Domestic Violence and COVID-19

Children Witnessing Domestic and Family Violence: A Widespread Occurrence during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic

BackgroundViolence against women is a major public health problem and a violation of women's human rights. Estimates published by WHO indicate that globally, about 1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical or sexual intimate partner violence. The Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2007 found that over 50% of married women reported experiencing some form of intimate partner violence (IPV), including physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. This study attempts to understand the determinants of domestic physical violence for designing effective policies and interventions aimed at reducing domestic violence.MethodThis study uses cross-sectional secondary data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2019, focusing on physical assault among Bangladeshi women. The MICS is a nationally representative survey that collects data on various indicators including women’s health and physical assault. 969 out of 49,172 women faced domestic violence. Logistic regressions were used to determine significant determinants influencing domestic violence. We used women’s experience of domestic physical violence as the dependent variable and some related independent variables, e.g., women’s residence, wealth, higher education, different functional difficulties among women, husband’s polygamy, access to the internet etc.ResultThe study found that only 7% of domestic violence is reported to the police (Pearson Chi2 p-value < 0.001). There was significant variation across divisions. The highest prevalence of domestic violence was observed in Khulna (29%), followed by Rangpur (24%) and Dhaka (19%). Women’s residence (OR of those residing in urban area = 1.56, p-value < 0.100), wealth (OR = 0.656, p-value < 0.010), higher education (OR = 0.485*), different functional difficulties among women (OR = 1.320–1.758, p-value < 0.010), husband’s polygamy (OR = 2.132, p-value < 0.010), internet access (OR = 0.518, p-value < 0.010) were found significant determinants of domestic violence.ConclusionThe factors driving domestic violence among Bangladeshi women are multifaceted and context-dependent. While education, financial independence, and autonomy can act as protective factors, the interplay of traditional practices like dowry, gender norms, and socio-economic conditions creates a complex risk environment. This study highlights the importance of understanding how these factors evolve over a woman's life, which is crucial for developing effective policies and interventions to reduce domestic violence.

A global movement for the criminalization of domestic violence has been spreading from the 1970s in the context of the International Women’s Movement, but more particularly in the context of the 1979 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This chapter examines the nature and the progress of laws against domestic and intimate partner violence in the United States and South Asia with particular reference to Pakistan and Bangladesh. Some of these laws include the United States’ Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994; Pakistan’s the Protection of Women Act (Criminal Law Amendment) Act of 2006, the Acid Control and the Acid Crime Prevention Act of 2010 (amended in 2011), the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act of 2010, and the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act of 2012; and Bangladesh’s Dowry Provision Act of 1980, the Suppression of Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2000, the Acid Control Act of 2002, and the Acid Crimes and Control Act of 2002. It was observed that all three countries, the United States, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, defined domestic violence in terms of the norms of international standard which is that domestic violence is not just physical and sexual in nature. Emotional, psychological, and economic abuses are also a part of domestic and intimate partner violence. The commonalities in legislations are also observed in the areas of protection orders, victim support, and the confidentiality of domestic and intimate partner case records. In terms of punishment, Bangladesh probably has one of the toughest laws of domestic violence in the world. The Bangladesh Law (the Suppression of Violence against Women and Children Act of 2000) imposed the death penalty for 12 different kinds of crimes related to violence against women.

Children experiencing or witnessing violence in the home are at risk of a number of cognitive, social, and behavioral challenges as they age. A handful of recent studies have suggested that food insecurity may be one factor associated with violence against children in the home. The present study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort to explore the link between household food insecurity during the first three waves of data collection (i.e., the first few years of life) and witnessing or being the victim of violence in the home among very young children (~ age 4). The results suggest that the predicted probability of early childhood exposure to violence and/or victimization in the home is nearly 6 times greater in persistently food-insecure households (i.e., households that are food insecure across all three waves) relative to food secure households. Limitations and avenues for future research are noted.

A paucity of existing research focuses on longitudinal examinations of criminal trajectories among reoffenses committed by domestic violence offenders. Specifically, few studies have longitudinally assessed whether domestic violence offenders specialize, recidivating in domestic violence assault, or generalize, committing a range of personal and property crimes. Acknowledging these research deficiencies, the current study uses longitudinal data from a cohort of 317 batterers who were processed in a domestic violence court to investigate the trajectories of domestic violence arrests and nondomestic violence arrests over a 10-year period. The degree of overlap between domestic and nondomestic violence arrest trajectory groups is examined through a cross-tabulation and chi-square analysis. Logistic and multinomial regression models are applied to identify risk factors that distinguish trajectory groups. A PROC TRAJ procedure identifies two trajectory groups for domestic violence arrests (low and high rate) and three trajectory groups for nondomestic violence arrests (very low, low, and high rate). Results indicate that specialization among domestic violence offenders is rare-prior alcohol and drug crimes predict membership in the high-rate domestic violence arrest trajectory group and prior domestic violence arrests predict membership in both the low-rate and high-rate nondomestic violence arrest trajectories. Implications for future research and policy are discussed in this article.

Women, especially working women, suffer from domestic or intimate partner violence worldwide. Nurses are no exception. The study aim was to compare the magnitude of domestic violence and its effects among psychiatry nurses compared with nurses from other specialties. This cross-sectional comparative study was conducted on 120 psychiatric nurses from in Abbasiya Mental Hospital and 120 nurses in other specialties from El-zaitoon hospital. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire with the HITS (Hurt, Insult, Threaten, Scream) Scale for exposure to domestic violence, and the Women’s Experience with Battering (WEB) scale to assess the meanings women attribute to their exposure to domestic violence. The fieldwork lasted from April to June 2017. The nurses in the two groups had comparable demographic characteristics. More nurses in the psychiatry group were not sharing in home expenses (p=0.01), had independent house (p<0.001), had their work affecting home needs (p=0.03), and marital relations (p=0.04), and were asked to leave work by husband (p=0.03). The psychiatry nurses had significantly lower mean and median HITS scores (p=0.007). More psychiatry nurses reported thinking of leaving work as a consequence of domestic violence (p=0.001). In multivariate analysis, the independent positive predictors of the HITS score were the nurse age at marriage, husband age, sharing in home expenses, working overtime, and the work having a negative effect on marital life, while, the negative predictors were being a psychiatric nurse, age, and living in an independent house. For the effects score, the independent positive predictors were being a psychiatric nurse, having children, work having a negative effect on marital life, in addition to the HITS score, whereas the negative predictors were the income and working for need. In conclusion, the psychiatric nurses are less vulnerable to domestic violence, compared with other specialties; however, the impact of this violence is more severe among them, with a higher tendency to leave the work for this. The work environment, particularly in psychiatry should be improved with more flexible schedules and less hours of overtime work. More intervention research is suggested to assess the effectiveness of various approaches to deal with domestic violence.

The article is devoted to the problem of understanding domestic violence in the legal system of the modern state. Risk factors for domestic and family violence are examined, including individual characteristics, relationship problems, and community and societal influences. Individual factors include the psychological and physical characteristics of victims and perpetrators, which may include problems with emotion regulation, low self-esteem, and childhood trauma. Also, sexual orientation and gender identity can influence the risk of becoming a victim or a perpetrator. It is reasoned that domestic violence has serious consequences for victims, their families and society as a whole. It can lead to injuries, psychological and emotional problems, destroy relationships, disrupt the development of children and reduce the productivity and efficiency of society. Domestic violence is becoming a global problem that crosses cultural and geographic boundaries, and the level of its prevalence can vary depending on the socio-cultural and economic context. Also important is the role of economic factors, such as unemployment and economic hardship, which can increase family tension and contribute to violence. It was also found that at the community level, lack of access to psychological and legal aid services, as well as lack of education about rights and opportunities to leave violent relationships can complicate the situation for victims. In addition, cultural stereotypes and norms that condone or normalize violence may also support this problematic pattern. At the same time, research must be carried out taking into account the diversity of cultural, social and economic contexts, since approaches to solving the problem may differ depending on specific conditions. Special attention should also be paid to the support of victims of domestic violence, their access to safe places of refuge, legal aid and psychological support. Increasing public awareness and educational initiatives about the issue can also help increase awareness and support in the fight against domestic violence.

Experiences of domestic and sexual violence are common in patients attending primary care. Most often they are not identified due to barriers to asking by health practitioners and disclosure by patients. Women are more likely than men to experience such violence and present with mental and physical health symptoms to health practitioners. If identified through screening or case finding as experiencing violence they need to be supported to recover from these traumas. This paper draws on systematic reviews published in 2013–2015 and a further literature search undertaken to identify recent intervention studies relevant to recovery from domestic and sexual violence in primary care. There is limited evidence as to what interventions in primary care assist with recovery from domestic violence; however, they can be categorized into the following areas: first line response and referral, psychological treatments, safety planning and advocacy, including through home visitation and peer support programmes, and parenting and mother–child interventions. Sexual violence interventions usually include trauma informed care and models to support recovery. The most promising results have been from nurse home visiting advocacy programmes, mother–child psychotherapeutic interventions, and specific psychological treatments (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Trauma informed Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and, for sexual assault, Exposure and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Interventions). Holistic healing models have not been formally tested by randomized controlled trials, but show some promise. Further research into what supports women and their children on their trajectory of recovery from domestic and sexual violence is urgently needed.

This chapter explore the definition, occurrence, and confrontations of intimate and domestic violence in the region through various studies and literature on the topic. The work does not seek to provide an exhaustive or comprehensive review of the literature on gendered violence in the region or produce an encompassing account of all forms of gendered and sexual violence, which women disproportionately experience throughout the region. Instead, it discusses some of the major issues concerning how intimate and domestic violence is defined, experienced, and combatted in several locations throughout the Middle East. In this work, intimate and domestic violence are not read as private (or privatized acts), but they are instead placed within the broader public, social, and historical contexts in which they occur. By utilizing an intersectional analysis of gendered violence attuned to the complexities of gender, race, class, and the nexus of nationality and citizenship, the work seeks to unpack the various politics underpinning the economies of domestic and intimate violence taking place and efforts to confront gender violence in both the private and public spheres in the Middle East.

This book chapter dicsusses the data, methodological strategies, and findings, and the final section concludes with a discussion of key policy implications and directions for future research regarding climate change, livelihoods, and domestic violence in Indonesia. This study argues that climate shocks in Indonesia elevate the incidence of domestic violence via their impact on agriculture and agrarian livelihoods. Those relying on agriculture as a primary income source in Indonesia-approximately 41% of the population=suffer when climatic stress diminishes earnings through job loss and reduced crop yields. The impact can reduce food security, especially for subsistence farmers, but also for the broader population when scarcity elevates local food prices. Food already consumes 70% of household budgets for half the population, with rice comprising the largest share-over 25% of total household expenditures for the poorest quintile. Thus, even minor reductions in yields or inflation in local rice markets can have dire effects. These impacts are anticipated to exacerbate social and psychological pressures-stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, substance abuse-commonly associated with domestic and intimate partner violence, which in turn should increase its incidence within affected regions. This study uses data from the Global SPEI database and the NVMS to model the relationship between climate change and domestic violence in Indonesia. It finds that positive and negative deviations from long-term climate averages, when occurring in December-the core month of the Indonesian rice-planting season-increase the incidence of domestic violence in the following year. This relationship likely reflects the negative impact of climate shocks on agricultural sectors and livelihoods, an outcome which aggravates the emotional and psychological preconditions for domestic violence and abuse, disproportionately diminishes women's bargaining power in the household, and reduces women's ability to escape abusive situations. These effects are especially prominent in areas with higher levels of poverty, further illustrating the economic dimension of the causal process.

This chapter introduces the concept of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (DAA). Stakeholders were given an impetus involved in the prevention of domestic abuse to establish strategies for improving the response to domestic abuse and victim protection. The chapter highlights the importance of reducing the prevalence of domestic abuse after the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated 2.3 million people were affected by domestic abuse. The increase in police-recorded domestic violence and abuse reflects the changes in police recording practice and victim reporting. The chapter then elaborates on the statutory definition of domestic abuse and the statutory framework for the Domestic Abuse Commissioner (DAC).

Domestic violence: it is time for the medical profession to play its part.

O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi analisar os dados estatísticos sobre violência doméstica contra a mulher no estado do Pará no período de 2008 a 2015. O estudo foi desenvolvido com uma abordagem quantitativa, tendo como objeto analítico descritivo o fenômeno da violência contra a mulher ou violência doméstica. Os dados foram coletados do Banco de dados do Sistema Integrado de Segurança Pública SISP/WEB. A análise dos dados estatísticos revelam a magnitude do problema, urgência social e abrangência nacional do tema com eixos voltados para os direitos humanos e cidadania da mulher. Através destes foi possível identificar o número de ocorrências, os principais tipos e as características predominantes das mulheres vítimas de violência doméstica e familiar relacionados a faixa etária, escolaridade, cor e profissão. De acordo com os dados quantitativos mostrados por este estudo, das 905.694 ocorrências registradas por crimes contra a mulher no estado do Pará nos anos pesquisados (2008 a 2015) 31.793 (ou seja 3,5% do total) foram enquadradas pela autoridade policial como violência doméstica de acordo com a lei Maria da Penha.

This article explores the evolving definitions of domestic and family violence and their implications on family dynamics, legal frameworks, and cultural contexts. Traditionally seen as physical violence, domestic and family violence now encompasses emotional, financial, and psychological abuse, a broader definition supported by organizations such as the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the United Nations. This broadened scope, while intended to protect vulnerable individuals, has sparked debates on potential overreach, with critics warning of its effects on family autonomy and privacy. Through examining varied family models patriarchal, egalitarian, and modern, this article assesses how expanded legal interpretations intersect with family structure, emphasizing the need for tailored interventions sensitive to relationship dynamics and mutual conflict. Additionally, the article discusses how cultural heritage, and socioeconomic factors influence domestic violence perceptions and interventions, advocating for approaches that respect cultural diversity while promoting gender equality and reducing power imbalances. Subsequently, the article calls for balanced domestic violence frameworks that support family cohesion and resilience without undermining family harmony or autonomy.

Purpose To investigate massage therapists’ attitudes, consultation processes, and confidence to respond to situations involving domestic and family violence (DFV) in clinical practice. Methods An online survey-based study was conducted and Australian massage therapists, 18 years of age or over were recruited. The survey included 64 questions in 3 sections: 1) Demographics, 2) Recognize Family and Domestic Violence, and 3) Respond to domestic and family violence with 4 subsections; i) disclosures, ii) referrals, iii) further education, and iv) final comments. Results Two-hundred and seventeen respondents were included in the analysis. Knowledge about DFV, having a client disclose DFV and confidence to manage a disclosure, were all significantly higher with massage therapists with a personal experience of DFV. The main qualitative theme was antithetical attitudes with two subthemes: a) not in my world: I’d be enormously surprised that a person in an abusive environment would come in for a massage, b) in my world: I want to be prepared. Conclusion Having personal experience of DFV significantly impacted the way that respondents felt about and managed DFV in their clinic. Several massage therapists’ who had no personal experience of DFV demonstrated a lack of knowledge about DFV and less confidence to respond to it in their clinic. It is important to upskill and educate massage therapists, particularly those with no personal experience, to improve their confidence to have discussions around DFV and to respond to DFV disclosures.