the pandemic's initial stress, potentially resulting in emotional turmoil, in turn increasing the risk for interpersonal aggression, vs. long-term stress, potentially resulting in emotional depletion/depression in turn also increasing the risk for interpersonal aggression ( 71 , 72 ).

In light of the fast, global spread of COVID-19 and the time needed to design, authorize, and conduct empirical studies, it is not surprising that the majority of studies identified for this review were cross-sectional and utilized online surveys to assess DV. We noted a large between-study heterogeneity regarding study country of origin, sample size, participant inclusion criteria, and/or measure used to assess DV. Taking this into account, results of individual studies should thus be interpreted with caution and may not be generalizable to different regions or samples and are limited regarding the validity of reported changes over time. In addition, few studies reported on self-reported DV perpetration, suggesting that perpetration seems to have remained unchanged as compared to pre-pandemic times.

Putting our results into the context of previous reports using official/administrative data highlights an additional concern. Although studies included in the current review focusing on self-reported DV suggest increased DV experience for a significant amount of people around the world, prior studies utilizing police and helpline call data and formal police reports are not fully congruent with this increase. To this end, several studies have documented decreases in formal DV-related police reports, whereas sharp increases in numbers of DV-related emergency calls to the police and helplines have been documented ( 73 – 81 ). Importantly, the reported reduction in formal police reports may not reflect a decrease in DV prevalence but rather a decrease in reporting DV incidences. Being constrained to the domestic setting and isolation from other social or work contexts due to stay-at home orders or lockdowns may be linked to reduced or altered help-seeking behaviors. Prior research suggests a shift in help-seeking behavior where victims may seek help in acute emergency situations but may not follow through with formal police reporting during stay-at-home orders and lockdown ( 2 ). Nonetheless, social isolation may make reporting of DV more difficult given that the perpetrator cannot be separated. Thus, many victims may only have limited or no access to help resources and may further be limited in their ability to participate in research studies and/or to complete online surveys in a safe, unhindered environment. Because this may not be conveyed in crime statistics, empirical studies regarding DV-related help-seeking behavior and potential changes resulting from governmental measures in response to the spread of COVID-19 are needed in order to improve assistance for victims.

The aforementioned changes in help-seeking behavior and restricted or limited resource availability are of particular importance because of the detrimental side effects of DV victimization. For instance, Iob et al. document that half of those experiencing psychological or physical DV reported thoughts pertaining to suicide and self-harm. Alarmingly, during the first U.K. lockdown, a quarter of those experiencing psychological/emotional or physical DV indicated having harmed themselves during the past week ( 82 ). Besides the previously documented increase in DV-related homicide during the COVID-19 pandemic ( 83 – 85 ), victims may thus further be at high risk for self-harm and/or suicide, highlighting the crucial need for easily accessible DV resources and (preventive) interventions for both, victims and perpetrators.

Strengths and Limitations

Several strengths and limitations of the included literature should be acknowledged. It is crucial to highlight the important contributions of the studies included in this review, given the initial reliance on official/administrative records to assess the potential change in DV during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies included in this review utilized participant reports and may thus more accurately reflect changes in DV prevalence and severity rather than changes in help-seeking behavior. Limitations of included studies pertain to the reliance on cross-sectional designs (viz. introducing potential biases given retrospective self-report) and online surveys (viz. introducing self-selection bias within the sample). Although noted as a limitation in the majority of studies, generalizability of individual results may be limited given concerns regarding sample representativeness of the intended target population. Further, not all studies utilized measures to assess DV which had previously been validated in the language used or for the population investigated. Additionally, the majority of studies focused on DV victimization and only few studies investigated both, victimization and perpetration. Nonetheless, the cultural diversity represented within the identified studies is remarkable, particularly given the timely nature of the topic.

Strengths of the current review are the systematic search for and identification of relevant literature, the systematic processes of data extraction and quality assessment, as well as its focus on participant-reported changes in specific types of DV prevalence and severity estimates and its bi-directionality (i.e., victimization vs. perpetration). Several limitations should be noted. First, given the expectation that studies on DV prevalence tend to exhibit high heterogeneity regarding target population and conceptualization and assessment of violence, we synthesized extracted data narratively and did not conduct any quantitative analyses of reported changes in DV prevalence or severity. Thus, we do not present pooled estimates and our assumption that the considerable variation of changes in prevalence and severity estimates observed may be attributable to between-study variation was not tested. Second, the current review was not pre-registered and no formal protocol was put into writing. Third, although we conducted this systematic review in line with PRISMA guidelines and utilized the JBI checklist for risk of bias assessment, we did not conduct certainty assessments. Fourth, quality assessment presented herein was limited by methodological limitations and lacking information in the original articles. Our risk of bias assessment resulted in the appraisal of half the included studies as presenting high risk. It should therefore be noted that our review may be affected by publication and/or reporting biases.

In this review, we focused our attention on changes in prevalence and severity of different types of DV during the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we examined empirical studies utilizing self-reported participant data, published in peer-reviewed journals. Given the considerable between-study heterogeneity pertaining to region, sample size and characteristics, assessment time, and assessment measure, results of individual studies may not be directly comparable and should be interpreted with caution because of limited generalizability. Overall, our data synthesis of 22 studies indicates increases in cases of psychological/emotional and sexual DV as well as increases in severity of DV of any type for a significant number of victims during the pandemic in the general population. Our findings thus partially support the previously documented increase in DV during stay-at-home orders and lockdown. Nonetheless, evidence for changes in prevalence regarding economic/financial, physical, and overall DV remains inconclusive. Prior research suggests that many victims may only have limited or no access to help resources and that social isolation may make reporting of DV more difficult given that the perpetrator cannot be separated. This highlights an important public and clinical concern, indicating a potential change in help-seeking behavior among victims of DV during the COVID-19 pandemic. Restricted or limited access to help resources and social isolation from friends, family, or co-workers resulting from governmental measures to contain the spread of the virus likely impacts millions of individuals at risk for DV around the world. Governmental measures should thus take into account the availability of easily accessible, anonymous help resources for DV victims and perpetrators, in particular during times of social isolation, stay-at-home orders, and lockdown. Finally, DV awareness and knowledge needs to be distributed in order to improve formal and informal resources as well as (preventive) interventions for both, victims and perpetrators.

Data Availability Statement

Author contributions.

FT, VB, and SG-N designed and conceptualized the present study. FT, VB, and FR conducted manuscript screening, data extraction, and risk of bias (quality) assessment. AM aided in data extraction. FT and VB wrote the first draft of the manuscript. SG-N supervised data extraction and drafting of the manuscript. FT, VB, FR, AM, JD, JS, and SG-N contributed to the analysis and interpretation. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.

The authors received funds for open access publication fees by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.874183/full#supplementary-material

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PREVALENCE RATES

Arthur Cantos, Ph.D. University of Texas

Denise Hines, Ph.D. Clark University

Zeev Winstok, Ph.D. University of Haifa (Israel)

CONTEXT OF ABUSE

Don Dutton, Ph.D University of British Columbia (Canada)

K. Daniel O'Leary State University of New York at Stony Brook

Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, Ph.D. University of South Alabama

ABUSE WORLDWIDE ETHNIC/LGBT GROUPS

Fred Buttell, Ph.D. Tulane University

Clare Cannon, Ph.D. University of California, Davis

Vallerie Coleman, Ph.D. Private Practice, Santa Monica, CA

Chiara Sabina, Ph.D. Penn State Harrisburg

Esteban Eugenio Santovena, Ph.D. Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Christauria Welland, Ph.D. Private Practice, San Diego, CA

RISK FACTORS

Louise Dixon, Ph.D. University of Birmingham (U.K.)

Sandra Stith, Ph.D. Kansas State University

Gregory Stuart, Ph.D. University of Tennessee Knoxville

IMPACT ON VICTIMS AND FAMILIES

Deborah Capaldi, Ph.D. Oregon Social Learning Center

Patrick Davies, Ph.D. University of Rochester

Miriam Ehrensaft, Ph.D. Columbia University Medical Ctr.

Amy Slep, Ph.D. State University of New York at Stony Brook

VICTIM ISSUES

Carol Crabsen, MSW Valley Oasis, Lancaster, CA

Emily Douglas, Ph.D. Bridgewater State University

Leila Dutton, Ph.D. University of New Haven

Margaux Helm WEAVE, Sacramento, CA

Linda Mills, Ph.D. New York University

Brenda Russell, Ph.D. Penn State Berks

CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESPONSES

Ken Corvo, Ph.D. Syracuse University

Jeffrey Fagan, Ph.D. Columbia University

Brenda Russell, Ph.D, Penn State Berks

Stan Shernock, Ph.D. Norwich University

PREVENTION AND TREATMENT

Julia Babcock, Ph.D. University of Houston

Fred Buttell, Ph.D.Tulane University

Michelle Carney, Ph.D. University of Georgia

Christopher Eckhardt, Ph.D. Purdue Univerity

Kimberly Flemke, Ph.D. Drexel University

Nicola Graham-Kevan, Ph.D. Univ. Central Lancashire (U.K.)

Peter Lehmann, Ph.D. University of Texas at Arlingon

Penny Leisring, Ph.D. Quinnipiac University

Christopher Murphy, Ph.D. University of Maryland

Ronald Potter-Efron, Ph.D. Private Practice, Eleva, WI

Daniel Sonkin, Ph.D. Private Practice, Sausalito, CA.

Lynn Stewart, Ph.D. Correctional Service, Canada

Casey Taft, Ph.D Boston University School of Medicine

Jeff Temple, Ph.D. University of Texas Medical Branch

• Open access
• Published: 20 June 2023

A qualitative quantitative mixed methods study of domestic violence against women

• Mina Shayestefar 1 ,
• Mohadese Saffari 1 ,
• Razieh Gholamhosseinzadeh 2 ,
• Monir Nobahar 3 , 4 ,
• Majid Mirmohammadkhani 4 ,
• Seyed Hossein Shahcheragh 5 &
• Zahra Khosravi 6  

BMC Women's Health volume  23 , Article number:  322 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Violence against women is one of the most widespread, persistent and detrimental violations of human rights in today’s world, which has not been reported in most cases due to impunity, silence, stigma and shame, even in the age of social communication. Domestic violence against women harms individuals, families, and society. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and experiences of domestic violence against women in Semnan.

This study was conducted as mixed research (cross-sectional descriptive and phenomenological qualitative methods) to investigate domestic violence against women, and some related factors (quantitative) and experiences of such violence (qualitative) simultaneously in Semnan. In quantitative study, cluster sampling was conducted based on the areas covered by health centers from married women living in Semnan since March 2021 to March 2022 using Domestic Violence Questionnaire. Then, the obtained data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics. In qualitative study by phenomenological approach and purposive sampling until data saturation, 9 women were selected who had referred to the counseling units of Semnan health centers due to domestic violence, since March 2021 to March 2022 and in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted. The conducted interviews were analyzed using Colaizzi’s 7-step method.

In qualitative study, seven themes were found including “Facilitators”, “Role failure”, “Repressors”, “Efforts to preserve the family”, “Inappropriate solving of family conflicts”, “Consequences”, and “Inefficient supportive systems”. In quantitative study, the variables of age, age difference and number of years of marriage had a positive and significant relationship, and the variable of the number of children had a negative and significant relationship with the total score and all fields of the questionnaire (p < 0.05). Also, increasing the level of female education and income both independently showed a significant relationship with increasing the score of violence.

Conclusions

Some of the variables of violence against women are known and the need for prevention and plans to take action before their occurrence is well felt. Also, supportive mechanisms with objective and taboo-breaking results should be implemented to minimize harm to women, and their children and families seriously.

Peer Review reports

Violence against women by husbands (physical, sexual and psychological violence) is one of the basic problems of public health and violation of women’s human rights. It is estimated that 35% of women and almost one out of every three women aged 15–49 experience physical or sexual violence by their spouse or non-spouse sexual violence in their lifetime [ 1 ]. This is a nationwide public health issue, and nearly every healthcare worker will encounter a patient who has suffered from some type of domestic or family violence. Unfortunately, different forms of family violence are often interconnected. The “cycle of abuse” frequently persists from children who witness it to their adult relationships, and ultimately to the care of the elderly [ 2 ]. This violence includes a range of physical, sexual and psychological actions, control, threats, aggression, abuse, and rape [ 3 ].

Violence against women is one of the most widespread, persistent, and detrimental violations of human rights in today’s world, which has not been reported in most cases due to impunity, silence, stigma and shame, even in the age of social communication [ 3 ]. In the United States of America, more than one in three women (35.6%) experience rape, physical violence, and intimate partner violence (IPV) during their lifetime. Compared to men, women are nearly twice as likely (13.8% vs. 24.3%) to experience severe physical violence such as choking, burns, and threats with knives or guns [ 4 ]. The higher prevalence of violence against women can be due to the situational deprivation of women in patriarchal societies [ 5 ]. The prevalence of domestic violence in Iran reported 22.9%. The maximum of prevalence estimated in Tehran and Zahedan, respectively [ 6 ]. Currently, Iran has high levels of violence against women, and the provinces with the highest rates of unemployment and poverty also have the highest levels of violence against women [ 7 ].

Domestic violence against women harms individuals, families, and society [ 8 ]. Violence against women leads to physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering, including threats, coercion and arbitrary deprivation of their freedom in public and private life. Also, such violence is associated with harmful effects on women’s sexual reproductive health, including sexually transmitted infection such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), abortion, unsafe childbirth, and risky sexual behaviors [ 9 ]. There are high levels of psychological, sexual and physical domestic abuse among pregnant women [ 10 ]. Also, women with postpartum depression are significantly more likely to experience domestic violence during pregnancy [ 11 ].

Prompt attention to women’s health and rights at all levels is necessary, which reduces this problem and its risk factors [ 12 ]. Because women prefer to remain silent about domestic violence and there is a need to introduce immediate prevention programs to end domestic violence [ 13 ]. violence against women, which is an important public health problem, and concerns about human rights require careful study and the application of appropriate policies [ 14 ]. Also, the efforts to change the circumstances in which women face domestic violence remain significantly insufficient [ 15 ]. Given that few clear studies on violence against women and at the same time interviews with these people regarding their life experiences are available, the authors attempted to planning this research aims to investigate the prevalence and experiences of domestic violence against women in Semnan with the research question of “What is the prevalence of domestic violence against women in Semnan, and what are their experiences of such violence?”, so that their results can be used in part of the future planning in the health system of the society.

This study is a combination of cross-sectional and phenomenology studies in order to investigate the amount of domestic violence against women and some related factors (quantitative) and their experience of this violence (qualitative) simultaneously in the Semnan city. This study has been approved by the ethics committee of Semnan University of Medical Sciences with ethic code of IR.SEMUMS.REC.1397.182. The researcher introduced herself to the research participants, explained the purpose of the study, and then obtained informed written consent. It was assured to the research units that the collected information will be anonymous and kept confidential. The participants were informed that participation in the study was entirely voluntary, so they can withdraw from the study at any time with confidence. The participants were notified that more than one interview session may be necessary. To increase the trustworthiness of the study, Guba and Lincoln’s criteria for rigor, including credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability [ 16 ], were applied throughout the research process. The COREQ checklist was used to assess the present study quality. The researchers used observational notes for reflexivity and it preserved in all phases of this qualitative research process.

Qualitative method

Based on the phenomenological approach and with the purposeful sampling method, nine women who had referred to the counseling units of healthcare centers in Semnan city due to domestic violence in February 2021 to March 2022 were participated in the present study. The inclusion criteria for the study included marriage, a history of visiting a health center consultant due to domestic violence, and consent to participate in the study and unwillingness to participate in the study was the exclusion criteria. Each participant invited to the study by a telephone conversation about study aims and researcher information. The interviews place selected through agreement of the participant and the researcher and a place with the least environmental disturbance. Before starting each interview, the informed consent and all of the ethical considerations, including the purpose of the research, voluntary participation, confidentiality of the information were completely explained and they were asked to sign the written consent form. The participants were interviewed by depth, semi-structured and face-to-face interviews based on the main research question. Interviews were conducted by a female health services researcher with a background in nursing (M.Sh.). Data collection was continued until the data saturation and no new data appeared. Only the participants and the researcher were present during the interviews. All interviews were recorded by a MP3 Player by permission of the participants before starting. Interviews were not repeated. No additional field notes were taken during or after the interview.

The age range of the participants was from 38 to 55 years and their average age was 40 years. The sociodemographic characteristics of the participants are summarized in table below (Table  1 ).

Five interviews in the courtyards of healthcare centers, 2 interviews in the park, and 2 interviews at the participants’ homes were conducted. The duration of the interviews varied from 45 min to one hour. The main research question was “What is your experience about domestic violence?“. According to the research progress some other questions were asked in line with the main question of the research.

The conducted interviews were analyzed by using the 7 steps Colizzi’s method [ 17 ]. In order to empathize with the participants, each interview was read several times and transcribed. Then two researchers (M.Sh. and M.N.) extracted the phrases that were directly related to the phenomenon of domestic violence against women independently and distinguished from other sentences by underlining them. Then these codes were organized into thematic clusters and the formulated concepts were sorted into specific thematic categories.

In the final stage, in order to make the data reliable, the researcher again referred to 2 participants and checked their agreement with their perceptions of the content. Also, possible important contents were discussed and clarified, and in this way, agreement and approval of the samples was obtained.

Quantitative method

The cross-sectional study was implemented from February 2021 to March 2022 with cluster sampling of married women in areas of 3 healthcare centers in Semnan city. Those participants who were married and agreed with the written and verbal informed consent about the ethical considerations were included to the study. The questionnaire was completed by the participants in paper and online form.

The instrument was the standard questionnaire of domestic violence against women by Mohseni Tabrizi et al. [ 18 ]. In the questionnaire, questions 1–10, 11–36, 37–65 and 66–71 related to sociodemographic information, types of spousal abuse (psychological, economical, physical and sexual violence), patriarchal beliefs and traditions and family upbringing and learning violence, respectively. In total, this questionnaire has 71 items.

The scoring of the questionnaire has two parts and the answers to them are based on the Likert scale. Questions 11–36 and 66–71 are answered with always [ 4 ] to never (0) and questions 37–65 with completely agree [ 4 ] to completely disagree (0). The minimum and maximum score is 0 and 300, respectively. The total score of 0–60, 61–120 and higher than 121 demonstrates low, moderate and severe domestic violence against women, respectively [ 18 ].

In the study by Tabrizi et al., to evaluate the validity and reliability of this questionnaire, researchers tried to measure the face validity of the scale by the previous research. Those items and questions which their accuracies were confirmed by social science professors and experts used in the research, finally. The total Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.183, which confirmed that the reliability of the questions and items of the questionnaire is sufficient [ 18 ].

Descriptive data were reported using mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage. Then, to measure the relationship between the variables, χ2 and Pearson tests also variance and regression analysis were performed. All analysis were performed by using SPSS version 26 and the significance level was considered as p < 0.05.

Qualitative results

According to the third step of Colaizzi’s 7-step method, the researcher attempted to conceptualize and formulate the extracted meanings. In this step, the primary codes were extracted from the important sentences related to the phenomenon of violence against women, which were marked by underlining, which are shown below as examples of this stage and coding.

The primary code of indifference to the father’s role was extracted from the following sentences. This is indifference in the role of the father in front of the children.

“Some time ago, I told him that our daughter is single-sided deaf. She has a doctor’s appointment; I have to take her to the doctor. He said that I don’t have money to give you. He doesn’t force himself to make money anyway” (p 2, 33 yrs).

“He didn’t value his own children. He didn’t think about his older children” (p 4, 54 yrs).

The primary code extracted here included lack of commitment in the role of head of the household. This is irresponsibility towards the family and meeting their needs.

“My husband was fired from work after 10 years due to disorder and laziness. Since then, he has not found a suitable job. Every time he went to work, he was fired after a month because of laziness” (p 7, 55 yrs).

“In the evening, he used to get dressed and go out, and he didn’t come back until late. Some nights, I was so afraid of being alone that I put a knife under my pillow when I slept” (p 2, 33 yrs).

A total of 246 primary codes were extracted from the interviews in the third step. In the fourth step, the researchers put the formulated concepts (primary codes) into 85 specific sub-categories.

Twenty-three categories were extracted from 85 sub-categories. In the sixth step, the concepts of the fifth step were integrated and formed seven themes (Table  2 ).

These themes included “Facilitators”, “Role failure”, “Repressors”, “Efforts to preserve the family”, “Inappropriate solving of family conflicts”, “Consequences”, and “Inefficient supportive systems” (Fig.  1 ).

Themes of domestic violence against women

Some of the statements of the participants on the theme of “ Facilitators” are listed below:

Husband’s criminal record

“He got his death sentence for drugs. But, at last it was ended for 10 years” (p 4, 54 yrs).

Inappropriate age for marriage

“At the age of thirteen, I married a boy who was 25 years old” (p 8, 25 yrs).

“My first husband obeyed her parents. I was 12–13 years old” (p 3, 32 yrs).

“I couldn’t do anything. I was humiliated” (p 1, 38 yrs).

“A bridegroom came. The mother was against. She said, I am young. My older sister is not married yet, but I was eager to get married. I don’t know, maybe my father’s house was boring for me” (p 2, 33 yrs).

“My parents used to argue badly. They blamed each other and I always wanted to run away from these arguments. I didn’t have the patience to talk to mom or dad and calm them down” (p 5, 39 yrs).

Overdependence

“My husband’s parents don’t stop interfering, but my husband doesn’t say anything because he is a student of his father. My husband is self-employed and works with his father on a truck” (p 8, 25 yrs).

“Every time I argue with my husband because of lack of money, my mother-in-law supported her son and brought him up very spoiled and lazy” (p 7, 55 yrs).

Bitter memories

“After three years, my mother married her friend with my uncle’s insistence and went to Shiraz. But, his condition was that she did not have the right to bring his daughter with her. In fact, my mother also got married out of necessity” (p 8, 25 yrs).

Some of their other statements related to “ Role failure” are mentioned below:

Lack of commitment to different roles

“I got angry several times and went to my father’s house because of my husband’s bad financial status and the fact that he doesn’t feel responsible to work and always says that he cannot find a job” (p 6, 48 yrs).

“I saw that he does not want to change in any way” (p 4, 54 yrs).

“No matter how kind I am, it does not work” (p 1, 38 yrs).

Some of their other statements regarding “ Repressors” are listed below:

Fear and silence

“My mother always forced me to continue living with my husband. Finally, my father had been poor. She all said that you didn’t listen to me when you wanted to get married, so you don’t have the right to get angry and come to me, I’m miserable enough” (p 2, 33 yrs).

“Because I suffered a lot in my first marital life. I was very humiliated. I said I would be fine with that. To be kind” (p1, 38 yrs).

“Well, I tell myself that he gets angry sometimes” (p 3, 32 yrs).

Shame from society

“I don’t want my daughter-in-law to know. She is not a relative” (p 4, 54 yrs).

Some of the statements of the participants regarding the theme of “ Efforts to preserve the family” are listed below:

Hope and trust

“I always hope in God and I am patient” (p 2, 33 yrs).

Efforts for children

“My divorce took a month. We got a divorce. I forgave my dowry and took my children instead” (p 2, 33 yrs).

Some of their other statements regarding the “ Inappropriate solving of family conflicts” are listed below:

Child-bearing thoughts

“My husband wanted to take me to a doctor to treat me. But my father-in-law refused and said that instead of doing this and spending money, marry again. Marriage in the clans was much easier than any other work” (p 8, 25 yrs).

Lack of effective communication

“I was nervous about him, but I didn’t say anything” (p 5, 39 yrs).

“Now I am satisfied with my life and thank God it is better to listen to people’s words. Now there is someone above me so that people don’t talk behind me” (p 2, 33 yrs).

Some of their other statements regarding the “ Consequences” are listed below:

Harm to children

“My eldest daughter, who was about 7–8 years old, behaved differently. Oh, I was angry. My children are mentally depressed and argue” (p 5, 39 yrs).

After divorce

“Even though I got a divorce, my mother and I came to a remote area due to the fear of what my family would say” (p 2, 33 yrs).

Social harm

“I work at a retirement center for living expenses” (p 2, 33 yrs).

“I had to go to clean the houses” (p 5, 39 yrs).

Non-acceptance in the family

“The children’s relationship with their father became bad. Because every time they saw their father sitting at home smoking, they got angry” (p 7, 55 yrs).

Emotional harm

“When I look back, I regret why I was not careful in my choice” (p 7, 55 yrs).

“I felt very bad. For being married to a man who is not bound by the family and is capricious” (p 9, 36 yrs).

Some of their other statements regarding “ Inefficient supportive systems” are listed below:

Inappropriate family support

“We didn’t have children. I was at my father’s house for about a month. After a month, when I came home, I saw that my husband had married again. I cried a lot that day. He said, God, I had to. I love you. My heart is broken, I have no one to share my words” (p 8, 25 yrs).

“My brother-in-law was like himself. His parents had also died. His sister did not listen at all” (p 4, 54 yrs).

“I didn’t have anyone and I was alone” (p 1, 38 yrs).

Inefficiency of social systems

“That day he argued with me, picked me up and threw me down some stairs in the middle of the yard. He came closer, sat on my stomach, grabbed my neck with both of his hands and wanted to strangle me. Until a long time later, I had kidney problems and my neck was bruised by her hand. Given that my aunt and her family were with us in a building, but she had no desire to testify and was afraid” (p 3, 32 yrs).

Undesired training and advice

“I told my mother, you just said no, how old I was? You never insisted on me and you didn’t listen to me that this man is not good for you” (p 9, 36 yrs).

Quantitative results

In the present study, 376 married women living in Semnan city participated in this study. The mean age of participants was 38.52 ± 10.38 years. The youngest participant was 18 and the oldest was 73 years old. The maximum age difference was 16 years. The years of marriage varied from one year to 40 years. Also, the number of children varied from no children to 7. The majority of them had 2 children (109, 29%). The sociodemographic characteristics of the participants are summarized in the table below (Table  3 ).

The frequency distribution (number and percentage) of the participants in terms of the level of violence was as follows. 89 participants (23.7%) had experienced low violence, 59 participants (15.7%) had experienced moderate violence, and 228 participants (60.6%) had experienced severe violence.

Cronbach’s alpha for the reliability of the questionnaire was 0.988. The mean and standard deviation of the total score of the questionnaire was 143.60 ± 74.70 with a range of 3-244. The relationship between the total score of the questionnaire and its fields, and some demographic variables is summarized in the table below (Table  4 ).

As shown in the table above, the variables of age, age difference and number of years of marriage have a positive and significant relationship, and the variable of number of children has a negative and significant relationship with the total score and all fields of the questionnaire (p < 0.05). However, the variable of education level difference showed no significant relationship with the total score and any of the fields. Also, the highest average score is related to patriarchal beliefs compared to other fields.

The comparison of the average total scores separately according to each variable showed the significant average difference in the variables of the previous marriage history of the woman, the result of the previous marriage of the woman, the education of the woman, the education of the man, the income of the woman, the income of the man, and the physical disease of the man (p < 0.05).

In the regression model, two variables remained in the final model, indicating the relationship between the variables and violence score and the importance of these two variables. An increase in women’s education and income level both independently show a significant relationship with an increase in violence score (Table  5 ).

The results of analysis of variance to compare the scores of each field of violence in the subgroups of the participants also showed that the experience and result of the woman’s previous marriage has a significant relationship with physical violence and tradition and family upbringing, the experience of the man’s previous marriage has a significant relationship with patriarchal belief, the education level of the woman has a significant relationship with all fields and the level of education of the man has a significant relationship with all fields except tradition and family upbringing (p < 0.05).

According to the results of both quantitative and qualitative studies, variables such as the young age of the woman and a large age difference are very important factors leading to an increase in violence. At a younger age, girls are afraid of the stigma of society and family, and being forced to remain silent can lead to an increase in domestic violence. As Gandhi et al. (2021) stated in their study in the same field, a lower marriage age leads to many vulnerabilities in women. Early marriage is a global problem associated with a wide range of health and social consequences, including violence for adolescent girls and women [ 12 ]. Also, Ahmadi et al. (2017) found similar findings, reporting a significant association among IPV and women age ≤ 40 years [ 19 ].

Two others categories of “Facilitators” in the present study were “Husband’s criminal record” and “Overdependence” which had a sub-category of “Forced cohabitation”. Ahmadi et al. (2017) reported in their population-based study in Iran that husband’s addiction and rented-householders have a significant association with IPV [ 19 ].

The patriarchal beliefs, which are rooted in the tradition and culture of society and family upbringing, scored the highest in relation to domestic violence in this study. On the other hand, in qualitative study, “Normalcy” of men’s anger and harassment of women in society is one of the “Repressors” of women to express violence. In the quantitative study, the increase in the women’s education and income level were predictors of the increase in violence. Although domestic violence is more common in some sections of society, women with a wide range of ages, different levels of education, and at different levels of society face this problem, most of which are not reported. Bukuluki et al. (2021) showed that women who agreed that it is good for a man to control his partner were more likely to experience physical violence [ 20 ].

Domestic violence leads to “Consequences” such as “Harm to children”, “Emotional harm”, “Social harm” to women and even “Non-acceptance in their own family”. Because divorce is a taboo in Iranian culture and the fear of humiliating women forces them to remain silent against domestic violence. Balsarkar (2021) stated that the fear of violence can prevent women from continuing their studies, working or exercising their political rights [ 8 ]. Also, Walker-Descarte et al. (2021) recognized domestic violence as a type of child maltreatment, and these abusive behaviors are associated with mental and physical health consequences [ 21 ].

On the other hand and based on the “Lack of effective communication” category, ignoring the role of the counselor in solving family conflicts and challenges in the life of couples in the present study was expressed by women with reasons such as lack of knowledge and family resistance to counseling. Several pathologies are needed to investigate increased domestic violence in situations such as during women’s pregnancy or infertility. Because the use of counseling for couples as a suitable solution should be considered along with their life challenges. Lin et al. (2022) stated that pregnant women were exposed to domestic violence for low birth weight in full term delivery. Spouse violence screening in the perinatal health care system should be considered important, especially for women who have had full-term low birth weight infants [ 22 ].

Also, lack of knowledge and low level of education have been found as other factors of violence in this study, which is very prominent in both qualitative and quantitative studies. Because the social systems and information about the existing laws should be followed properly in society to act as a deterrent. Psychological training and especially anger control and resilience skills during education at a younger age for girls and boys should be included in educational materials to determine the positive results in society in the long term. Manouchehri et al. (2022) stated that it seems necessary to train men about the negative impact of domestic violence on the current and future status of the family [ 23 ]. Balsarkar (2021) also stated that men and women who have not had the opportunity to question gender roles, attitudes and beliefs cannot change such things. Women who are unaware of their rights cannot claim. Governments and organizations cannot adequately address these issues without access to standards, guidelines and tools [ 8 ]. Machado et al. (2021) also stated that gender socialization reinforces gender inequalities and affects the behavior of men and women. So, highlighting this problem in different fields, especially in primary health care services, is a way to prevent IPV against women [ 24 ].

There was a sub-category of “Inefficiency of social systems” in the participants experiences. Perhaps the reason for this is due to insufficient education and knowledge, or fear of seeking help. Holmes et al. (2022) suggested the importance of ascertaining strategies to improve victims’ experiences with the court, especially when victims’ requests are not met, to increase future engagement with the system [ 25 ]. Sigurdsson (2019) revealed that despite high prevalence numbers, IPV is still a hidden and underdiagnosed problem and neither general practitioner nor our communities are as well prepared as they should be [ 26 ]. Moreira and Pinto da Costa (2021) found that while victims of domestic violence often agree with mandatory reporting, various concerns are still expressed by both victims and healthcare professionals that require further attention and resolution [ 27 ]. It appears that legal and ethical issues in this regard require comprehensive evaluation from the perspectives of victims, their families, healthcare workers, and legal experts. By doing so, better practical solutions can be found to address domestic violence, leading to a downward trend in its occurrence.

Some of the variables of violence against women have been identified and emphasized in many studies, highlighting the necessity of policymaking and social pathology in society to prevent and use operational plans to take action before their occurrence. Breaking the taboo of domestic violence and promoting divorce as a viable solution after counseling to receive objective results should be implemented seriously to minimize harm to women, children, and their families.

Limitations

Domestic violence against women is an important issue in Iranian society that women resist showing and expressing, making researchers take a long-term process of sampling in both qualitative and quantitative studies. The location of the interview and the women’s fear of their husbands finding out about their participation in this study have been other challenges of the researchers, which, of course, they attempted to minimize by fully respecting ethical considerations. Despite the researchers’ efforts, their personal and professional experiences, as well as the studies reviewed in the literature review section, may have influenced the study results.

Data Availability

Data and materials will be available upon email to the corresponding author.

Abbreviations

Intimate Partner Violence

Human Immunodeficiency Virus

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Acknowledgements

The authors of this study appreciate the Deputy for Research and Technology of Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Social Determinants of Health Research Center of Semnan University of Medical Sciences and all the participants in this study.

Research deputy of Semnan University of Medical Sciences financially supported this project.

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Contributions

M.Sh. contributed to the first conception and design of this research; M.Sh., Z.Kh., M.S., R.Gh. and S.H.Sh. contributed to collect data; M.N. and M.Sh. contributed to the analysis of the qualitative data; M.M. and M.Sh. contributed to the analysis of the quantitative data; M.SH., M.N. and M.M. contributed to the interpretation of the data; M.Sh., M.S. and S.H.Sh. wrote the manuscript. M.Sh. prepared the final version of manuscript for submission. All authors reviewed the manuscript meticulously and approved it. All names of the authors were listed in the title page.

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Shayestefar, M., Saffari, M., Gholamhosseinzadeh, R. et al. A qualitative quantitative mixed methods study of domestic violence against women. BMC Women's Health 23 , 322 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02483-0

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Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs (1998)

Chapter: 9 conclusions and recommendations, 9 conclusions and recommendations.

The problems of child maltreatment, domestic violence, and elder abuse have generated hundreds of separate interventions in social service, health, and law enforcement settings. This array of interventions has been driven by the urgency of the different types of family violence, client needs, and the responses of service providers, advocates, and communities. The interventions now constitute a broad range of institutional services that focus on the identification, treatment, prevention, and deterrence of family violence.

The array of interventions that is currently in place and the dozens of different types of programs and services associated with each intervention represent a valuable body of expertise and experience that is in need of systematic scientific study to inform and guide service design, treatment, prevention, and deterrence. The challenge for the research community, service providers, program sponsors, and policy makers is to develop frameworks to enhance critical analyses of current strategies, interventions, and programs and identify next steps in addressing emerging questions and cross-cutting issues. Many complexities now characterize family violence interventions and challenge the development of rigorous scientific evaluations. These complexities require careful consideration in the development of future research, service improvements, and collaborative efforts between researchers and service providers. Examples of these complexities are illustrative:

• The interventions now in place in communities across the nation focus services on discrete and isolated aspects of family violence. They address different aspects of child maltreatment, domestic violence, and elder abuse. Some
• interventions have an extensive history of experience, and others are at a very early stage of development.
• Many interventions have not been fully implemented because of limited funding or organizational barriers. Thus in many cases it is too early to expect that research can determine whether a particular intervention or strategy (such as deterrence or prevention) is effective because the intervention may not yet have sufficient strength to achieve its intended impact.
• The social and institutional settings of many interventions present important challenges to the design of systematic scientific evaluations. The actual strength or dosage of a particular program can be directly influenced by local or national events that stimulate changes in resources, budgets, and personnel factors that influence its operation in different service settings. Variations in service scope or intensity caused by local service practices and social settings are important sources of "noise" in cross-site research studies; they can directly affect evaluation studies in such key areas as definitions, eligibility criteria, and outcome measures.
• Emerging research on the experiences of family violence victims and offenders suggests that this is a complex population composed of different types of individuals and patterns of behavior. Evaluation studies thus need to consider the types of clients served by particular services, the characteristics of those who benefited from them, and the attributes of those who were resistant to change.

In this chapter the committee summarizes its overall conclusions and proposes policy and research recommendations. A key question for the committee was whether and when the research evidence is sufficient to guide a critical examination of particular interventions. In some areas, the body of research is sufficient to inform policy choices, program development, evaluation research, data collection, and theory-building; the committee makes recommendations for current policies and practices in these areas below. In other areas, although the research base is not yet mature enough to guide policy and program development, some interventions are ready for rigorous evaluation studies. For this second tier of interventions, the committee makes recommendations for the next generation of evaluation studies. The committee then identifies a set of four topics for basic research that reflect current insights into the nature of family violence and trends in family violence interventions. A final section makes some suggestions to increase the effectiveness of collaborations between researchers and service providers.

Conclusions

The committee's conclusions are derived from our analysis of the research literature and discussions with service providers in the workshops and site visits, rather than from specific research studies. This analysis takes a client-oriented

approach to family violence interventions, which means that we focus on how existing services in health, social services, and law enforcement settings affect the individuals who come in contact with them.

• The urgency of the need to respond to the problem of family violence and the paucity of research to guide service interventions have created an environment in which insights from small-scale studies are often adopted into policy and professional practice without sufficient independent replication or reflection on their possible shortcomings. Rigorous evaluations of family violence interventions are confined, for the most part, to small or innovative programs that provide an opportunity to develop a comparison or control study, rather than focusing on the major existing family violence interventions.
• This situation has fostered a series of trial-and-error experiences in which a promising intervention is later found to be problematic when employed with a broader and more varied population. Major treatment and prevention interventions, such as child maltreatment reporting systems, casework, protective orders, and health care for victims of domestic violence, battered women's shelters, and elder abuse interventions of all types, have not been the subjects of rigorous evaluation studies. The programmatic and policy emphasis on single interventions as panaceas to the complex problems of family violence, and the lack of sufficient opportunity for learning more about the service interactions, client characteristics, and contextual factors that could affect the impact of different approaches, constitute formidable challenges to the improvement of the knowledge base and prevention and treatment interventions in this filed.
• In all areas of family violence, after-the-fact services predominate over preventive interventions. For child maltreatment and elder abuse, case identification and investigative services are the primary form of intervention; services designed to prevent, treat, or deter family violence are relatively rare in social service, health, and criminal justice settings (with the notable exceptions of foster care and family preservation services). For domestic violence, interventions designed to treat victims and offenders and deter future incidents of violence are more common, but preventive services remain relatively underdeveloped.
• The current array of family violence interventions (especially in the areas of child maltreatment and elder abuse) is a loosely coupled network of individual programs and services that are highly reactive in nature, focused primarily on the detection of specific cases. It is a system largely driven by events, rather than one that is built on theory, research, and data collection. Interventions are oriented toward the identification of victims and the substantiation and documentation of their experiences, rather than the delivery of recommended services to reduce the incidence and consequences of family violence in the community overall. As a result, enormous resources are invested to develop evidence that certain victims or offenders need treatment, legal action, or other interventions, and comparatively limited funds are available for the treatment and support services themselves—a
• situation that results in lengthy waiting lists, discretionary decisionmaking processes in determining which cases are referred for further action, and extensive variation in a service system's ability to match clients with appropriate interventions.
• The duration and intensity of the mental health and social support services needed to influence behaviors that result from or contribute to family violence may be greater than initially estimated. Family violence treatment and preventive interventions that focus on single incidents and short periods of support services, especially in such areas as parenting skills, mental health, and batterer treatment, may be inadequate to deal with problems that are pervasive, multiple, and chronic. Many programs for victims involve short-term treatment services—less than 6 weeks. Services for offenders are also typically of short duration. Yet research suggests that short-term programs designed to alter violent behavior are often the least likely to succeed, because of the difficulties of changing behavior that has persisted for a period of years and has become part of an established pattern in relationships. Efforts to address fundamental sources of conflict, stress, and violence that occur repeatedly over time within the family environment may require extensive periods of support services to sustain the positive effects achieved in short-term interventions.
• The interactive nature of family violence interventions constitutes a major challenge to the evaluation of interventions because the presence or absence of policies and programs in one domain may directly affect the implementation and outcomes of interventions in another. Research suggests that the risk and protective factors for child maltreatment, domestic violence, and elder abuse interact across multiple levels. The uncoordinated but interactive system of services requires further attention and consideration in future evaluation studies. Such evaluations need to document the presence and absence of services that affect members of the same family unit but offer treatment for specific problems in separate institutions characterized by different service philosophies and resources.
• For example, factors such as court oversight or mandatory referrals may influence individual participation in treatment services and the outcomes associated with such participation. The culture and resources of one agency can influence the quality and timing of services offered by another. Yet little information is available regarding the extent or quality of interventions in a community. Clients who receive multiple interventions (especially children) are often not followed through different service settings. Limited information is available to distinguish key features of innovative interventions from those usually offered in a community; to describe the stages of implementation of specific family violence programs, interventions, or strategies; to explain rates of attrition in the client base; or to capture case characteristics that influence the ways in which clients are selected for specific treatment programs.
• The emergence of secondary prevention interventions specifically targeted to serve children, adults, and communities with characteristics that are
• thought to place them at greater risk of family violence than the general population, along with the increasing emphasis on the need for integration and coordination of services, has the potential to achieve significant benefits. However, the potential of these newer interventions to reduce the need for treatment or other support services over the lifetime of the client has not yet been proven for large populations.
• Secondary preventive interventions, such as those serving children exposed to domestic violence, have the potential to reduce future incidents of family violence and to reduce the existing need for services in such areas as recovery from trauma, substance abuse, juvenile crime, mental health and health care. However, evaluation studies are not yet available to determine the value of preventive interventions for large populations in terms of reduction of the need for treatment or other support services over a client's lifetime.
• The shortage of service resources and the emphasis on reactive, short-term treatment have directed comparatively little attention to interventions for people who have experienced or perpetrated violent behavior but who have not yet been reported or identified as offenders or victims. Efforts to achieve broader systemic collaboration, comprehensive service integration, and proactive interventions require attention to the appropriate balance among enforcement, treatment, and prevention interventions in addressing family violence at both state and national levels. Such efforts also need to be responsive to the particular requirements of diverse ethnic communities with special needs or unique resources that can be mobilized in the development of preventive interventions. Because they extend to a larger population than those currently served by treatment centers, secondary prevention efforts can be expensive; their benefits may not become apparent until many years after the intervention occurs.
• Policy leadership is needed to help integrate family violence treatment, enforcement and support actions, and preventive interventions and also to foster the development of evaluations of comprehensive and cross-problem interventions that have the capacity to consider outcomes beyond reports of future violent behavior.
• Creative research methodologies are also needed to examine the separate and combined effects of cross-problem service strategies (such as the treatment of substance abuse and family violence), follow individuals and families through multiple service interventions and agency settings, and examine factors that may play important mediating roles in determining whether violence will occur or continue (such as the use of social networks and support services and the threat of legal sanctions).
• Most evaluations seek to document whether violent behavior decreased as a result of the intervention, an approach that often inhibits attention to other factors that may play important mediating roles in determining whether violence will occur. The individual victim or offender is the focus of most interventions and
• the unit of analysis in evaluation studies, rather than the family or the community in which the violence occurred.

Integrated approaches have the potential to illuminate the sequences and ways in which different experiences with violence in the family do and do not overlap with each other and with other kinds of violence. This research approach requires time to mature; at present, it is not strong enough to determine the strengths or limitations of strategies that integrate different forms of family violence compared with approaches that focus on specific forms of family violence. Service integration efforts focused on single forms of family violence may have the potential to achieve greater impact than services that disregard the interactive nature of this complex behavior, but this hypothesis also remains unproven.

Recommendations For Current Policies And Practices

It is premature to offer policy recommendations for most family violence interventions in the absence of a research base that consists of well-designed evaluations. However, the committee has identified two areas (home visitation and family preservation services) in which a rigorous set of studies offers important guidance to policy makers and service providers. In four other areas (reporting practices, batterer treatment programs, record keeping, and collaborative law enforcement approaches) the committee has drawn on its judgment and deliberations to encourage policy makers and service providers to take actions that are consistent with the state of the current research base.

These six interventions were selected for particular attention because (1) they are the focus of current policy attention, service evaluation, and program design; (2) a sufficient length of time has elapsed since the introduction of the intervention to allow for appropriate experience with key program components and measurement of outcomes; (3) the intervention has been widely adopted or is under consideration by a large number of communities to warrant its careful analysis; and (4) the intervention has been described and characterized in the research literature (through program summaries or case studies).

Reporting Practices

All 50 states have adopted laws requiring health professionals and other service providers to report suspected child abuse and neglect. Although state laws vary in terms of the types of endangerment and evidentiary standards that warrant a report to child protection authorities, each state has adopted a procedure that requires designated professionals—or, in some states, all adults—to file a report if they believe that a child is a victim of abuse or neglect. Mandatory reporting is thought to enhance early case detection and to increase the likelihood that services will be provided to children in need.

For domestic violence, mandatory reporting requirements for professional groups like health care providers have been adopted by the state of California and are under consideration in several other states. Mandatory reports are seen as a method by which offenders who abuse multiple partners can be identified through the health care community for law enforcement purposes. Early detection is assumed to lead to remedies and interventions that will prevent further abuse by holding the abuser accountable and helping to mitigate the consequences of family violence.

Critics have argued that mandatory reporting requirements may damage the confidentiality of the therapeutic relationship between health professionals and their clients, disregard the knowledge and preferences of the victim regarding appropriate action, potentially increase the danger to victims when sufficient protection and support are not available, and ultimately discourage individuals who wish to seek physical or psychological treatment from contacting and disclosing abuse to health professionals. In many regions, victim support services are not available or the case requires extensive legal documentation to justify treatment for victims, offenders, and families.

For elder abuse, 42 states have mandatory reporting systems. Several states have opted for voluntary systems after conducting studies that considered the advantages and disadvantages of voluntary and mandatory reporting systems, on the grounds that mandatory reports do not achieve significant increases in the detection of elder abuse cases.

In reviewing the research base associated with the relationship between reporting systems and the treatment and prevention of family violence, the committee has observed that no existing evaluation studies can demonstrate the value of mandatory reporting systems compared with voluntary reporting procedures in addressing child maltreatment or domestic violence. For elder abuse, studies suggest that a high level of public and professional awareness and the availability of comprehensive services to identify, treat, and prevent violence is preferable to reporting requirements in improving rates of case detection.

The absence of a research base to support mandatory reporting systems raises questions as to whether they should be recommended for all areas of family violence. The impact of mandatory reporting systems in the area of child maltreatment and elder abuse remains unexamined. The committee therefore suggests that it is important for the states to proceed cautiously at this time and to delay adopting a mandatory reporting system in the area of domestic violence, until the positive and negative impacts of such a system have been rigorously examined in states in which domestic violence reports are now required by law.

Recommendation 1: The committee recommends that states initiate evaluations of their current reporting laws addressing family violence to examine whether and how early case detection leads to improved outcomes for the victims or families and promote changes based on sound research. In

particular, the committee recommends that states refrain from enacting mandatory reporting laws for domestic violence until such systems have been tested and evaluated by research.

In dealing with family violence that involves adults, federal and state government agencies should reconsider the nature and role of compulsory reporting policies. In the committee's view, mandatory reporting systems have some disadvantages in cases involving domestic violence, especially if the victim objects to such reports, if comprehensive community protections and services are not available, and if the victim is able to gain access to therapeutic treatment or support services in the absence of a reporting system.

The dependent status of young children and some elders provides a stronger argument in favor of retaining mandatory reporting requirements where they do exist. However, the effectiveness of reporting requirements depends on the availability of resources and service personnel who can investigate reports and refer cases for appropriate treatment, as well as clear guidelines for processing reports and determining which cases qualify for services. Greater discretion may be advised when the child and family are able to receive therapeutic treatment from health care or other service providers and when community resources are not available to respond appropriately to their cases. The treatment of adolescents especially requires major consideration of the pros and cons of mandatory reporting requirements. Adolescent victims are still in a vulnerable stage of development: they may or may not have the capacity to make informed decisions regarding the extent to which they wish to invoke legal protections in dealing with incidents of family violence in their homes.

Batterer Treatment Programs

Four key questions characterize current policy and research discussions about the efficacy of batterer treatment, one of the most challenging problems in the design of family violence interventions: Is treatment preferable to incarceration, supervised probation, or other forms of court oversight for batterers? Does participation in treatment change offenders' attitudes and behavior and reduce recidivism? Does the effectiveness of treatment depend on its intensity, duration, or the voluntary or compulsory nature of the program? Is treatment what creates change, or is change in behavior reduced by multiple interventions, such as arrest, court monitoring of client participation in treatment services, and victim support services?

Descriptive research studies suggest that there are multiple profiles of batterers, and therefore one generic approach is not appropriate for all offenders. Treatment programs may be helpful in changing abusive behavior when they are part of an overall strategy designed to recognize and reduce violence in a relationship, when the batterer is prepared to learn how to control aggressive impulses, and

when the treatment plan emphasizes victim safety and provides for frequent interactions with treatment staff.

Research on the effectiveness of treatment programs suggests that the majority of subjects who complete court-ordered treatment programs do learn basic cognitive and behavioral principles taught in their course. However, such learning requires appropriate program content and client participation in the program for a sufficient time to complete the necessary training. Very few studies have examined matched groups of violent offenders who are assigned to treatment and control groups or comparison groups (such as incarceration or work-release). As a result, the comparative efficacy of treatment is unknown in reducing future violence. Differing client populations and differing forms of court oversight are particularly problematic factors that inhibit the design of rigorous evaluation studies in this field.

The absence of strong theory and common measures to guide the development of family violence treatment regimens, the heterogeneity of offenders (including patterns of offending and readiness to change) who are the subjects of protective orders or treatment, and low rates of attendance, completion, and enforcement are persistent problems that affect both the evaluation of the interventions and efforts to reduce the violence. A few studies suggest that court oversight does appear to increase completion rates, which have been linked to enhanced victim safety in the area of domestic violence, but increased completion rates have not yet led to a discernible effect on recidivism rates in general.

Further evaluations are needed to examine the outcomes associated with different approaches and programmatic themes (such as cognitive-behavioral principles: issues of power, control, and gender; personal accountability). Completion rates have been used as an interim outcome to measure the success of batterer treatment programs; further studies are needed to determine if completers can be identified readily, if program completion by itself is a critical factor in reducing recidivism, and if participation in a treatment program changes the nature, timing, and severity of future violent behavior.

The current research base is inadequate to identify the conditions under which mandated referrals to batterer treatment programs offer a clear advantage over incarceration or untreated probation supervision in reducing recidivism for the general population of male offenders. Court officials should monitor closely the attendance, participation, and completion rates of offenders who are referred to batterer treatment programs in lieu of more punitive sentences. Treatment staff should inform law enforcement officials of any significant behavior by the offender that might represent a threat to the victim. Mandated treatment referrals may be effective for certain types of batterers, especially if they increase completion rates. The research is inconclusive, however, as to which types of individuals should be referred for treatment rather than more punitive sanctions. In selecting individuals for treatment, attention should be given to client history

(first-time offenders are more likely to benefit), motivation for treatment, and likelihood of completion.

Mandated treatment referrals for batterers do appear to provide benefits to victims, such as intensive surveillance of offenders, an interlude to allow planning for safety and victim support, and greater community awareness of the batterer's behavior. These outcomes may interact to deter and reduce domestic violence in the community, even if a treatment program does not alter the behavior of a particular batterer. Treatment programs that include frequent interactions between staff and victims also provide a means by which staff can help educate victims about danger signals and support them in efforts to obtain greater protection and legal safeguards, if necessary.

Recommendation 2: In the absence of research that demonstrates that a specific model of treatment can reduce violent behavior for many domestic violence offenders, courts need to put in place early warning systems to detect failure to comply with or complete treatment and signs of new abuse or retaliation against victims, as well as to address unintended or inadvertent results that may arise from the referral to or experience with treatment.

Further research evaluation studies are needed to review the outcomes for both offenders and victims associated with program content and levels of intensity in different treatment models. This research will help indicate whether treatment really helps and what mix of services are more helpful than others. Improved research may also help distinguish those victims and offenders for whom particular treatments are most beneficial.

Record Keeping

Since experience with family violence appears to be associated with a wide range of health problems and social service needs, service providers are recognizing the importance of documenting abuse histories in their client case records. The documentation in health and social service records of abuse histories that are self-reported by victims and offenders can help service providers and researchers to determine if appropriate referrals and services have been made and the outcomes associated with their use. The exchange of case records among service providers is essential to the development of comprehensive treatment programs, continuity of care, and appropriate follow-up for individuals and families who appear in a variety of service settings. Such exchanges can help establish greater accountability by service systems for responding to the needs of identifiable victims and offenders; health and social service records can also provide appropriate evidence for legal actions, in both civil and criminal courts and child custody cases.

Research evaluations of service interventions often require the use of anonymous case records. The documentation of family violence in such records will

enhance efforts to improve the quality of evaluations and to understand more about patterns of behavior associated with violent behaviors and victimization experiences. Although documentation of abuse histories can improve evaluations and lead to integrated service responses, such procedures require safeguards so that individuals are not stigmatized or denied therapeutic services on the basis of their case histories. Insurance discrimination, in particular, which may preclude health care coverage if abuse is judged to be a preexisting condition, requires attention to ensure that professional services are not diminished as a result of voluntary disclosures. Creative strategies are needed to support integrated service system reviews of medical, legal, and social service case records in order to enhance the quality and accountability of service responses. Such reviews will need to meet the expectations of privacy and confidentiality of both individual victims and the community, especially in cases in which maltreatment reports are subsequently regarded as unfounded.

Documentation of abuse histories that are voluntarily disclosed by victims or offenders to health care professionals and social service providers must be distinguished from screening efforts designed to trigger such disclosures. The committee recommends screening as a strong candidate for future evaluation studies (see discussion in the next section).

Recommendation 3: The committee recommends that health and social service providers develop safeguards to strengthen their documentation of abuse and histories of family violence in both individual and group records, regardless of whether the abuse is reported to authorities.

The documentation of histories of family violence in health records should be designed to record voluntary disclosures by both victims and offenders and to enhance early and coordinated interventions that can provide a therapeutic response to experiences with abuse or neglect. Safeguards are required, however, to ensure that such documentation does not lead to stigmatization, encourage discriminatory practices, or violate assurances of privacy and confidentiality, especially when individual histories become part of patient group records for health care providers and employers.

Collaborative Law Enforcement Strategies

In the committee's view, collaborative law enforcement strategies that create a web of social control for offenders are an idea worth testing to determine if such efforts can achieve a significant deterrent effect in addressing domestic violence. Collaborative strategies include such efforts as victim support and offender tracking systems designed to increase the likelihood that domestic violence cases will be prosecuted when an arrest has been made, that sanctions and treatment services will be imposed when evidence exists to confirm the charges brought against the offender, and that penalties will be invoked for failure to comply with treatment

conditions. The attraction of collaborative strategies is based on their potential ability to establish multiple interactions with offenders across a large domain of interactions that reinforce social standards in the community and establish penalties for violations of those standards. Creating the deterrent effect, however, requires extensive coordination and reciprocity between victim support and offender monitoring efforts involving diverse sectors of the law enforcement community. These efforts may be difficult to implement and evaluate. Further studies are needed to determine the extent to which improved collaboration among police officers, prosecutors, and judges will lead to improved coordination and stronger sanctions for offenders and a reduction in domestic violence.

The absence of empirical research findings of the results of a collaborative law enforcement approach in addressing domestic violence makes it difficult to compare the costs and benefits of increased agency coordination with those achieved by a single law enforcement strategy (such as arrest) in dealing with different populations of offenders and victims. Even though relatively few cases of arrest are made for any form of family violence, arrest is the most common and most studied form of law enforcement intervention in this area. Research studies conducted in the 1980s on arrest policies in domestic violence cases are the strongest experimental evaluations to date of the role of deterrence in family violence interventions. These experiments indicate that arrest may be effective for some, but not most, batterers in reducing subsequent violence by the offender. Some research studies suggest that arrest may be a deterrent for employed and married individuals (those who have a stake in social conformity) and may lead to an escalation of violence among those who do not, but this observation has not been tested in studies that could specifically examine the impact of arrest in groups that differ in social and economic status. The differing effects (in terms of a reduction of future violence) of arrest for employed/unemployed and married/unmarried individuals raise difficult questions about the reliance of law enforcement officers on arrest as the sole or central component of their response to domestic violence incidents in communities where domestic violence cases are not routinely prosecuted, where sanctions are not imposed by the courts, or where victim support programs are not readily available.

The implementation of proarrest policies and practices that would discriminate according to the risk status of specific groups is challenged by requirements for equal protection under the law. Law enforcement officials cannot tailor arrest policies to the marital or employment status of the suspect or other characteristics that may interact with deterrence efforts. Specialized training efforts may help alleviate the tendency of police officers to arrest both suspect and victim, however, and may alert law enforcement personnel to the need to review both criminal and civil records in determining whether an arrest is advisable in response to a domestic violence case.

Two additional observations merit consideration in examining the deterrent effects of arrest. First, in the research studies conducted thus far, the implementation

of legal sanctions was minimal. Most offenders in the replication studies were not prosecuted once arrested, and limited legal sanctions were imposed on those cases that did receive a hearing. Some researchers concluded that stronger evidence of effectiveness might be obtained from proarrest policies if they are implemented as part of a law enforcement strategy that expands the use of punitive sanctions for offenders—including conviction, sentencing, and intensive supervised probation.

Second is the issue of reciprocity between formal sanctions against the offender and informal support actions for the victims of domestic violence. The effects of proarrest policies may depend on the extent to which victims have access to shelter services and other forms of support, demonstrating the interactive dimensions of community interventions. A mandatory arrest policy, by itself, may be an insufficient deterrent strategy for domestic violence, but its effectiveness may be enhanced by other interventions that represent coordinated law enforcement efforts to deter domestic violence—including the use of protective orders, victim advocates, and special prosecution units. Coordinated efforts may help reduce or prevent domestic violence if they represent a collaborative strategy among police, prosecutors, and judges that improves the certainty of the use of sanctions against batterers.

Recommendation 4: Collaborative strategies among caseworkers, police, prosecutors, and judges are recommended as law enforcement interventions that have the potential to improve the batterer's compliance with treatment as well as the certainty of the use of sanctions in addressing domestic violence.

The impact of single interventions (such as mandatory arrest policies) is difficult to discern in the research literature. Such practices by themselves can neither be recommended nor rejected as effective measures in addressing domestic violence on the basis of existing research studies.

Home Visitation and Family Support Services

Home visitation and family support programs constitute one of the most promising areas of child maltreatment prevention. Studies in this area have experimented with different levels of treatment intensity, duration, and staff expertise. For home visitation, the findings generally support the principle that early intervention with mothers who are at risk of child maltreatment makes a difference in child outcomes. Such interventions may be difficult to implement and maintain over time, however, and their effectiveness depends on the willingness of the parents to participate. Selection criteria for home visitation should be based on a combination of social setting and individual risk factors.

In their current form, home visitation programs have multiple goals, only one of which is the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Home visitation and family

support programs have traditionally been designed to improve parent-child relations with regard to family functioning, child health and safety, nutrition and hygiene, and parenting practices. American home visiting programs are derived from the British system, which relies on public health nurses and is offered on a universal basis to all parents with young children. Resource constraints, however, have produced a broad array of variations in this model; most programs in the United States are now directed toward at-risk families who have been reported to social services or health agencies because of prenatal health risks or risks for child maltreatment. Comprehensive programs provide a variety of services, including in-home parent education and prenatal and early infant health care, screening, referral to and, in some cases, transportation to social and health services. Positive effects include improved childrearing practices, increased social supports, utilization of community services, higher birthweights, and longer gestation periods.

Researchers have identified improvements in cognitive and parenting skills and knowledge as evidence of reduced risk for child maltreatment; they have also documented lower rates of reported child maltreatment and number of visits to emergency services for home-visited families. The benefits of home visitation appear most promising for young, first-time mothers who delay additional pregnancies and thus reduce the social and financial stresses that burden households with large numbers of young children. Other benefits include improved child care for infants and toddlers and an increase in knowledge about the availability of community services for older children. The intervention has not been demonstrated to have benefits for children whose parents abuse drugs or alcohol or those who are not prepared to engage in help-seeking behaviors. The extent to which home visitation benefits families with older children, or families who are already involved in abusive or neglectful behaviors, remains uncertain.

Recommendation 5: As part of a comprehensive prevention strategy for child maltreatment, the committee recommends that home visitation programs should be particularly encouraged for first-time parents living in social settings with high rates of child maltreatment reports.

The positive impact of well-designed home visitation interventions has been demonstrated in several evaluation studies that focus on the role of mothers in child health, development, and discipline. The committee recommends their use in a strategy designed to prevent child maltreatment. Home visitation programs do require additional evaluation research, however, to determine the factors that may influence their effectiveness. Such factors include (1) the conditions under which home visitation should be provided as part of a continuum of family support programs, (2) the types of parenting behaviors that are most and least amenable to change as a result of home visitation, (3) the duration and intensity of services (including amounts and types of training for home visitors) that are necessary to achieve positive outcomes for high-risk families, (4) the experience

of fathers in general and of families in diverse ethnic communities in particular with home visitation interventions, and (5) the need for follow-up services once the period of home visitation has ended.

Intensive Family Preservation Services

Intensive family preservation services represent crisis-oriented, short-term, intensive case management and family support programs that have been introduced in various communities to improve family functioning and to prevent the removal of children from the home. The overall goal of the intervention is to provide flexible forms of family support to assist with the resolution of circumstances that stimulated the child placement proposal, thus keeping the family intact and reducing foster care placements.

Eight of ten evaluation studies of selected intensive family preservation service programs (including five randomized trials and five quasi-experimental studies) suggest that, although these services may delay child placement for families in the short term, they do not show an ability to resolve the underlying family dysfunction that precipitated the crisis or to improve child well-being or family functioning in most families. However, the evaluations have shortcomings, such as poorly defined assessment of child placement risk, inadequate descriptions of the interventions provided, and nonblinded determination of the assignment of clients to treatment and control groups.

Intensive family preservation services may provide important benefits to the child, family, and community in the form of emergency assistance, improved family functioning, better housing and environmental conditions, and increased collaboration among discrete service systems. Intensive family preservation services may also result in child endangerment, however, when a child remains in a family environment that threatens the health or physical safety of the child or other family members.

Recommendation 6: Intensive family preservation services represent an important part of the continuum of family support services, but they should not be required in every situation in which a child is recommended for out-of-home placement.

Measures of health, safety, and well-being should be included in evaluations of intensive family preservation services to determine their impact on children's outcomes as well as placement rates and levels of family functioning, including evidence of recurrence of abuse of the child or other family members. There is a need for enhanced screening instruments that can identify the families who are most likely to benefit from intensive short-term services focused on the resolution of crises that affect family stability and functioning.

The value of appropriate post-reunification (or placement) services to the child and family to enhance coping and the ability to make a successful transition

toward long-term adjustment also remains uncertain. The impact of post-reunification or post-placement services needs to be considered in terms of their relative effects on child and family functioning compared with the use of intensive family preservation services prior to child removal. In some situations, one or the other type of services might be recommended; in other cases, they might be used in some combination to achieve positive outcomes.

Recommendations For The Next Generation Of Evaluations

Determining which interventions should be selected for rigorous and in-depth evaluations in the future will acquire increased importance as the array of family violence interventions expands in social services, law, and health care settings. For this reason, clear criteria and guiding principles are necessary to guide sponsoring agencies in their efforts to determine which types of interventions are suitable for evaluation research. Recognizing that all promising interventions cannot be evaluated, public and private agencies need to consider how to invest research resources in areas that show programmatic potential as well as an adequate research foundation. Future allocations of research investments may require agencies to reorganize or to develop new programmatic and research units that can inform the process of selecting interventions for future evaluation efforts, determine the scope of adequate funding levels, and identify areas in which program integration or diversity may contribute to a knowledge base that can inform policy, practice, and research. Such agencies may also consider how to sustain an ongoing dialogue among research sponsors, research scientists, and service providers to inform these selection efforts and to disseminate evaluation results once they are available.

In the interim, the committee offers several guiding principles to help inform the evaluation selection process.

• meet the preconditions for experimentation that are described in the other principles outlined below.

With these principles in mind, the committee has identified a set of interventions that are the focus of current policy attention and service innovation efforts but have not received significant attention from research. In the committee's judgment, each of these nine interventions has reached a level of maturation and preliminary description in the research literature to justify their selection as strong candidates for future evaluation studies.

Training for Service Providers and Law Enforcement Officials

Training in basic educational programs and continuing education on all aspects

of family violence has expanded for professionals in the health care, legal, and social service systems. Such efforts can be expected to enhance skills in identifying individual experiences with family violence, but improvements in training may improve other outcomes as well, including the patterns and timing of service interventions, the nature of interactions with victims of family violence, linkage of service referrals, the quality of investigation and documentation for reported cases, and, ultimately, improved health and safety outcomes for victims and communities.

Training programs alone may be insufficient to change professional behavior and service interventions unless they are accompanied by financial and human resources that emphasize the role of psychosocial issues and support the delivery of appropriate treatment, prevention, and referral services in different institutional and community settings. Evaluations of their effectiveness therefore need to consider the institutional culture and resource base that influence the implementation of the training program and the abilities of service providers to apply their knowledge and skills in meeting the needs of their clients.

Evaluation research is needed to assess the impact of training programs on counseling and referral practices and service delivery in health care, social service, and law enforcement settings. This research should include examination of the effects of training on the health and mental health status of those who receive services, including short- and long-term outcomes such as empowerment, freedom from violence, recovery from trauma, and rebuilding of life. Evaluations should also examine the role of training programs as catalysts for innovative and collaborative services. They should consider the extent to which training programs influence the behavior of agency personnel, including the interaction of service providers with professionals from other institutional settings, their participation in comprehensive community service programs, and the exposure of personal experiences in institutions charged with providing interventions for abuse.

Universal Screening in Health Care Settings

The significant role of health care and social service professionals in screening for victimization by all forms of family violence deserves critical analysis and rigorous evaluation. Early detection of child maltreatment, spousal violence, and elder abuse is believed to lead to an infusion of treatment and preventive services that can reduce exposure to harm, mitigate the negative consequences of abuse and neglect, improve health outcomes, and reduce the need for future health services. Screening programs can also enhance primary prevention efforts by providing information, education, and awareness of resources in the community. The benefits associated with early detection need to be balanced against risks presented by false positives and false negatives associated with large-scale screening efforts and programs characterized by inadequate staff training and responses.

Such efforts also need to consider whether appropriate treatment, protection, and support services are available for victims or offenders once they have been detected.

The use of enhanced screening instruments also requires attention to the need for services that can respond effectively to the large caseloads generated by expanded detection activities. The child protective services literature suggests that increased reporting can diminish the capacity of agencies to respond effectively if additional resources are not available to support enhanced services as well as screening.

The use of screening instruments in health care and social service settings for batterer identification and treatment is more problematic, given the lack of knowledge about factors that enhance or discourage their violent behavior. Screening only victims may be insufficient to provide a full picture of family violence; however, screening batterers may increase the danger for their victims, especially if batterer treatment interventions are not available or are not reliable in providing effective treatment and if support services are not available for victims once a perpetrator is identified. Screening adults for histories of childhood abuse, which may help prevent future victimization of the patient or others, may also be problematic without adequate training or mental health services to deal with the possible resurgence of trauma.

Evaluation studies of family violence screening efforts could build on the lessons derived from screening research in other health care areas (such as HIV detection, lead exposure, sickle cell, and others). This research could provide data that would support or contradict the theory that early identification is a useful secondary prevention intervention, especially in areas in which appropriate services may not be available or reliable. The cost issues associated with universal screening need to be considered in terms of their implications for savings in possible cost reductions from consequent conditions (such as the health consequences of HIV infection, sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancy, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and the exacerbation of other medical conditions) that may occur in other health care areas. Finally, the risks associated with screening (such as the establishment of a preexisting condition that may influence insurance eligibility) require consideration; such issues are already being addressed by some advocacy groups, insurance corporations, and regulatory bodies in the health care area.

Mental Health and Counseling Services

Little is known at present regarding the comparative effectiveness of different forms of therapeutic services for victims of family violence. Findings from recent studies of child physical and sexual abuse suggest that certain approaches (specifically cognitive-behavioral programs) are associated with more positive outcomes for parents, such as reducing aggressive/coercive behavior, compared

with family therapy and routine community mental health services. No treatment outcome studies have been conducted in the area of child neglect. Interventions in this field generally draw on approaches for dealing with other childhood and adolescent problems with similar symptom profiles.

For domestic violence, research evaluations are in the early stages of design and empirical data are not yet available to guide analyses of the effectiveness of different approaches. Major challenges include the absence of agreement regarding key psychosocial outcomes of interest in assessing the effectiveness of interventions, variations in the use of treatment protocols designed for post-traumatic stress for individuals who may still be experiencing traumatic situations, tensions between protocol-driven models of treatment (which are easier to evaluate) and those that are driven by the needs of the client or the context in which the violence occurred, the co-occurrence of trauma and other problems (such as prior victimization, depression, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders) that may have preceded the violence but require mental health services, and the difficulty of involving victims in follow-up studies after the completion of treatment. Variations in the context in which mental health services are provided for victims of domestic violence (such as isolated services, managed care programs, and services that are incorporated into an array of social support programs, including housing and job counseling) also require attention. Topics of special interest include contextual issues, such as the general lack of access to quality mental health services for women without sufficient independent income, and the danger of psychiatric diagnoses being used against battered women in child custody cases.

Collaborative efforts are needed to provide opportunities for the exchange of methodology, research measures, and designs to foster the development of controlled studies that can compare the results of innovative treatment approaches with routine counseling programs in community services.

Comprehensive Community Initiatives

Evaluations of batterer treatment programs, protective orders, and arrest policies suggest that the role of these individual interventions may be enhanced if they are part of a broad-based strategy to address family violence. The development of comprehensive, community-based interventions has become extremely widespread in the 1990s; examples include domestic violence coordinating councils, child advocacy centers, and elder abuse task forces. A few communities (most notably Duluth, Minnesota, and Quincy, Massachusetts) have developed systemwide strategies to coordinate their law enforcement and other service responses to domestic violence.

Comprehensive community-based interventions must confront difficult challenges, both in the design and implementation of such services, and in the selection of appropriate measures to assess their effectiveness. Many evaluations of comprehensive community-based interventions have focused primarily on the

design and implementation process, to determine whether an individual program had incorporated sufficient range and diversity among formal and informal networks so that it can achieve a significant impact in the community. This type of process evaluation does not necessarily require new methods of assessment or analysis, although it can benefit from recent developments in the evaluation literature, such as the empowerment evaluations discussed in Chapter 3 .

In contrast, the evaluation challenges that emerge from large-scale community-based efforts are formidable. First, it may be difficult to determine when an intervention has reached an appropriate stage of implementation to warrant a rigorous assessment of its effects. Second, the implementation of a community-wide intervention may be accompanied by a widespread social movement against family violence, so that it becomes difficult to distinguish the effects of the intervention itself from the impact of changing cultural and social norms that influence behavior. In some cases, the effects attributed to the intervention may appear weak, because they are overwhelmed by the impact of the social movement itself. Third, the selection of an appropriate comparison or control group for community-wide interventions presents formidable problems in terms of matching social and structural characteristics and compensating for community-to-community variation in record keeping.

These challenges require close attention to the emerging knowledge associated with the evaluation of comprehensive community-wide interventions in areas unrelated to family violence, so that important design, theory, and measurement insights can be applied to the special needs of programs focused on child maltreatment, domestic violence, and elder abuse. Although no single model of service integration, comprehensive services, or community change can be endorsed at this time, a range of interesting community service designs has emerged that have achieved widespread popularity and support at the local level. Because their primary focus is often on prevention, rather than treatment, comprehensive community interventions have the potential to achieve change across multiple levels of interactions affecting individuals, families, communities, and social norms and thus reduce the scope and severity of family violence as well as contribute to remedies to other important social problems.

A growing research literature has appeared in other fields, particularly in the area of substance abuse and community development, that identifies the conceptual frameworks, data collection, and methodological issues that need to be considered in designing evaluation studies for community-based and systemwide interventions. As an example, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention in the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has funded a series of studies designed to improve methodologies for the evaluation of community-based substance abuse prevention programs that offer important building blocks for the field of family violence interventions.

Developing effective evaluation strategies for comprehensive and systemwide programs is one of the most challenging issues for the research community

in this field. No evaluations have been conducted to date to examine the relative advantages of comprehensive and systemwide community initiatives compared with traditional services. Evaluations need to consider the mix of components in comprehensive interventions that determine their effectiveness and successful implementation; the comparative strengths and limitations of inter- and intra-agency interventions; community factors, such as political leadership, historical tensions, diversity of ethnic/cultural composition, and resource allocation strategies; and the impact of comprehensive interventions on the capacity of service agencies to provide traditional care and effective responses to reports of family violence.

Shelter Programs and Other Domestic Violence Services

Over time, most battered women's shelters have expanded their services to encompass far more than the provision of refuge. Today, many shelters have support groups for women residents, support groups for child residents, emergency and transitional housing, and legal and welfare advocacy. Nonresidential services also have expanded, so that any battered woman in the community is able to attend a support group or request advocacy services. Many agencies now offer educational groups for men who batter, as well as programs dealing with dating violence. Some communities have never opened a shelter yet are able to offer support groups, advocacy, crisis intervention, and safe homes (neighbors sheltering a neighbor, for example) to help battered women and their families in times of crisis. In addition to providing services for victims, the battered women service organizations also define their goal as transforming the conditions and norms that support violence against women. Thus these organizations work as agents of social change in their communities to improve the community-wide response to battered women and their children.

Shelter services and battered women's support organizations are ready for evaluations that can identify program outcomes and compare the effectiveness of different service interventions. Research studies are also needed that can describe the multiple goals and theories that shape the program objectives of these interventions, provide detailed histories of the ways in which different service systems have been implemented, and examine the characteristics of the women who do or do not use or benefit from them.

Protective Orders

Protective orders can be an important part of the prevention strategy for domestic violence and help document the record of assaults and threatening actions. The low priority traditionally assigned to the handling of protective orders, which are usually treated as civil matters in police agencies, requires attention, as do the procedural requirements of the legal system. Courts have

accepted alternative forms of due process, including public notice, notice by mail, and other forms of notification that do not require personal contact. Efforts are needed now to compare the effectiveness of short-term (30-day) restraining orders with a longer (1-year) protective order in reducing violent behavior by offenders and securing access to legal and support services for the complainants.

In-depth case studies and interviews with victims who have had police and court contacts because of domestic violence are needed to highlight individual, social, and institutional factors that facilitate or inhibit victim use of and perpetrator compliance with protective orders in different community settings. Such studies could (1) reveal patterns of help-seeking contacts and services that affect the use of protective orders and compliance with their requirements, (2) highlight the forms of sanctions that are appropriate to ensure compliance and to deter future violent behavior, (3) explore the extent to which the effects of protective orders are enhanced in reducing violence if victim advocates, shelter services, or other social support resources are available and are used by the victim in redefining the terms of her relationship with her partner, and (4) examine the extent to which protective orders can mitigate the consequences of violence for children who may have been assaulted or who may have witnessed an assault against their mother.

Child Fatality Review Panels

The emergence of child fatality review teams in 21 states since 1978 represents an innovative effort in many communities to address systemwide implications of severe violence against children and infants. Child fatality review teams involve a multiagency effort to compile and integrate information about child deaths and to review and evaluate the record of caseworkers and agencies in providing services to these children when a report of abuse or neglect had been made prior to a child's death. These review teams can provide an opportunity to examine the quality of a community's total approach to child abuse and neglect prevention and treatment.

The experience of child fatality review teams in identifying systemic features that enhance or weaken agency efforts to protect children needs to be evaluated and made accessible to individual service providers in health, legal, and social service agencies. Key research issues include: the effect of review team actions on the protection of family members of children who have died as a result of child maltreatment; the impact of child fatality review reports on the prosecution of offenders; the influence of review team efforts on the routine investigation, treatment, and prevention activities of participating agencies; the impact of review teams on other community child protection and domestic violence prevention efforts; and the identification of early warning signals that emerge in child homicide investigations that represent opportunities for preventive interventions.

Child Witness to Violence Programs

Child witness programs represent an important development in the evolution of comprehensive approaches to family violence, but they have not yet been evaluated. Evaluation studies of these programs should examine the experience with symptomatology among children who witness family violence, to determine whether and for whom early intervention influences the course of development of social and mental health consequences, such as depression, anxiety, emotional detachment, aggression and violence, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Such studies could also compare variations in the developmental histories of children who witness violence with those of children who are injured or otherwise are directly victimized by their parents or who witness violence in their communities. Evaluation studies should consider the recommended forms of treatment for these children, the standards of eligibility that determine their placement in treatment programs, and the impact of institutional setting (hospital, shelter, or social service agency) and reimbursement plans on the quality of the treatment.

Elder Abuse Services

Only seven program evaluation studies have been published on elder abuse interventions, none of which includes random groups and most of which involve small sample sizes. Three major issues challenge effective interventions in this area: the degree of dependence between perpetrators and victims, restricted social services budgets, general public distrust of social welfare programs, and the relationship between judgments about competence and the application of the principles of self-determination and privacy to the problem of elder abuse.

Evaluation studies should consider the different types and multiple dimensions of elder abuse in the development of effective interventions. The benefits of specific programs need to be compared with integrated service systems that are designed to foster the well-being of the elderly population without regard to special circumstances. Evaluation research should be integrated into community service programs and agency efforts on behalf of elderly persons to foster studies that involve the use of comparison and control groups, common measures, and the assessment of outcomes associated with different forms of service interventions.

Topics For Basic Research

The committee identified four basic research topics that require further development to inform policy and practice. These topics raise fundamental questions about the approaches that should be used in designing treatment, prevention, and enforcement strategies. As such, they highlight important dimensions of family violence that should be addressed in a research agenda for the field.

birth, infancy, and adolescence. Other issues linked to family formation include the use of corporal punishment in child discipline, gender roles, privacy, and strategies for resolving conflict among adults or siblings.

A third approach would be studies to discern the protective factors inside and outside families that enable some children who are exposed to violence to not only survive but also to develop coping mechanisms that serve them well later in life. This analysis would have widespread implications for assessing the impact of biological and experiential factors in specific domains, such as fear, anxiety, self-blame, identity formation, helplessness, and help-seeking behaviors. Such research could also identify abuse-related coping strategies (such as excessive distrust of or overdependence on others) that may contribute to other problems that emerge in the course of adolescent and adult development.

first-time parents, victims and offenders who have substance abuse histories, etc.)

Forging Partnerships Between Research And Practice

Although it is premature to expect research to offer definitive answers about the relative effectiveness of the array of current service and enforcement strategies, the committee sees valuable opportunities that now exist to accelerate the rate by which service providers can identify the types of individuals, families, and communities that may benefit from certain types or combinations of service and enforcement interventions. Major challenges must be addressed, however, to improve the overall quality of the evaluations of family violence interventions and to provide a research base that can inform policy and practice. These challenges include issues of study design and methodology as well as logistical concerns that must be resolved in order to conduct research in open service systems where the research investigator is not able to control factors that may weaken the study design and influence its outcome. The resolution of these challenges will require collaborative partnerships between researchers, service providers, and policy makers to generate common approaches and data sources.

The integration of research and practice in the field of family violence, as in many other areas of human services, has occurred on a haphazard basis. As a result, program sponsors, service providers, clients, victims, researchers, and community representatives have not been able to learn in a systematic manner from the diverse experiences of both large and small programs. Mayors, judges, police officers, caseworkers, child and victim advocates, health professionals, and others must make life-or-death decisions each day in the face of tremendous

uncertainty, often relying on conflicting reports, anecdotal data, and inconsistent information in judging the effectiveness of specific interventions.

The development of creative partnerships between the research and practice communities would greatly improve the targeting of limited resources to specific clients who can benefit most from a particular type of intervention. Yet significant barriers inhibit the development of such partnerships, including disagreements about the nature and origins of family violence, broad variations in the conceptual frameworks that guide service delivery, differences over the relative merits of service and research, a lack of faith in the ability of research to inform and improve services, a lack of trust in the ability of service providers to inform the design of research experiments and the formation of theoretical frameworks, and concerns about fairness and safety in including victims and offenders in experimental treatment groups. These fundamental differences obscure identification of outcomes of interest in the development of evaluation studies, which are further complicated by limitations in study design and access to appropriate subjects that are necessary for the conduct of research.

Even if greater levels of trust fostered more interaction between the research community and service providers, collaborative efforts would be challenged by factors such as the lack of funding for empirical studies, the availability of limited resources to support studies over appropriate time frames, and the social and economic characteristics of some of the populations served by family violence interventions that make them difficult to follow over extended periods of time (chaotic households, high mobility of the client population, concerns for safety, lack of telephones and permanent residences, etc.).

Service providers and program sponsors have often been skeptical of efforts to evaluate the impact of a selected intervention, knowing that critical or premature assessments could jeopardize the program's future and restrict future opportunities for service delivery. Service providers have also been less than enthusiastic in seeking program evaluations, knowing that the programs to be evaluated have been underfunded and are understaffed and present a less than ideal situation; in their view, the assessment may diminish future resources and affect the development of a particular strategy or programmatic approach. The tremendous demand for services and the limited availability of staff resources create a pressured environment in which the staff time involved in filling out forms for research purposes is seen as being sacrificed from time that might be used to serve people in need. In some cases, research funds support demonstration programs that are highly valued by a community, yet few resources are available to support them once the research phase has been completed.

Researchers and service providers need to resolve the programmatic tensions that have sometimes surfaced in contentious debates over the type of services that should be put into place in addressing problems of family violence. The mistrust and skepticism present major challenges that need to resolved before the technical challenges to effective evaluations can be addressed. A reformulation of the

research process is needed so that, while building a long-term capacity to focus on complex issues and conduct rigorous studies, researchers can also provide useful information to service providers.

The committee has identified three major principles to help integrate research and practice in the field of family violence interventions:

• Evaluation should be an integral part of any major intervention, particularly those that are designed to be replicated in multiple communities. Interventions have often been put into place without a research base to support them or rigorous evaluation efforts to guide their development. Evaluation research based on theoretical models is needed to link program goals and operational objectives with multiple program components and outcomes. Intensive marketing and praise for a particular intervention or program should no longer be a substitute for empirical data in determining the effectiveness of programs that are intended to be replicated in multiple sites.
• Coordinating policy, program, and research agendas will improve family violence interventions. Evaluation research will help program sponsors and managers clarify program goals and experience and identify areas in need of attention because of the difficulties of implementation, the use of resources, and changes in the client base. Research and data-based analysis can guide ongoing program and policy efforts if evaluation studies are integrated into the design and development of interventions. The knowledge base can be improved by (1) framing key hypotheses that can be tested by existing or new services, (2) building statistical models to explore the system-wide effects of selected interventions and compare these effects with the consequences of collaborative and comprehensive approaches, (3) using common definitions and measures to facilitate comparisons across individual studies, (4) using appropriate comparison and control groups in evaluation studies, including random assignment, when possible, (5) developing culturally sensitive research designs and measures, (6) identifying relevant outcomes in the assessment of selected interventions, and (7) developing alternative designs when traditional design methodology cannot be used for legal, ethical, or practical reasons.
• Surmounting existing barriers to collaboration between research and practice communities requires policy incentives and leadership to foster partnership efforts. Many interventions are not evaluated because of limited funds, because the individuals involved in service delivery consider research to be peripheral to the needs of their clients, because the researchers are disinterested in studying the complexity of service delivery systems and the impact of violence in clients' lives, or because research methods are not yet available to assess outcomes that result from the complex interaction of multiple systems. This situation will continue until program sponsors and policy officials exercise leadership to build partnerships between the research and practice communities and to provide funds for rigorous evaluations in the development of service and law enforcement
• interventions. Additional steps are required to foster a more constructive dialogue and partnership between the research and practice communities.

Partnership efforts are also needed to focus research attention on the particular implementation of an individual program rather than the strategy behind the program design. Promising intervention strategies may be discarded prematurely because of special circumstances that obstructed full implementation of the program. Conversely, programs that offer only limited effectiveness may appear to be successful on the basis of evaluation studies that did not consider the significant points of vulnerability and limitations in the service design or offer a comparative analysis with the benefits to be derived from routine services.

The establishment and documentation of a series of consensus conferences on relevant outcomes, and appropriate measurement tools, will strengthen and enhance evaluations of family violence interventions and lead to improvements in the design of programs, interventions, and strategies. May opportunities currently exist for research to inform the design and assessment of treatment and prevention interventions. In addition, service providers can help guide researchers in the identification of appropriate domains in which program effects may occur but are currently not being examined. Ongoing dialogues can guide the identification and development of instruments and methods that can capture the density and distribution of relevant effects that are not well understood. The organization of a series of consensus conferences by sponsors in public and private agencies that are concerned with the future quality of family violence interventions would be an important contribution to the development of this field.

Reports of mistreated children, domestic violence, and abuse of elderly persons continue to strain the capacity of police, courts, social services agencies, and medical centers. At the same time, myriad treatment and prevention programs are providing services to victims and offenders. Although limited research knowledge exists regarding the effectiveness of these programs, such information is often scattered, inaccessible, and difficult to obtain.

Violence in Families takes the first hard look at the successes and failures of family violence interventions. It offers recommendations to guide services, programs, policy, and research on victim support and assistance, treatments and penalties for offenders, and law enforcement. Included is an analysis of more than 100 evaluation studies on the outcomes of different kinds of programs and services.

Violence in Families provides the most comprehensive review on the topic to date. It explores the scope and complexity of family violence, including identification of the multiple types of victims and offenders, who require different approaches to intervention. The book outlines new strategies that offer promising approaches for service providers and researchers and for improving the evaluation of prevention and treatment services. Violence in Families discusses issues that underlie all types of family violence, such as the tension between family support and the protection of children, risk factors that contribute to violent behavior in families, and the balance between family privacy and community interventions.

The core of the book is a research-based review of interventions used in three institutional sectors—social services, health, and law enforcement settings—and how to measure their effectiveness in combating maltreatment of children, domestic violence, and abuse of the elderly. Among the questions explored by the committee: Does the child protective services system work? Does the threat of arrest deter batterers? The volume discusses the strength of the evidence and highlights emerging links among interventions in different institutional settings.

Thorough, readable, and well organized, Violence in Families synthesizes what is known and outlines what needs to be discovered. This volume will be of great interest to policymakers, social services providers, health care professionals, police and court officials, victim advocates, researchers, and concerned individuals.

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Violence Against Women Research Database

• Domestic Violence

The Multicultural Community Liaison Officer (MCLO) Program is designed to combat domestic violence in the Australia.  This presentation briefly discusses the challenges and achievements of MCLO. 

http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/ylsd/3/

This thesis is born of the question: why do women suffer domestic violence disproportionately to any other group? Why does it continue, in the same form, with the same degree of pain, without rebate? And, if the same harm occurs over and over again, consistent through generations and uniform across borders, why then has the international community not yet developed effective means to address it? This thesis attempts to find a legal answer. This is prefaced, however, by the acknowledgement that the law is only one tool in an array of mechanisms, such as health, economics, and politics, which, if properly combined, could alleviate the pain and difficulties experienced by many victims of domestic violence. The area of law to which I look is international human rights law. My initial motivation for considering public international law arose from the repetition of similar forms of domestic violence around the globe. All over the world women suffer the same type of violence at the hands of their intimate partners and they endure the same feelings of helplessness and isolation when looking to the state for protection. If such violence is universal, it seems then, so too should be the solution. I propose in this thesis that international law, if properly fashioned, can be used effectively as part of this solution. In particular, I maintain that the authoritative enunciation of a norm against domestic violence in international law can improve the way states address domestic violence. I do not propose that individual abusers should be tried by international law. My focus instead is on the extent to which states fail consistently to alleviate domestic violence. This is important because many legal systems appreciate neither the exigency of extreme forms of domestic violence, nor the extent to which women as a group are disproportionately victims of this violence. The result of this lack of appreciation is an almost universal failure to police, prevent and punish domestic violence effectively.3 Due to the socialized normalcy of domestic violence, very few cases are reported or actually prosecuted. Where prosecutions do proceed, victims will often drop their complaints either because they have reconciled with, or because they fear recrimination from, their abuser. Given the disjuncture between the reality of domestic violence and the inefficacy of many legal systems to address it, a revision of the law vis-à-vis domestic violence is needed. Both national and international legal systems are in need of change. This thesis proposes that the international community should adopt a clear and authoritative articulation of a legal right against extreme and systemic forms of domestic violence and a corresponding duty of states to help remedy such violence. This proposition is made on the basis that international law currently does not contain an effective articulation of this right, and that adopting effective global standards in international law for addressing such violence would help improve state enforcement of this right. Under the current state of international law, it is difficult to convince states to prioritize its resources and infrastructures to protect abused women. Articulating clear and effective global standards in international law for addressing extreme forms of domestic violence would provide an important and practical benchmark against which domestic state legislation could be evaluated and re-shaped. Formulating such global standards could place pressure on states to take basic remedial steps against such violence, such as enacting legislation that allows for restraining orders to be made at the same time as a maintenance order, or creating accessible shelters, which will accommodate the divergent needs of women, including their children.

http://odhikar.org/fairness-creams-skin-colour-based-discrimination-and-violence-against-women-time-to-stop/

Ruma (not her real name), a school teacher by profession and a mother of two, living in Dhaka, married Mainul eight years ago. Soon after, Mainul started harassing her, calling her an ‘ugly’ woman – because of her dark complexion.  Her mother-in-law and other members of her husband’s family used to verbally abuse her almost every day, saying that her skin is ‘moyla’ (dirty); and expressed their anger and frustration, and thought that Mainul had bad luck as he was not able to marry a ‘beautiful’ woman–meaning a fair-complexioned woman. Ruma tried very hard to be seen as beautiful in the eyes of her husband and in-laws and experimented to see how she could look fairer. She started buying brand name fairness creams, hoping to make her skin lighter as she started to believe that fair meant lovely, as the advertisements say. She regularly watched fairness cream advertisements on television, read about them on bill boards and newspapers and wanted to be as fair as the models in the advertisements. Unfortunately, nothing really worked or showed much of a result. Her husband and in laws demanded a huge amount of dowry repeatedly – apparently as a retaliation for her darker skin.

http://www.civicresearchinstitute.com/online/issue.php?pid=18

*The full article is available through this link. This article may be available free of charge to those with university credentials.

The leading professional report devoted exclusively to innovative programs, legal developments, and current services and research in domestic violence law and prevention.

Domestic Violence Report  keeps you up-to-date on...

• Successful programs for prevention, protection, enforcement, prosecution, aftercare and corrections
• New legislation, court decisions, regulatory and policy developments
• Practical intervention strategies
• Criminal and civil litigation
• Medical and psychological treatment of victims, abusers and their children

http://odhikar.org/are-you-a-silent-observer-of-dowry-and-related-violence/

Every year many women in Bangladesh are killed and physically abused and many commit suicide because of the the vicious dowry practice and related violence. According to the rights organisation Odhikar, at least 2,800 women were killed, 1,833 were physically abused and 204 committed suicide because of dowry-related violence between 2001 and July 2014.

By analysing the overall dowry situation, reported statistics indicate that it is only the tip of the iceberg. Majority of the victims continue to tolerate abuse, if they are not killed, all through their married life and never report it. The main reasons behind tolerating or not reporting such abuse is that they are either financially incapable of going away and protecting themselves from their abusive husbands or they are not welcome by their poverty-stricken or stigmatised parental families.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24777256

Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) has negative consequences for children's well-being and behavior. Much of the research on parenting in the context of IPV has focused on whether and how IPV victimization may negatively shape maternal parenting, and how parenting may in turn negatively influence child behavior, resulting in a deficit model of mothering in the context of IPV. However, extant research has yet to untangle the interrelationships among the constructs and test whether the negative effects of IPV on child behavior are indeed attributable to IPV affecting mothers' parenting. The current study employed path analysis to examine the relationships among IPV, mothers' parenting practices, and their children's externalizing behaviors over three waves of data collection among a sample of 160 women with physically abusive partners. Findings indicate that women who reported higher levels of IPV also reported higher levels of behavior problems in their children at the next time point. When parenting practices were examined individually as mediators of the relationship between IPV and child behavior over time, one type of parenting was significant, such that higher IPV led to higher authoritative parenting and lower child behavior problems [corrected]. On the other hand, there was no evidence that higher levels of IPV contributed to more child behavior problems due to maternal parenting. Instead, IPV had a significant cumulative indirect effect on child behavior via the stability of both IPV and behavior over time. Implications for promoting women's and children's well-being in the context of IPV are discussed.

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/product/Heavy-Hands-An-Introduct...

Heavy Hands, Fifth Edition, provides an authentic introduction to the crimes of family violence, covering offenders and offenses, impact on victims, and responses of the criminal justice system. This established text is essential reading for those considering careers in criminal justice, victim advocacy, social work, and counseling. Gosselin draws on extensive field experience and uses real-life examples to provide sharp insight into how and why abuse occurs and its effects on abuse survivors. The text’s accessible language and effective learning tools keep students engaged and motivated, while its practical, real-world focus helps students connect text material to the world around them. 

http://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-DHSQMP-DHS-Questionnaires...

**Go to the publication " DHS6_Module_Domestic_Violence_6Aug2014_DHSQMP"

This document is part of the Demographic and Health Survey’s DHS Toolkit of methodology for the MEASURE DHS Phase III project, implemented from 2008-2013.

This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It was prepared by MEASURE DHS/ICF International.

http://www.pulp.up.ac.za/edited-collections/strengthening-the-protection...

Strengthening the protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the African region through human rights uses rights-based frameworks to address some of the serious sexual and reproductive health challenges that the African region is currently facing. More importantly, the book provides insightful human rights approaches on how these challenges can be overcome. The book is the first of its kind. It is an important addition to the resources available to researchers, academics, policymakers, civil society organisations, human rights defenders, learners and other persons interested in the subject of sexual and reproductive health and rights as they apply to the African region. Human rights issues addressed by the book include: access to safe abortion and emergency obstetric care; HIV/AIDS; adolescent sexual health and rights; early marriage; and gender-based sexual violence.

Myanmar Activists Demand Law to Ban Violence Against Women

This article from The New York Times explores Myanmar's lack of infrastructure to combat violence against women and children. 

http://euromedrights.org/publication/violence-against-women-in-the-conte...

On the occasion of International Women’s Day (8th of March), the Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) published today its regional report “Violence against women in the context of political transformations and economic crisis in the Euro-Mediterranean region; trends and recommendations towards equality and justice”.

This report alerts that violence against women has dramatically increased in the Euro-Mediterranean region during the recent years,  showcasing key patterns of violence against women, through case studies from Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, France, Cyprus and Spain.

The report also underlines the alarming increase and severity of sexual violence in countries such as Libya, Syria and Egypt mounting to sexual terrorism.  In Egypt, women protestors were subjected to systematic and seemingly planned harassment and gang rapes in Tahrir Square. In Syria, women and are subjected to trafficking and sexual exploitation girls in refugee camps.

Subject : This research memorandum presents key findings from desk research conducted in January and February 2014, on the barriers to instituting appropriate VAW laws against domestic violence (DV), and to effectively implementing them in three countries in Asia (China, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka).

Background and Cross-Cutting Findings: China, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have all ratified CEDAW; however, both China and Pakistan have not passed the Optional Protocol to CEDAW. Research found four cross-cutting barriers impeding the institutionalization of appropriate VAW laws against DV in these three countries:

1)  The predominant public discourse on DV is fragmented. As a result, an overall sense of urgency and severity of the problem is not felt among key stakeholders in all 3 countries.

2)  Other national policies regarding housing, marriage, fertility, migration, etc. undermine both the international (CEDAW) legal framework, and the national policies set up for service provision and protection across all three countries.

3)  There is an overall lack of appropriate resource allocation among all 3 countries for comprehensively implementing appropriate VAW laws against DV. A large body of evidence suggests multiple root causes for VAW-DV, and States disagree on where and how to allocate resources to VAW-DV (prevention, intervention, prosecution, and protection).

4)  Incomparable and unreliable data is the 4 th major barrier to instituting appropriate VAW laws against DV both internationally through CEDAW, and nationally within all 3 countries. Transparency of data collection methodologies is also a noted concern. 

Violence against Women (VAW) is a pervasive, global human rights violation. This research memo discusses the current state of VAW in Australia, and the Australian Governments proposed National Action Plan (NAP) addressing VAW across Australia’s diverse community. Noting that women’s rights are not fully protected by the Commonwealth and revealing the current appalling statistics around domestic and sexual violence against Australian women, the memo then provides insight on Indigenous women and VAW, followed by a deeper look at NAP. Finally, after a brief look at the recent study tour of Australia by the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Australia’s commitment to addressing VAW is discussed with reference to reporting for CEDAW and UPR. The memo then considers the Special Rapporteur’s study tour in light of the election of a new federal government. It then concludes that if the state shows genuine commitment to its people, and to its obligations under human rights treaties, the onus ultimately rests on it to work with civil society to make use of the human rights mechanisms and seek to honestly and with purpose examine their human rights status and develop and adopt sustainable positive change. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24164531

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has detrimental consequences for women's mental health. To effectively intervene, it is essential to understand the process through which IPV influences women's mental health. The current study used data from 5 waves of the Women's Employment Study, a prospective study of single mothers receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), to empirically investigate the extent to which job stability mediates the relationship between IPV and adverse mental health outcomes. The findings indicate that IPV significantly negatively affects women's job stability and mental health. Further, job stability is at least partly responsible for the damaging mental health consequences of abuse, and the effects can last up to 3 years after the IPV ends. This study demonstrates the need for interventions that effectively address barriers to employment as a means of enhancing the mental health of low-income women with abusive partners.

http://jbp.sagepub.com/content/40/6/563

Racial microaggressions are often unintentional and subtle forms of racism that manifest in interpersonal communications, behaviors, or environments. The purpose of this study was to explore the presence of racial microaggressions within domestic violence shelters and to understand how women respond to them. Using a phenomenological approach to data collection and analysis, 14 Black women from 3 different shelters were interviewed. Twelve women reported experiencing at least one racial microaggression, although few identified the experience as racist. Additional themes were also examined to understand why women did not identify their experiences of racial microaggressions as racist. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2010/1/ending-vio...

Can be found under the 'View Online' portion of the site

Ending violence against women is at the heart of the mandate of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The international community has an unprecedented opportunity to make meaningful progress in tackling this universal human rights violation. Within this context, UNIFEM has developed its Strategy 2008-2013 to end violence against women and girls, an overview of which is presented here. 

http://www.larepublica.ec/blog/internacional/2013/02/15/bolivia-enfrenta...

La Paz, 15 feb (EFE).- Bolivia ha asumido el reto de frenar la hasta ahora reinante impunidad en los crímenes contra las mujeres con una ley que castigará con dureza la violencia machista, tras el asesinato esta semana de una periodista a manos de su esposo policía.

http://www.echr.coe.int/sites/search_eng/pages/search.aspx#{"fulltext":["factsheet: Violence against women"],"subcategory":["factsheets"]}

Document summaries the court’s case law in relation to domestic violence, genital mutilations, rape, violence and social exclusion, violence at the hands of state authorities and violence in public places.

12 cases dealing with domestic violence refer to the violation of different articles of the European Convention of human rights, namely of the article 2 on the right to life, article 13 on the right to an effective remedy, article 8 on the right to respect for family life, prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment and article 14 on prohibition of discrimination. Both cases relating genital mutilation against Austria and Ireland were declared inadmissible for the reasons of insufficient protection of the young Nigerian girls that should be provided by their parents. 5 cases dealing with rape reaffirmed the violation of articles 3 on the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, article 8 and artcile 13 mentioned above. The case of violence and social exclusion confirmed violation of the article 3 whereas the violence at the hands of state authorities brought forward violation of the article 3, artcile 14 and article 11 on freedom of assembly. The last case presented in the factsheet deals with the violence in public places giving declaring the violation of the article 3 and article 8.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2013001/article/11766-eng.htm

For the past three decades, Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Ministers responsible for the Status of Women have shared a common vision to end violence against women in all its forms. Violence against women inCanada is a serious, pervasive problem that crosses every social boundary and affects communities across the country. It remains a significant barrier to women's equality and has devastating impacts on the lives of women, children, families and Canadian society as a whole.

This report marks the third time that the FPT Status of Women Forum has worked with Statistics Canada to add to the body of evidence on gender-based violence. Assessing Violence Against Women: A Statistical Profile was released in 2002 and was followed by Measuring Violence Against Women: Statistical Trends 2006. The 2006 report expanded the analysis into new areas, presenting information on Aboriginal women and women living in Canada's territories. The current report maintains this important focus and also includes information on dating violence, violence against girls and violence that occurs outside of the intimate partner/family context. It also shows trends over time and provides data at national, provincial/territorial, and census metropolitan area levels. A study on the economic impacts of one form of violence against women, spousal violence, is also presented.

http://mptf.undp.org/document/search?fund=WAV00&document_areas=fund,proj...

Please enter "Consolidated Report China" into the search engine in order to find this document.

The United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund to EVAW) is a leading multilateral grant-making mechanism devoted to supporting national and local efforts to end violence against women and girls. Established in 1996 by a UN General Assembly Resolution, the UN Trust Fund to EVAW is now administered by UN WOMEN. In 2008, the UN Trust Fund to EVAW began awarding grants on a competitive basis for Joint Programmes submitted by UN Country Teams. 

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A Qualitative Study of the Perspectives of Domestic Violence Survivors on Behavior Change Programs With Perpetrators

Affiliation.

• 1 Ulster University, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
• PMID: 31216924
• DOI: 10.1177/0886260519855663

This study investigated the process of change in intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators through in-depth interviews with their (ex-)partners. Programs designed to help perpetrators change their behavior, have yet to be endorsed by rigorous evaluation. In this context, this study explored survivors' perspectives for direction on how these programs might be further developed. Interviews were conducted with 18 IPV survivors, who had recently had the experience of having a (ex-)partner complete a perpetrator program. The study employed iterative data collection and analysis, in keeping with the grounded theory approach to qualitative research. Researchers used secondary coding to enhance study rigor. Lines of enquiry which were relevant to perpetrator program development were identified in an expert review of interim findings, after nine interviews. Survivors described change on a spectrum, from highly significant change, through uncertainty about change, to harmful change. Some survivors described their subscription to new standards of family safety, following the support and time-out they had been afforded during their partners' treatment. Study findings give us pause to consider what we can realistically hope to achieve through traditionally formatted psycho-educative group-work programs with perpetrators. Survivors described the need for long-term sustained change in perpetrators and genuine feelings of safety for themselves and their children. We discuss the role the current perpetrator programs might play in achieving these aims and point toward the inadequacy of commonly used behavior-counting tools in program evaluations. Based on the current study findings, we suggest that perpetrator programs can become perpetrator centric, and stray from their original conceptualisation as just one part of an integrated response to IPV. We lend support to calls for the use of survivor safety, and well-being measures, in program evaluations.

Keywords: anything related to domestic violence; assessment; batterers; children exposed to domestic violence; domestic violence; intervention/treatment.

• Domestic Violence*
• Grounded Theory
• Intimate Partner Violence*
• Qualitative Research

Grants and funding

• K08 HL112961/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States

• Frontiers in Psychology
• Psychopathology
• Research Topics

New Approaches to Understand Domestic Violence and Reduce Its Prevalence

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Domestic violence is a grave worldwide problem that affects all regions, cultures and socioeconomic statuses. Domestic violence encompasses several forms of violence including intimate partner violence, violence towards children and intra-family violence. In most reported cases of intimate partner violence, ...

Keywords : intimate partner violence, intra-family violence, recidivism, intervention programs, virtual reality

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Expert Commentary

Domestic violence and abusive relationships: Research review

Research review of data and studies relating to intimate partner violence and abusive relationships.

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by John Wihbey, The Journalist's Resource August 17, 2015

This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/criminal-justice/domestic-violence-abusive-relationships-research-review/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

The controversy over NFL star Ray Rice and the instance of domestic violence he perpetrated, which was caught on video camera, stirred wide discussion about sports culture, domestic violence and even the psychology of victims and their complex responses to abuse . In 2015, domestic violence drew a national spotlight again when the South Carolina newspaper, the Post and Courier , won a Pulitzer Prize for its investigation of women who were abused by men and had been dying at a rate of one every 12 days.

The research on domestic violence, referred to more precisely in academic literature as “intimate partner violence” (IPV), has grown substantially over the past few decades. Although knowledge of the problem and its scope have deepened, the issue remains a major health and social problem afflicting women. In November 2014 the World Health Organization estimated that 35% of all women have experienced either intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner during their lifetimes. This figure is supported by the findings of a 2013 peer-reviewed metastudy — the most rigorous form of research analysis — published in the leading academic journal Science . That metastudy found that “in 2010, 30.0% [95% confidence interval (CI) 27.8 to 32.2%] of women aged 15 and over have experienced, during their lifetime, physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence.” The prevalence found among high-income regions in North America was 21.3%. Of course, under-reporting remains a substantial problem in this research area.

In 2010, the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that “more than 1 in 3 women (35.6%) … in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.” That survey was subsequently updated in September 2014. The findings, based on telephone surveys with more than 12,000 people in 2011, include:

The lifetime prevalence of physical violence by an intimate partner was an estimated 31.5% among women and in the 12 months before taking the survey, an estimated 4.0% of women experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. An estimated 22.3% of women experienced at least one act of severe physical violence by an intimate partner during their lifetimes. With respect to individual severe physical violence behaviors, being slammed against something was experienced by an estimated 15.4% of women, and being hit with a fist or something hard was experienced by 13.2% of women. In the 12 months before taking the survey, an estimated 2.3% of women experienced at least one form of severe physical violence by an intimate partner.

Still, the overall rates of IPV in the United States have been generally falling over the past two decades, and in 2013 the federal government reauthorized an enhanced Violence Against Women Act , adding further legal protections and broadening the groups covered to include LGBT persons and Native American women. (For research on the relatively higher violence rates among gay men, see the 2012 study “Intimate Partner Violence and Social Pressure among Gay Men in Six Countries.” )

A 2013 study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family , “Women’s Education, Marital Violence, and Divorce: A Social Exchange Perspective,” analyzes a nationally representative sample of more than 900 young U.S. women to look at factors that make females more likely to leave abusive relationships. The researchers, Derek A. Kreager, Richard B. Felson, Cody Warner and Marin R. Wenger, are all at Pennsylvania State University. They note that traditional “social exchange theory” would suggest that as women have more resources, they become less dependent on men and have more opportunities outside relationships, and therefore have more ability to divorce. The study sets out to “determine whether the relationship between a woman’s education and divorce is different in violent marriages.” The researchers also hypothesize that women who have higher levels of education are less likely to get divorced in general — prior academic work they cite supports this — but they aim to see how the introduction of intimate partner violence changes this dynamic.

The study’s findings include:

• The data provide “support for our primary hypotheses that women’s education typically protects against divorce but that this association weakens in abusive marriages. In addition, we found a similar pattern for wives’ proportional income, net of education. Together, these patterns suggest that educational and financial resources benefit women by increasing marital stability in nonabusive marriages and promoting divorce in abusive marriages.”
• Further, the “greater tendency for educated women to leave abusive marriages was substantial. For example, in highly violent marriages, women with a college degree had over a 10% greater probability of divorce in the observed time period than women without a college degree.”
• The study also finds that “women with economic resources were likely to leave unhappy marriages, regardless of whether they involve abuse. Similarly, degree-earning women were more likely than less educated women to leave violent marriages, regardless of their feelings of dissatisfaction.”

The researchers note that, across the U.S. population, more women are attaining college degrees, and given the study’s findings, this suggests “increases in women’s education should reduce rates of domestic violence. In a population with many educated women, violent marriages are likely to break up.” They caution that it is also possible “that our observed patterns reflect husbands’ perceptions and decisions. Perhaps abusive men feel threatened by successful wives, which then increases divorce risk. Nonabusive men may not feel threatened and thus stay with successful women.” On this point, more research is required.

Related research: A 2015 study titled “When War Comes Home: The Effect of Combat Service on Domestic Violence” suggests that multiple deployments and longer deployment lengths may increase the chance of family violence. A June 2014 study published in the  Journal of Interpersonal Violence , “Intimate Partner Violence Before and During Pregnancy: Related Demographic and Psychosocial Factors and Postpartum Depressive Symptoms Among Mexican American Women,”  provides a snapshot of domestic violence in a community sample of low-income Hispanic women. A March 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Female Victims of Sexual Violence, 1994-2010,” provides a broad picture of such crimes across American society, examining the demographics of both victims and offenders. Regarding the issue of IPV prevention, a 2003 metastudy published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) , “Interventions for Violence Against Women: Scientific Review,” found that “information about evidence-based approaches in the primary care setting for preventing IPV is seriously lacking…. Specifically, the effectiveness of routine primary care screening remains unclear, since screening studies have not evaluated outcomes beyond the ability of the screening test to identify abused women. Similarly, specific treatment interventions for women exposed to violence, including women’s shelters, have not been adequately evaluated.” Subsequent research continues to find problems with current techniques for screening and detection.

Tags: gender, women and work, crime, sex crimes

About The Author

John Wihbey

153 Domestic Violence Topics & Essay Examples

A domestic violence essay can deal with society, gender, family, and youth. To help you decide which aspect to research, our team provided this list of 153 topics .

📑 Aspects to Cover in a Domestic Violence Essay

🏆 best domestic violence titles & essay examples, ⭐ interesting domestic violence topics for an essay, 🎓 good research topics about domestic violence, ❓ research questions on domestic violence.

Domestic violence is a significant problem and one of the acute topics of today’s society. It affects people of all genders and sexualities.

Domestic violence involves many types of abuse, including sexual and emotional one. Essays on domestic violence can enhance students’ awareness of the issue and its causes. Our tips will be useful for those wanting to write outstanding domestic violence essays.

Start with choosing a topic for your paper. Here are some examples of domestic violence essay titles:

• Causes of domestic violence and the ways to eliminate them
• The consequences of domestic violence
• The importance of public domestic violence speech
• Ways to reduce domestic violence
• The prevalence of domestic violence in the United States (or other countries)
• The link between domestic violence and mental health problems among children

Now that you have selected one of the titles for your essay, you can start working on the paper. We have prepared some tips on the aspects you should cover in your work:

• Start with researching the issue you have selected. Analyze its causes, consequences, and effects. Remember that you should include some of the findings in the paper using in-text citations.
• Develop a domestic violence essay outline. The structure of your paper will depend on the problem you have selected. In general, there should be an introductory and a concluding paragraph, as well as three (or more) body paragraphs. Hint: Keep in mind the purpose of your essay while developing its structure.
• Present your domestic violence essay thesis clearly. The last sentence of your introductory paragraph should be the thesis statement. Here are some examples of a thesis statement:

Domestic violence has a crucial impact on children’s mental health. / Domestic violence affects women more than men.

• Present a definition of domestic violence. What actions does the term involve? Include several possible perspectives on domestic violence.
• Discuss the victims of domestic violence and the impact it has on them too. Provide statistical data, if possible.
• Help your audience to understand the issue better by discussing the consequences of domestic violence, even if it is not the primary purpose of your paper. The essay should show why it is necessary to eliminate this problem.
• You can include some relevant quotes on domestic violence to make your arguments more persuasive. Remember to use citations from relevant sources only. Such sources include peer-reviewed articles and scholarly publications. If you are not sure whether you can use a piece of literature, consult your professor to avoid possible mistakes.
• Support your claims with evidence. Ask your professor in advance about the sources you can use in your paper. Avoid utilizing Wikipedia, as this website is not reliable.
• Stick to a formal language. Although you may want to criticize domestic violence, do not use offensive terms. Your paper should look professional.
• Pay attention to the type of paper you should write. If it is an argumentative essay, discuss opposing views on domestic violence and prove that they are unreliable.
• Remember that you should include a domestic violence essay conclusion in your paper too. This section of the paper should present your main ideas and findings. Remember not to present any new information or citations in the concluding paragraph.

There are some free samples we have prepared for you, too. Check them out!

• Domestic Violence and Conflict Theory in Society The Conflict Theory explains remarkable events in history and the changing patterns of race and gender relations and also emphasizes the struggles to explain the impact of technological development on society and the changes to […]
• Break the Silence: Domestic Violence Case The campaign in question aimed to instruct victims of domestic violence on how to cope with the problem and where to address to get assistance.
• Domestic Violence against Women Domestic violence against women refers to “any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, and mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts as […]
• Social Marketing Campaign on Domestic Violence In this marketing campaign strategy the focus would be centered on violence against women, as a form of domestic violence that is currently experience in many countries across the globe.
• Victimology and Domestic Violence In this situation there are many victims; Anne is a victim of domestic violence and the children are also victims of the same as well as the tragic death of their father.
• Domestic Violence and Honor Killing Analysis Justice and gender equality are important aspects of the totality of mankind that measure social and economic development in the world. The cultural justification is to maintain the dignity and seniority framework of the family.
• Intersectionality in Domestic Violence Another way an organization that serves racial minorities may address the unique needs of domestic violence victims is to offer additional educational and consultancy activities for women of color.
• Domestic Violence: Reason, Forms and Measures The main aim of this paper is to determine the reason behind the rapid increase of domestic violence, forms of domestic violence and measures that should be taken to reduce its effects.
• Supporting Female Victims of Domestic Violence and Abuse: NGO Establishment The presence of such a model continues to transform lives and make it easier for more women to support and provide basic education to their children.
• What Causes Domestic Violence? Domestic abuse, which is also known as domestic violence, is a dominance of one family member over another or the other. As a result, the probability of them becoming abusers later in life is considerably […]
• Annotated Bibliography on Domestic Violence Against Women They evaluate 134 studies from various countries that provide enough evidence of the prevalence of domestic violence against women and the adverse effects the vice has had for a decade.
• National Coalition Against Domestic Violence In addition, NCADV hopes to make the public know that the symbol of the purple ribbon represents the mission of the organization, which is to bring peace to all American households.
• Effects of Domestic Violence on Children’s Social and Emotional Development In the case of wife-husband violence, always, one parent will be the offender and the other one the victim; in an ideal situation, a child needs the love of a both parents. When brought up […]
• Behind Closed Doors: Domestic Violence The term “domestic violence” is used to denote the physical or emotional abuse that occurs in the homes. Therefore, it has contributed to the spread of domestic violence in the country.
• Guilty until Proven Otherwise: Domestic Violence Cases The presumption of the guilt of a man in domestic violence cases is further proven by the decision of the court in which the man is required to post a bond despite the fact that […]
• Affordable, Effective Legal Assistance for Victims of Domestic Violence Legal assistance significantly increases the chances for domestic abuse victims to obtain restraining orders, divorce, and custody of their children. Helping victims of domestic violence with inexpensive legal aid is a critical step in assisting […]
• Domestic Violence: Far-Right Conspiracy Theory in Australia’s Culture Wars The phenomenon of violence is directly related to the violation of human rights and requires legal punishment for the perpetrators and support for the victims.
• Domestic Violence and Black Women’s Experiences Overall, the story’s exploration of the reality of life for an African American married woman in a patriarchal society, and the challenges faced by black women, is relevant to the broader reality of domestic violence […]
• Domestic Violence: Criminal Justice In addition, the usage of illegal substances such as bhang, cocaine, and other drugs contributes to the increasing DV in society.
• Witnessed Domestic Violence and Juvenile Detention Research The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between witnessed domestic violence and juvenile detention. Research has pointed to a relationship between witnessed violence and juvenile delinquency, and this study holds that […]
• Domestic Violence Against Women in Melbourne Thus, it is possible to introduce the hypothesis that unemployment and related financial struggles determined by pandemic restrictions lead to increased rates of domestic violence against women in Melbourne.
• Domestic Violence and Its Main Signs In general, the providers should be able to identify the markers of abuse by paying closer attention to the people they serve, treat, teach, or work with.
• Domestic Violence Ethical Dilemmas in Criminal Justice Various ethical issues such as the code of silence, the mental status of the offender, and limited evidence play a vital role in challenging the discretion of police officers in arresting the DV perpetrators.
• Healthcare Testing of a Domestic Violence Victim Accordingly, the negative aspects of this exam include difficulties in identifying and predicting the further outcome of events and the course of side effects.
• Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, or Elder Abuse In every health facility, a nurse who notices the signs of abuse and domestic violence must report them to the relevant authorities.
• Educational Services for Children in Domestic Violence Shelters In order to meet the objectives of the research, Chanmugam et al.needed to reach out to the representatives of emergency domestic violence shelters located in the state of Texas well-aware of the shelters’ and schools’ […]
• The Domestic Violence Arrest Laws According to the National Institute of Justice, mandatory arrest laws are the most prevalent in US states, indicating a widespread agreement on their effectiveness.
• Environmental Scan for Hart City Domestic Violence Resource Center In particular, it identifies the target population, outlines the key resources, and provides an overview of data sources for assessing key factors and trends that may affect the Resource Center in the future.
• Domestic Violence Investigation Procedure If they claim guilty, the case is proceeded to the hearing to estimate the sentencing based on the defendant’s criminal record and the scope of assault. The issue of domestic abuse in households is terrifyingly […]
• Educational Group Session on Domestic Violence This will be the first counseling activity where the counselor assists the women to appreciate the concepts of domestic violence and the ways of identifying the various kinds of violence.
• Domestic Violence and COVID-19: Literature Review The “stay safe, stay at home” mantra used by the governments and public health organizations was the opposite of safety for the victims of domestic violence.
• The Impact of COVID-19 on Domestic Violence in the US Anurudran et al.argue that the new measures taken to fight COVID-19 infections heightened the risk of domestic abuse. The pandemic paradox: The consequences of COVID 19 on domestic violence.
• Rachel Louise Snyder’s Research on Domestic Violence Language and framing play a significant role in manipulating people’s understanding of domestic violence and the nature of the problem. However, it is challenging to gather precise data on the affected people and keep track […]
• Domestic Violence Restraining Orders: Renewals and Legal Recourse Since upon the expiry of a restraining order, a victim can file a renewal petition the current task is to determine whether the original DVRO of our client has expired, the burden of obtaining a […]
• Alcoholism, Domestic Violence and Drug Abuse Kaur and Ajinkya researched to investigate the “psychological impact of adult alcoholism on spouses and children”. The work of Kaur and Ajinkya, reveals a link between chronic alcoholism and emotional problems on the spouse and […]
• Domestic Violence Counselling Program Evaluation The evaluation will be based upon the mission of the program and the objectives it states for the participants. The counselors arrange treatment for both sides of the conflict: the victims and offenders, and special […]
• Sociological Imagination: Domestic Violence and Suicide Risk Hence, considering these facts, it is necessary to put the notion of suicide risk in perspective when related to the issue of domestic violence.
• The Roles of Domestic Violence Advocates Domestic conflict advocates assist victims in getting the help needed to cope and move forward. Moreover, these advocates help the survivors in communicating to employers, family members, and lawyers.
• Ambivalence on Part of the Police in Response to Domestic Violence The police have been accused of ambivalence by their dismissive attitudes and through sexism and empathy towards perpetrators of violence against women.
• Domestic Violence: The Impact of Law Enforcement Home Visits As the study concludes, despite the increase in general awareness concerning domestic violence cases, it is still a significant threat to the victims and their children.
• Domestic Violence: How Is It Adressed? At this stage, when the family members of the battered women do this to them, it becomes the responsibility of the people to do something about this.
• Domestic Violence: Qualitative & Quantitative Research This research seeks to determine the impacts of domestic violence orders in reducing the escalating cases of family brutality in most households. N1: There is a significant relationship between domestic violence orders and the occurrence […]
• Domestic Violence Factors Among Police Officers The objective of this research is to establish the level of domestic violence among police officers and relative the behavior to stress, divorce, police subculture, and child mistreatment.
• “The Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment” by Sherman and Berk The experiment conducted by the authors throws light on the three stages of the research circle. This is one of the arguments that can be advanced.
• Domestic Violence and Drug-Related Offenders in Australia The article is very informative since outlines a couple of the reasons behind the rampant increase in cases of negligence and lack of concern, especially from the government.
• An Investigation on Domestic Violence This particular experiment aimed to evaluate the nature of relationship and the magnitude of domestic violence meted on either of the partners.
• Educational Program on Domestic Violence The reason why I have chosen this as the topic for my educational program is that victims of domestic violence often feel that they do not have any rights and hence are compelled to live […]
• Family and Domestic Violence: Enhancing Protective Factors Current partner Previous partner Percentage of children When children are exposed to violence, they encounter numerous difficulties in their various levels of development.
• Domestic Violence in Women’s Experiences Worldwide Despite the fact the author of the article discusses a controversial problem of domestic violence against women based on the data from recent researches and focusing on such causes for violence as the problematic economic […]
• Parenting in Battered Women: The Effects of Domestic Violence In this study, ‘Parenting in Battered Women: The Effects of Domestic Violence on Women and their Children,’ Alytia A. It is commendable that at this stage in stating the problem the journalists seek to conclude […]
• Domestic Violence Types and Causes This is acknowledged by the law in most countries of the world as one of the most brutal symbols of inequality.
• Alcohol and Domestic Violence in Day-To-Day Social Life My paper will have a comprehensive literature review that will seek to analyze the above topic in order to assist the reader understand the alcohol contributions in the domestic and social violence in our society.
• Power and Control: Domestic Violence in America The abusive spouse wants to feel powerful and in control of the family so he, usually the abusive spouse is the man, beats his wife and children to assert his superiority.
• Domestic or Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Purpose of the study: The safety promoting behavior of the abused women is to be increased using a telephone intervention. They were allocated to either of the groups by virtue of the week of enrolment […]
• Federal and State Legislative Action on Domestic Violence In 2004, the state of New York decided to look into some of the ways of preventing this form of domestic violence by forming an Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence in 2005, employers […]
• Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence: Comprehensive Discussion Substance abuse refers to the misuse of a drug or any other chemical resulting in its dependence, leading to harmful mental and physical effects to the individual and the wellbeing of the society.
• Environmental Trends and Conditions: Domestic Violence in the Workplace Despite the fact that on average the literacy rate and the rate of civilization in the world have been increasing in the past few decades, the statistics for domestic violence have been increasing on an […]
• Domestic Violence in the Organizations Despite the fact that on average the literacy rate and the rate of civilization in the world has been increasing in the past few decades, the statistics for domestic violence have been increasing on an […]
• Facts About Domestic Violence All aspects of the society – which starts from the smallest unit, that is the family, to the church and even to the government sectors are all keen on finding solutions on how to eliminate, […]
• Domestic Violence in Marriage and Family While there are enormous reports of intimate partner homicides, murders, rapes, and assaults, it is important to note that victims of all this violence find it very difficult to explain the matter and incidents to […]
• Domestic Violence and Repeat Victimisation Theory Domestic violence is a crime which often happens because of a bad relationship between a man and woman and usually continues to be repeated until one of the parties leaves the relationship; hence victims of […]
• One-Group Posttest-Only Design in the Context of Domestic Violence Problem This application must unveil the risks and their solutions by researching the variables and the threats to the validity of the research.
• Help-Seeking Amongst Women Survivors of Domestic Violence First, the article explains the necessity of the research conduction, which includes the relevance of the abuse problem and the drawbacks of solving and studying it.
• Domestic Violence as a Social Issue It is one of the main factors which stimulate the study’s conduction, and among the rest, one can also mention the number of unexplored violence questions yet to be answered.
• Reflections on Domestic Violence in the Case of Dr. Mile Crawford Nevertheless, the only way out of this situation is to escape and seek help from the legal system. From a personal standpoint, to help her would be the right thing to do.
• Gender Studies: Combating Domestic Violence The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed description of domestic violence, as well as the development of an action plan that can help in this situation.
• Addressing Domestic Violence in the US: A Scientific Approach The implementation of sound research can help in addressing the problem and decreasing the incidence of domestic violence, which will contribute to the development of American society.
• Domestic Violence Funding and Impact on Society The number of domestic violence cases in the US, both reported and unreported, is significant. The recent decision of Trump’s administration to reduce the expenses for domestic violence victims from $480,000,000 to $40,000,000 in the […]
• Millennium Development Goals and Domestic Violence: A Bilateral Link As a result, a review of the potential of MDGs for resolving the issue needs to analyze the contribution of the goals to the resolution of the instances, consequences, and causes of DV.
• Campaign against Domestic Violence: Program Plan In addition, men who used to witness aggressive behavior at home or in the family as children, or learned about it from stories, are two times more disposed to practice violence against their partners than […]
• Domestic Violence and Bullying in Schools It also states the major variables related to bullying in schools. They will confirm that social-economic status, gender, and race can contribute to bullying in schools.
• Domestic Violence Within the US Military In most of the recorded domestic violence cases, females are mostly the victims of the dispute while the males are the aggressors of the violence.
• Domestic Violence and Family Dynamics: A Dual Perspective There are different types and causes of domestic violence, but the desire to take control over relationships is the most common cause.
• Reporting Decisions in Child Maltreatment: A Mixed Methodology Approach The present research aims to address both the general population and social workers to examine the overall attitudes to the reporting of child maltreatment.
• Domestic Violence in Australia: Budget Allocation and Victim Support On the other hand, the allocation of financial resources with the focus on awareness campaigns has also led to a lack of financial support for centres that provide the frontline services to victims of domestic […]
• Domestic and Family Violence: Case Studies and Impacts This paper highlights some of the recent cases of the violence, the forms of abuse involved, and their overall impacts on the victims.
• Family and Domestic Violence Legislation in the US In fact, this law is a landmark pointing to the recognition of the concept of domestic violence at the legal level and acknowledging that it is a key problem of the society.
• Domestic Violence and Social Interventions In conclusion, social learning theory supports the idea that children have a high likelihood of learning and simulating domestic violence through experiences at home.
• Legal Recourse for Victims of Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Victims of child abuse and domestic violence have the right to seek legal recourse in case of violation of their rights.
• Domestic Violence and Child’s Brain Development The video “First Impressions: Exposure to Violence and a Child’s Developing Brain” answers some questions of the dependence of exposure to domestic violence and the development of brain structures of children. At the beginning of […]
• Local Domestic Violence Victim Resources in Kent The focus of this paper is to document the local domestic violence victim resources found within a community in Kent County, Delaware, and also to discuss the importance of these resources to the community.
• The Impact of Domestic Violence Laws: Social Norms and Legal Consequences I also suppose that some of these people may start lifting their voices against the law, paying particular attention to the idea that it is theoretically allowable that the law can punish people for other […]
• Domestic Violence Abuse: Laws in Maryland The Peace and Protective Orders-Burden of Proof regulation in Maryland and the Violence against Women Act are some of the laws that have been created to deal with domestic violence.
• Theories of Domestic Violence It is important to point out that women have received the short end of the stick in regards to domestic violence. A third reason why people commit domestic violence according to the Family Violence Theory […]
• Domestic Violence in Australia: Policy Issue In this paper, DV in Australia will be regarded as a problem that requires policy decision-making, and the related terminology and theory will be used to gain insights into the reasons for the persistence of […]
• Nondiscriminatory Education Against Domestic Violence The recent event that prompted the proposed advocacy is the criticism of a banner that depicts a man as the victim of abuse.
• Domestic Violence in International Criminal Justice The United Nations organization is deeply concerned with the high level of violence experienced by women in the family, the number of women killed, and the latency of sexual violence.
• Project Reset and the Domestic Violence Court The majority of the decisions in courts are aimed to mitigate the effects of the strict criminal justice system of the United States.
• Same-Sex Domestic Violence Problem Domestic violence in gay or lesbian relationships is a serious matter since the rates of domestic violence in such relationships are almost equivalent to domestic violence in heterosexual relationships. There are a number of misconceptions […]
• Domestic, Dating and Sexual Violence Dating violence is the sexual or physical violence in a relationship which includes verbal and emotional violence. The rate of sexual violence in other nations like Japan and Ethiopia, range from 15 to 71 percent.
• Anger Management Counseling and Treatment of Domestic Violence by the Capital Area Michigan Works These aspects include: the problem that the program intends to solve, the results produced by the program, the activities of the program, and the resources that are used to achieve the overall goal.
• Understanding Women’s Responses to Domestic Violence The author’s research orientation is a mix of interpretive, positivism and critical science – interpretive in informing social workers or practitioners on how to enhance their effectiveness as they deal with cases related to violence […]
• Poverty and Domestic Violence It is based on this that in the next section, I have utilized my educational experience in order to create a method to address the issue of domestic violence from the perspective of a social […]
• Teenage Dating and Domestic Violence That is why it is important to report about the violence to the police and support groups in order to be safe and start a new life.
• Evaluation of the Partnership Against Domestic Violence According to the official mission statement of the organization, PADV is aimed at improving the overall wellbeing of families all over the world and helping those that suffer from domestic violence The organization’s primary goal […]
• Cross-Cultural Aspects of Domestic Violence This is one of the limitations that should be taken account. This is one of the problems that should not be overlooked.
• Domestic Violence in the Lives of Women She gives particular focus on the social and traditional aspects of the community that heavily contribute to the eruption and sustenance of violence against women in households. In the part 1 of the book, Renzetti […]
• Financial Planning and Management for Domestic Violence Victims Acquisition of resources used in criminal justice require financial resources hence the need to manage the same so as to provide the best machines and equipments.
• Violence against Women: Domestic, National, and Global Rape as a weapon for the enemy Majority of cultures in war zones still accept and regard rape to be a weapon of war that an enemy should be punished with.
• Effects of Domestic Violence on Children Development In cases where children are exposed to such violence, then they become emotionally troubled: In the above, case them the dependent variable is children emotions while the independent variable is domestic violence: Emotions = f […]
• Evaluation of Anger Management Counseling and Treatment of Domestic Violence by the Capital Area Michigan Works These aspects include: the problem that the program intends to solve, the results produced by the program, the activities of the program, and the resources that are used to achieve the overall goal.
• Knowledge and Attitudes of Nurses Regarding Domestic Violence and Their Effect on the Identification of Battered Women In conducting this research, the authors sought the consent of the prospective participants where the purpose of the study was explained to participants and confidentiality of information to be collected was reassured.
• Domestic Violence Dangers Mount With Economic, Seasonal Pressures These variables are believed to be able to prompt the family to explore the experiences and meanings of stress and stress management.
• Impact of the Economic Status on Domestic Violence This article investigates the possible factors that may help in explaining the status of women who are homeless and their capacity to experience domestic violence.
• Dominance and “Power Plays” in Relationships to Assist Clients to Leave Domestic Violence According to psychologists, the problem of domestic violence is based on the fact that one partner needs to be in control of the other.
• Art Therapy With Women Who Have Suffered Domestic Violence One of the most significant benefits of art therapy is the fact the patients get to understand and interpret their own situations which puts them in a better position to creatively participate in own healing […]
• Collaborative Crisis Intervention at a Domestic Violence Shelter The first visit is meant to collect the information that the professional in domestic violence deem crucial concerning the precipitating incidence and history of violence.
• Domestic Violence Exposure in Colombian Adolescents In this topic, the authors intend to discover the extent of association of drug abuse to domestic violence exposure, violent and prosocial behavior among adolescents.
• Domestic Violence and Its Classification Sexual abuse is the other common form of maltreatment which is on the rise and refers to any circumstance in which force is utilized to get involvement in undesired intimate action. Emotional maltreatment entails inconsistent […]
• Domestic Violence and Social Initiatives in Solving the Problem The absence of the correct social programs at schools and the lack of desire of government and police to pay more attention to the prevention of the problem while it is not too late are […]
• Domestic Violence in the African American Community Previous research has suggested this due to the many causes and effects that are experienced by the members and especially the male members of the African American community.
• Domestic Violence: Predicting and Solutions There are several factors which predict the state of domestic violence in the future and this will help in preventing domestic violence.
• Domestic Violence: Signs of Abuse and Abusive Relationships The unprecedented rejuvenation of such a vile act, prompted the formation of factions within society, that are sensitive to the plight of women, and fight for the cognizance of their rights in society.
• Domestic Violence against South Asian Women Again, this strategy is premised on the idea that domestic violence can be explained by the financial dependence of women in these communities.
• The Effects of Domestic Violence According to statistics and research provided in the handout, women are at a higher risk of being victims of domestic violence.
• Effect of Domestic Violence on Children This is done with the aim of ensuring that the child is disciplined and is meant as a legitimate punishment. Most of our children have been neglected and this has contributed to the increase in […]
• Domestic Violence and Elderly Abuse- A Policy Statement Though this figure has been changing with the change in the method of survey that was conducted and the nature of samples that were taken during the research process, it is widely accepted fact that […]
• Domestic Violence as a Social and Public Health Problem The article, authored by Lisa Simpson Strange, discusses the extent of domestic violence especially in women and the dangers it exposes the victims to, insisting that severe actions should be taken against those who commit […]
• Community and Domestic Violence: Elder Abuse In addition, the fact the elderly people cannot defend themselves because of the physical frailty that they encounter, they will experience most of the elderly abuse.
• Community and Domestic Violence; Gang Violence Solitude, peer pressure, need to belong, esteem, and the excitement of the odds of arrest entice adolescents to join these youth gangs.
• Fighting Domestic Violence in Pocatello, Idaho Having realized the need to involve the family unit in dealing with this vice, Walmart has organized a sensitization program that will involve the education of whole family to increase awareness on the issue. The […]
• What Is the Purpose of Studying Domestic Violence?
• What Does Theory Explain Domestic Violence?
• What Is the Difference Between IPV and Domestic Violence?
• What Age Group Does Domestic Violence Affect Most?
• When Domestic Violence Becomes the Norm?
• How Are Domestic Violence Problems Solved in American and Other Cultures?
• What Are the 3 Phases in the Domestic Violence Cycle?
• How Can Domestic Violence Be Explained?
• How Many Deaths Are Caused by Domestic Violence?
• When Was Domestic Violence First Defined?
• How Is a Domestic Violence Prevention?
• How Race, Class, and Gender Influences Domestic Violence?
• Why Do Victims of Abuse Sometimes Stay Silent?
• How Does Domestic Violence Affect the Brain?
• Is Mental Illness Often Associated With Domestic Violence?
• How Does Domestic Violence Affect a Person Emotionally?
• How Does Domestic Violence Affect Children’s Cognitive Development?
• Why Should Employers Pay Attention to Domestic Violence?
• What Are the Causes of Domestic Violence?
• What Country Has the Highest Rate of Domestic Violence?
• How Does Domestic Violence Affect the Lives of Its Victims?
• What Are the Possible Causes and Signs of Domestic Violence?
• How Does Socioeconomic Status Affect Domestic Violence?
• How Does the Australian Criminal Justice System Respond to Domestic Violence?
• How Does Culture Affect Domestic Violence in the UK?
• What Is the Psychology of an Abuser?
• What Is Police Doing About Domestic Violence?
• How Does the Government Define Domestic Violence?
• What Profession Has the Highest Rate of Domestic Violence?
• What Percent of Domestic Violence Is Alcohol-Related?
• Family Relationships Research Ideas
• Alcohol Abuse Paper Topics
• Drug Abuse Research Topics
• Child Welfare Essay Ideas
• Childhood Essay Topics
• Sexual Abuse Essay Titles
• Divorce Research Ideas
• Gender Stereotypes Essay Titles
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159 Domestic Violence Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on domestic violence, ✍️ domestic violence essay topics for college, 👍 good domestic violence research topics & essay examples, 🌶️ hot domestic violence ideas to write about, 🎓 most interesting domestic violence research titles, ❓ domestic violence research questions.

• Domestic Violence and Its Environmental Influences
• Domestic Violence, Consequences and Solutions
• Legislation to Stop Domestic Violence Against Women
• Effects of Domestic Violence on Children and Youth
• Domestic Violence in “Othello” by W. Shakespeare
• Feminism and Domestic Violence
• Domestic Violence Against Women in India
• Domestic Violence: Justification Is Unacceptable Domestic violence affects all segments of society, but women and children. In the absence of law enforcement oversight, domestic violence continues to increase.
• Domestic Violence against Women: Problem Solutions Domestic violence against women is one of the most common social problems that many societies across the world face in modern society.
• Domestic Violence: Causes and Effects Domestic violence disrupts regular patterns of communication and provides children with behavior models that ruin relationships and suggest the role of an abuser or a victim.
• Domestic Violence Issue in Modern Society Neutralization theory presents freedom in a relationship, condemns deviant behaviors and aims to eliminate oppressive cultures and safeguard ethical human activities.
• Impact of Domestic Violence on Society Domestic violence takes place mainly among married couples, ex-couples, who those who are still dating or cohabiting.
• Domestic Violence in the Modern Society Domestic violence is an acute and prevalent problem in society which requires research and effective solutions. The incidence of domestic violence is increasing exponentially.
• Domestic Violence: The American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) style is a set of rules that describe different components of scientific writing.
• Domestic Violence Forms: Cases Analysis In the cases described in the current research paper, an elderly woman and a six-year-old girl endured several forms of domestic violence.
• Domestic Violence and Feminism in Bell Hooks’ Theory The main purpose of this paper is to summarize and assess the ideas of hooks’ theory regarding domestic violence.
• The Impact of Domestic Violence on Victims’ Quality of Life Domestic violence (DV) is currently one of the major public health concerns that need to be discussed and analyzed.
• Environmental Influences of Domestic Violence and Potential Interventions This paper propose a study on what are the potentials drivers for the increasing rates of domestic violence, and how can different social and healthcare institutions intervene.
• Projects or Stop Violence Programs: Domestic Violence The violence mainly happens between the families, dating, cohabitation, marriages, as well as intimate relationship.
• The Problem of Domestic Violence in Modern Society The unwillingness to report instances of domestic abuse leads to a steep rise in the intensity of violence and the negative experiences that victims suffer.
• The Connection Between Domestic Violence and Cultural Norms The topic of domestic violence was a natural choice for me, as I have witnessed the results of domestic violence in my work and have done a lot of research on the topic already.
• Domestic Violence in Nursing Despite legal repercussions and the established support systems, a large share of victims avoids reporting incidents of domestic violence.
• Domestic Violence: Prevalence, Types, and Risk Factors Domestic violence may be experienced by a variety of people regardless of age, sex, gender or any of the other numerous factors that might play a role in its manifestation.
• Domestic Violence: Case Study Description Proponents of this model argue that some men will apply diverse tactics to manipulate and control women, such as domestic abuse and violence.
• Causes and Consequences of Domestic Violence This literature review aims to discuss the scope of the problem, mention previous findings from academic literature, and assess the available information on the issue of violence.
• Domestic Violence: Analysis and Evaluation of Articles This paper evaluates peer-reviewed articles that touch on the subject of domestic violence, and addresses ethical issues related to the use of secondary data.
• Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Domestic Violence It is important to note that domestic violence can be discussed as aggressive acts of the physical, psychological, or sexual nature against any family member.
• Reducing Domestic Violence: Family Law The current paper states that domestic violence and abuse present a substantial public health problem for different societies worldwide.
• Domestic Violence Against South Asian Women This research essay aims to analyze the concept of domestic violence against South Asian women, its premises, and its impact on modern women’s lives.
• Protective Orders and Domestic Violence Review The article provides a vivid introduction with discussion in the current status of the legal status of prevention of family violence.
• Revealing Marital Rape as Domestic Violence Marital rape entails sexual action with one’s partner devoid of his or her consent. Failure to get consent is the fundamental component that results in the involvement in violence.
• How Non-Profits Address Domestic Violence Both law enforcement agencies and organizations focusing on public health can contribute to the action plan of addressing domestic abuse.
• Domestic Violence Issues and Interventions The fact that domestic abuse victims often do not report their cases to the authorities leads to a difference between the actual number of incidents and the official statistics.
• Domestic Violence in Same-Sex Relationships The article “A Same-Sex Domestic Violence Epidemic Is Silent” by Shwayder addresses the issue of domestic abuse as one of the key concerns of contemporary societal concerns.
• Effects Of Domestic Violence on Children According to this paper, a child is anyone below the age of eighteen, and it aims at discussing the effects of domestic violence on these children.
• Violence Against Women: Annotated Bibliography Women who earn more than their spouses have a lower chance of experiencing violence and abuse in their marriages.
• Domestic Violence in the Military Domestic violence is a pervasive problem connected with PTSD, subsequent substance abuse, and occupational hazards that increase stress and result in marital conflict.
• Domestic Violence and COVID-19 Connection This paper aims to recognize the connection between domestic violence and COVID-19 and unmask the possible cause of the rapid growth of violence issues in marriages.
• Societal and Gender Construction Affecting Incidents of Domestic Violence The paper intends to explore how societal and gender construction can affect the incidences of domestic violence.
• Defining Domestic Violence Reasons – Family Law The social phenomenon of domestic violence has given rise to scholarly debates concerning its main causes and consequently the methods for handling the issue.
• Domestic Violence with Disabilities Domestic violence is a kind of act that happens when a member of the family or ex partner tries to harm the other by dominating them physically or psychologically.
• Female Victimization and Domestic Violence The paper explores the subject of domestic violence, the long-term effects domestic violence has on victims, and how criminal justice addresses the issue.
• Domestic Violence During COVID-19 Pandemic The paper reviews the articles: “Home is not always a haven: The domestic violence crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic”, “Interpersonal violence during COVID-19 quarantine.”
• The Importance of Domestic Violence Law Domestic violence is a big problem of many families, especially taking into consideration that many victims do not report it as they are not aware of domestic violence laws.
• Alcohol and Its Effects on Domestic Violence Alcohol was invented as a beverage drink just like the others, such as soda and juice. Of late, alcohol has been abused because people are consuming it excessively.
• Domestic Violence. “No Visible Bruises” by Snyder A review of the book “No Visible Bruises” by Snyder provides an opportunity to assess the diverse nature of the manifestations of domestic violence in families.
• Effect of Domestic Violence on Children Domestic violence is a serious issue that can have severe consequences for the development of children that grow up in such environments.
• Domestic Violence Typology and Characteristics The typology of domestic violence is based on the nature of the abusive act and provides clues to the underlying reasons for it.
• Domestic Violence and Its Impact on Maternity Domestic abuse directly impacts maternity as women experiencing a hostile environment feel that the conditions are dangerous to personal health and the well-being of a child.
• The Root Cause of Domestic Violence Domestic violence had great implications on the physical and mental health of the victim. There are many attempts that have been put in place to deal with domestic violence.
• Domestic Violence Effects – Psychology This paper seeks to examine the principles of critical thought in relation to domestic violence. It considers the importance of ethics and moral reasoning.
• Problems of the Domestic Violence Domestic violence is gaining notoriety each passing day. More and more women are falling victims to this social ill at an alarming rate.
• Child Abuse, Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence The paper analyzes three types of victimization: child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence. It gives definitions, describes causes and effects of these crimes.
• Domestic Violence and Its Impact on Children Domestic violence is a complex phenomenon, which has emotional, behavioral, social, cognitive, and physical consequences for children.
• Domestic Violence and Workplace Environment Domestic violence worsens employees’ performance. The entire workplace environment suffers if a single employee is subject to domestic violence.
• Domestic Violence and Its Main Categories When it comes to domestic violence, there are many categories. These include economic abuse, male privilege use, verbal abuse, isolation, emotional abuse, and intimidation.
• Domestic Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence Domestic abuse and intimate partner violence presents a significant public health problem, and individuals from different backgrounds can be exposed to it.
• Domestic Violence in Melbourne: Impact of Unemployment Due to Pandemic Restrictions The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent does unemployment due to pandemic restrictions impact domestic violence against women in Melbourne.
• Domestic Violence and Cyber Abuse This paper discusses the issue of domestic violence and elder abuse, including the types of abuse and the vulnerability of elders with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
• The Domestic Violence Effects on Witnessing Children This paper analyzes the effects that domestic violence has on children that bear witness to it. It causes a child to develop severe physical and/or mental problems.
• Domestic Violence Intervention Programs Identification of the weaknesses portrayed by domestic violence programs promotes the provision of adequate strategies to mitigate the problem.
• Working With Victims of Domestic Violence Domestic violence is nowadays a talk of the day; new cases emerge daily. Families have issues that most can amicably resolve while others cannot and can advance to violence.
• Domestic Violence: Preventing Intimate Partner Violence Domestic violence, meaning a violent act committed against a person in a domestic relationship such as a spouse, a relative, or a dating or sexual partner.
• Domestic Violence: “Crime in Alabama” by Hudnall et al. The consequences of domestic violence can be associated with deterioration in the population’s quality of life, psychological problems, or even the victim’s death.
• The #Metoo Movement Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse In opposition to the injustice toward women, the #MeToo movement emerged to fight sexism and harassment, including the struggle for the detention of gender-based violence.
• The Problem of Domestic Violence As a global public health and human rights concern, domestic violence affects the lives of millions of individuals throughout the entire world.
• An Inside View of Police Officers’ Experience with Domestic Violence “An Inside View of Police Officers’ Experience with Domestic Violence” is an article authored by Horwitz et al., published in 2011.
• Domestic Violence in the US During the COVID-19 The more physically or psychologically vulnerable groups of the population are often subjected to various forms of violence by the more resistant groups.
• Domestic Violence in the African American Community Black women have suffered domestic violence mostly because of gender, race, and poverty, the poor economic conditions have fueled domestic violence in families and fighting.
• Domestic Violence and Survivors Support Domestic violence is a type of violence or any other form of abuse in a domestic setting, victims of which can be both adults and children.
• Racialized Rhetoric: Domestic Violence and Muslim Community The work analyzes the rhetoric in the news article, which discusses forced marriage and compares it to the existing research regarding violence against women and racialization in the media.
• The Bill of Rights: the Case of Domestic Violence Jessica Gonzales is a case of domestic violence. She is a lady that has fallen victim to being shut out of court.
• Reducing Cases of Domestic Violence at All Stages of Pregnancy This essay suggests that intervention mechanisms should be established to reduce cases of domestic violence at all stages of pregnancy.
• Volunteering in the Social Project Providing Legal Assistance to the Domestic Violence Victims Although the U.S. is a progressive country, one in four its women experiences severe partner physical violence.
• Domestic Violence in America Governmental and non-governmental agencies have often argued that domestic violence is a serious social problem in America.
• Domestic Violence and Its Impacts on Children Domestic violence has serious impacts on children. When they grow up in a violent environment, they get affected psychologically and sometimes physically.
• The Reluctance of Gay, Lesbian Victims to Report Domestic Violence Members of the gay community suffer from domestic violence in almost the same magnitude as members of the heterosexual community.
• Community Action vs. Domestic Violence Against Australian Women Strengthening community action in the area of domestic violence against Australian women is one of the greatest decisions which are provided now in Australian society.
• Community and Domestic Violence: Elder Abuse Perhaps the most common type of elder abuse is neglect; this refers to the refusal or failure to provide basic needs such as food, shelter or healthcare to vulnerable adults.
• Ku Klux Klan Ban and Domestic Violence and Race Issues Ku Klux Klan should be declared a terrorist organization and banned for the benefit of the community as a whole.
• Community and Domestic Violence: Violence Against Women The most known form of domestic violence is physical or battering, which causes pain and injury and it involves beating, choking, pushing, biting, kicking, and others.
• Domestic Violence Problem Overview and Analysis The macro-sociological theory tells that the root of violence in families lies within the core system of society and is a reaction to harmful events inside and outside the family.
• New York State Domestic Violence Statics Family violence has been revealed to cause a lot of problems in which; family issues remain unsolved for long, once spouses get into frequent domestic violence.
• Domestic Violence – A Grave Societal Concern Our community faces issues that relate to violence committed on women and for every reason to enjoy conjugal life there is also the need to bear with violence.
• Involving the Health Care System in Domestic Violence “Involving the Health Care System in Domestic Violence: What Women Want” points out the importance of integrating socially accepted means to break the silence related to domestic violence.
• Abusive Relationships and Domestic Violence Treatment One of the most apparent examples of how exposure to abusive relationships can have adverse outcomes is the nurse practitioner who experienced abuse and manipulation in the past.
• Nurses Caring for Domestic Violence Victims The past experiences of family violence certainly allow nurses to become aware of the nature and processes involved in these situations.
• Changing Course in the Anti-Domestic Violence Legal Movement To address the problem of domestic violence, it is necessary to propose a complex program as a response to this social issue.
• The Realities of Domestic Violence and Its Impact on Our Society The topic of domestic violence was chosen not only for its relevance but also because of the hope to shed light on the adverse influence that the issue has on people.
• Domestic Violence and Non-Therapeutic Interventions In the United States, the issue of domestic violence is closely related to other misfortunate circumstances in people’s lives.
• Domestic Violence as a Topic for Academic Studies The topic selected for the research deals with family issues and is critical for society. Domestic violence is reported all over the world that is why it should not be ignored.
• Domestic Violence in the US of the Last Decade The issue of domestic violence is a global societal problem. In most cases, women are the main victims of this uncivilized behavior with men being the perpetrators.
• Domestic Violence: Control and Prevention Domestic violence occurs when a person is abused by another in the same family. This form of violence is common in relationships, marriages, and families.
• Domestic Violence Experienced by Psychiatric Patients Oram et al. believe that the incidence of domestic violence and abuse can be associated with the victimization among the patients with psychiatric disorders.
• Domestic Violence Problem: Psychiatric Patients The problem of domestic violence experienced by psychiatric patients is particularly acute now that the statistics show the rapidly growing number of the cases of family abuse.
• Domestic Violence as a Research Topic The family abuse that took place in the community, often affected women, elder members of the family, and children.
• Domestic Violence in Federal and State Legislation Despite the fact that much remains to be done to solve the problem of violence in the family, the state and society have contributed to changing the current situation.
• Domestic Violence as a Pressing Issue This work examines a course project on the topic of domestic violence as a pressing issue on which the public cannot come to an agreement.
• Domestic Violence Article and Conservation Model This essay examines the article “Violence against women and its consequences” and assesses the article’s strengths and weaknesses using the conservation model.
• Domestic Violence in Same/Opposite-Sex Relationships In their article, Banks and Fedewa investigate counselors’ attitudes toward domestic violence in same-sex versus opposite-sex relationships.
• Child Corporal Punishment as Domestic Violence The public widely accepts a differentiation between domestic violence and corporal punishment, although the latter can be damaging to children’s health and well-being.
• Domestic or Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Practitioners aim pharmacology-based IPV intervention strategies at relieving the effects of abuse that victims encounter, which may range from mild distress to PTSD.
• Domestic Violence Among Black Immigrant Women This study shows that domestic violence is more prevalent among black immigrant women as compared to other women in the United States.
• Domestic Violence Victims’ Needs Assessment To address domestic violence, it is important to perform a needs assessment and collect the data to develop an effective strategy to withstand domestic violence.
• Nurse’s Help and Policy for Domestic Violence Victims Nurses often found themselves deprived of opportunities to help their patients who are victims of violence because of policy restrictions.
• Domestic Violence Negative Impact on the People Psyche The question of the project is whether children who have experienced domestic violence demonstrate irreversible changes in their mentalities that shift their behaviors to deviant.
• Domestic Violence in the US: Effects on Children Domestic violence is a common practice in many countries. This study finds out how domestic violence affects children in the USA.
• “Addressing Domestic Violence Against Women” by Kaur and Gang Kaur and Gang present arguable aspects regarding ways of addressing the problem of domestic violence against women. Different individuals have divergent views on this subject.
• Domestic Violence Problem and the Impact on the Children’s Psyche The research question of this paper is whether domestic violence results in irreversible changes in children’s mentality and psyche and how its negative impact could be mitigated.
• Domestic Violence and Victims’ Resistance This paper defines, discusses, and solves the problem of domestic violence to guarantee the improvement in the sphere and victims’ ability to resist this problem.
• Domestic Violence, Its Existing and New Solutions Domestic violence is a problem that is researched and monitored by various agencies. Different social care establishments try to create a system for possible interventions.
• Domestic Violence Study and Lessons Learnt Apart from shedding a lot of light on the nature of abusive relationships, the project on domestic violence and abuse helped me develop new research skills.
• Domestic Violence in the Health Policy Domestic violence is a crucial issue that has to be addressed in order to eradicate abuse and help the patients to overcome the issue of retained supremacy.
• Domestic Violence and Abuse Countermeasures At the moment, the civilized world condemns domestic violence and has introduced different measures to protect people from this remnant of the past.
• Mental Health and Domestic Violence in Bangladesh The paper reviews Ziaei et al.’s article “Experiencing lifetime domestic violence: Associations with mental health and stress among pregnant women in rural Bangladesh.”
• Domestic Violence by an Intimate Partner Most people, especially women, are rejecting any form of violence in intimate relationships as a legitimate social norm. The major factor is the diffusion of global norms.
• Domestic Violence and Public Awareness This academic research increases the audience’s understanding of the severity of the topic of domestic violence and raises public awareness.
• Domestic Violence Intervention in Health Care Domestic violence is a concept that can be described as emotional, verbal, sexual or any other existing kind of abuse that may scare the victim.
• Conservation Model and Domestic Violence The analysis reveals that domestic violence provokes a chain of negative reaction in females’ structural, social, and personal integrity, and energy.
• Nursing and Midwifery Recognizing Domestic Violence The paper reviews the article “Are We Failing to Prepare Nursing and Midwifery Students to Deal with Domestic Abuse?” by Bradbury-Jones & Broadhurst.
• Domestic Violence in America, Asia, and Africa The paper investigates the issue of domestic violence in the United States and several other cultures, namely, in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru, and Brazil.
• Substance Abuse Treatment and Domestic Violence The histories of child abuse and neglect form the present behavior of a person a define his administering treatment needs regarding the fact of whether a person was sexually or emotionally abused.
• The Origin of Domestic Violence The present research is to define the origin of domestic violence and the measures that can be taken in order to lessen the influence of the discovered reason.
• Domestic Violence in Florida The mission of the Florida Department’s Domestic Violence Program is to contribute to creating the safe environments for the victims of domestic violence.
• Battered Woman Syndrome as a Theoretical Explanation of Domestic Violence Effects Battered Woman Syndrome is an inductive theory that seeks to explain the reactions of women when they are subjected to domestic violence.
• Resilience and Growth in the Aftermath of Domestic Violence In this paper, the discussion centers on the concept of resilience, spirituality, and its application in the aftermath of domestic violence.
• African American Women: Domestic Violence and Integrity At present, gender profiling still remains an issue, and the present-day African American communities are infamously known as a graphic example of women abuse in society.
• The Impact of Abusive Experiences on Nursing Practitioner’s Performance With the Victims of Domestic Violence This paper aims to discuss positive and negative tendencies that could emerge in the mentioned circumstances.
• What Is Meant by Domestic Violence?
• What Do You Feel About Domestic Violence?
• Why Do We Have Domestic Violence?
• Does Domestic Violence Affect a Child’s Future?
• Should Domestic Violence Always Be Prosecuted?
• What Are the Causes of Domestic Violence?
• What Are the Factors Influencing Domestic Violence Against Women in Jamaica?
• Can Domestic Violence Abusers Be Rehabilitated?
• How Far Can Children Be Said to Be Affected by Domestic Violence?
• Are Men Also Subject to Domestic Violence?
• Can the Police Reduce Domestic Violence?
• Does Economic Empowerment Protect Women Against Domestic Violence?
• Does Women’s Labor Force Participation Reduce Domestic Violence?
• What Are the Differences Between Domestic Violence and Family Violence?
• When Did Domestic Violence Become Illegal?
• What Are the 5 Signs of Emotional Abuse and Domestic Violence?
• How Does Domestic Violence Affect a Person Emotionally?
• Where Does Most Domestic Violence Occur?
• Where Is Domestic Violence Most Common in the US?
• How Widespread Is Domestic Violence?
• How Does Domestic Violence Affect a Woman Mentally?
• How Does Domestic Violence Affect a Man?
• What Type of Relationship Has the Highest Domestic Violence Rate?
• What Country Has the Lowest Rate of Domestic Violence?
• What Is the Punishment for Domestic Violence in Canada?
• Can Domestic Violence Cause a Nervous Breakdown?
• Does Domestic Violence Lead to Depression?
• What Do People Need to Know About Domestic Violence?
• Does Domestic Violence Affect the Brain?
• Does Domestic Violence Cause Mental Illness?

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StudyCorgi. (2021, September 9). 159 Domestic Violence Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/domestic-violence-essay-topics/

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StudyCorgi . "159 Domestic Violence Essay Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/domestic-violence-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "159 Domestic Violence Essay Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/domestic-violence-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Domestic Violence were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 8, 2024 .

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Research Topics on Domestic Violence

• Why Should Domestic Violence Be Studied?
• What Does Domestic Violence Theory Explains?
• What Distinguishes Domestic Violence from IPV?
• Which Age Group Is Most Affected by Domestic Violence?
• At What Point Does Domestic Abuse Become the Norm?
• How Do American and Other Cultures Address the Issue of Domestic Violence?
• What Are the Three Phases in the Domestic Violence Cycle?
• What Explanations Exist for Domestic Violence?
• How Many Fatalities Are Resultant from Domestic Violence?
• When Did Domestic Violence Get Its First Definition?
• What Are Some Ways to Prevent Domestic Violence?
• How Do Gender, Race, and Class Affect Domestic Violence?
• Why Do Abuse Victims Occasionally Keep Quiet?
• What Mental Effects Does Domestic Violence Have?
• Is Domestic Violence Frequently Associated with Mental Illness?
• What Emotional Effects Does Domestic Violence Have on a Person?
• What Cognitive Effects Does Domestic Violence Have on Children?
• Why Should Employers Take Domestic Violence Seriously?
• What Causes Domestic Violence, Exactly?
• Which Nation Experiences Domestic Violence?
• What Impact Does Domestic Violence Have on Victims’ Lives?
• What Could Be the Causes and Symptoms of Domestic Violence?
• How Does Domestic Violence Relate to Socioeconomic Status?
• How Does Domestic Violence Affect the Australian Criminal Justice System?
• What Role Does Culture Play in Domestic Abuse in the UK?
• What Does an Abuser’s Psychology Look Like?
• How Are Police Addressing Domestic Violence?
• What Exactly Is Domestic Violence According to the Government?
• Which Industry Has the Highest Domestic Violence Rate?
• How Much Domestic Violence Is Related to Alcohol?

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Domestic violence describes abuse perpetrated by one partner against another in the context of an interpersonal relationship. Domestic violence can be committed by current or former partners. The alternate term intimate partner violence has gained favor in the twenty-first century, as it expands the definition to include relationships between couples who are not married or cohabiting. Family violence further extends the scope of the issue to consider cases in which other immediate family members are victimized by violent or abusive behavior.

The prevalence of domestic and intimate partner violence is difficult to determine, as these forms of violence often remain unreported. For example, according to the US Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime, reports of intimate partner violence...  ( Opposing Viewpoints )

• Is domestic violence a sign that  America’s family values are in decline?
• Do female batterers differ from male batterers?
• How do drug abuse and alcoholism affect family violence?
• Are there signs that violence will escalate to murder?
• How have the O.J. Simpson, Chris Brown, or Ray Rice cases affected domestic violence awareness?
• Is the "conditioned helplessness" of abused women a factor?
• I s violence genetic or environmental?
• Does poverty affect spousal abuse?
• Why do some men still regard their wives as property?
• What affect does domestic violence have on the divorce rate?
• Is counseling effective for couples in violent relationships?
• Can abusers be rehabilitated?
• Has the economic downturn increased the number of battered spouses?
• Why do some women stay in an abusive relationship?
• Discuss particular issues in same-sex intimate partner violence.
• What are the signs of a battered person/partner?
• Why do women under-report being abused?
• Why are men less likely than women to report being abused?
• Is there adequate support for victims of same-sex partner violence?
• How do gender roles, stereotypes, and hetero-sexism shape domestic violence?
• What are the behavioral patterns of spousal abuse?
• What is the psychological make-up of an abuser?
• How does spousal abuse affect the family unit?
• Does spousal abuse impact the larger community, if so how?
• Is spousal abuse a crime?
• What are the statistics for spousal abuse in the U.S.?
• What types of treatment are available for abusive husbands and wives?
• How effective are these treatments in preventing future abuse?
• Do children who witness spousal abuse become abusers or abused as adults?
• What resources are available for abused spouses to get help?
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• Last Updated: Feb 6, 2024 12:40 PM
• URL: https://libguides.broward.edu/domestic_violence