Domestic Violence
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 11
Domestic violence is the physical assault, intimidation, and otherabusive behavior used by one partner perpetrated in an effort tocontrol another one in an intimate relationship. The most common typeof domestic violence in the country is the emotional abuse, sexualabuse, and physical violence (Wallace& Roberson, 2016). Women experience more violencethan men, and the severity and the frequency of the domestic violencevary among different spouses. Many government organizations havetried to deal with the problem and since social workers are the onesthat deal with the issue directly, it is important for them tounderstand every aspect of the social issue.
Definitions
Sexual abuse: Attempting sexual contact with a partner withouttheir consent. It includes marital rape, treating the partner insexually demeaning others and attacks on sexual parts of the body.
Physical abuse: This is causing physical pain to the partner.It includes slapping, biting, forcing drug use on the partner, hairpulling among others.
Emotional abuse: Occurs when a partner makes the other losetheir self-esteem, and this occurs through name calling, constantcriticism among others.
Economic abuse: Occurs when a partner makes the other onefinancially dependent by maintaining total control over his financialresources. For instance, a partner can withhold the access to moneyand forbid the other partner to seek employment (Simon& Brooks, 2017).
Psychological Abuse: Occurs when a partner causes fear byintimidation and threatening physical harm to the partner and otherpeople associated with them.
Statistics on Prevalence
Statistics proves that women are more frequent victims of violencewhen compared with men. Nearly 20 people are physically abused bytheir partners in every minute (Wilkinset al., 2014). Stalking is another commonform of violence, and the victims usually feel fearful that it mayresult in physical harm or death. 15% of all the violent crimesreported are from intimate partners, and young women are the mostcommon victims of the violent (Dobson& Dobson, 2016). The number of individuals whoseek help after physical injuries are less than 40%. Violence towardsa partner involves children as they watch the violence happening(Dardis etal., 2015).
Studies Looking At the Protective Factors
Many studies focus on the violence directed at women. Dobson& Dobson, (2016) explain that although women havebeen experiencing violence more than men, their precedence rate hasbeen reducing through intervention by various groups such asgovernment and NGOs but the rate of violence perpetrated against menis still at the same level and this shows the need to study violencethat is directed to men.
McGinnis(2016) explains that even if the women are beingrescued for the violence they experience, most of them tend to goback to the violent partners for different reasons. This makes allthe efforts to end the violence go to waste as the women are likelyto experience violence again, making it a cycle. The author furtherstates that social workers usually support the women after they haveexperienced the violence but they also fail to examine the causativefactors of the violence, and this leads to a repetition of theproblem
Issues Relevant to Social Work and Social Work Intervention
Social workers are obligated to help victims of domestic violence. Research has proven that domestic violence is rampant and it affectspeople in different communities irrespective of their gender, race,religion, age and economic status (Wilkinset al., 2014). Domestic violence results inpsychological trauma, depression, substance abuse, physical injuryand in severe cases, death. Social workers should, therefore, ensurethat they understand different perspectives of dealing with theissue.
Significance of the Issue
As a social issue, domestic violence is dangerous and an unfortunatehappening that should be addressed promptly to ensure that safety ofthe members of the community. Domestic violence has been the cause ofmany breakups among households in the country, and the children arethe ones who usually suffer in such a scenario. In addition, itreduces the productivity of the community members as they usuallywaste a lot of time dealing with court cases and medical issues(Simon &Brooks, 2017). Domestic violence is significant tosocial workers because it affects the community in a great way. Theyare responsible for the social wellness of the community, and sincedomestic violence affects the community members, they should addressit keenly. In addition, domestic violence has been among thecausative factors to issues such as suicide, drug use and crimes inthe society and addressing it will ensure that the people have fulllives in the community.
Social Cognitive Theory
History of Development
The theory was formulated by Albert Bandura, and he argued thatpeople acquire behaviors after observing others and imitating whatthey have seen (Matiaset al., 2014). The theory has been used to explain manysocial issues such as crime, domestic violence among others. Manystudies on domestic violence have connected it to the social learningtheory. Intergenerational transmission of violence is one of thesocial learning theory that explains domestic violence (Simon& Brooks, 2017).This concept assumes thatsignificant cases of domestic violence are passed from one generationto another. It also suggests that the effects of domestic violenceemerge as a learned behavior on an individual. It is, therefore,important to understand the intergenerational transfer of violence asit has contributed to the current cases of domestic violence. If achild is brought up witnessing domestic violence and had poorparental treatment, it can have an effect on that child`s futurerelationship. Researchers show that most cases of domestic violencecan be traced to maltreatment of the perpetrator when he or she was achild (Reyeset al., 2015). That said it is essential to studyparental behavior and realize the person`s attitude to becomeinvolved in being violent to their partner.
According to Albert, the theory focuses on a modeling process whichincludes attention and the theory explains that for a person to learnsomething, he or she must pay attention to the activities. The secondmodel which is retention explains that a person can be influenced byobserving behaviors if he can remember the activities that weremodeled at a particular time. Human beings store the behaviors theysee in the form of verbal descriptions and mental images, and theycan recall the image later when reproducing the activity in theircharacter. The third part of the recognition theory explains thatthrough reproduction, the images and description are converted intosymbolic representations, and the appropriate actions are taken(Haj-Yahia etal., 2015). The person`s ability to reproduce abehavior improves with practice as the author explains. Lastly,motivation is necessary to imitate a behavior. Something likeincentives acts as reinforces and in the case they are negative, itis likely that they will discourage the continuation of the modeledactivity.
Strengths of the Theory
Social learning theory has been used to depict the correlation ofwitnessing interparental violence in childhood to victimization andperpetration of domestic violence. When two people in a heterosexualrelationship or marriage exclude the psychological and emotional partof an argument, they create a wrong perception and this promotesviolence in the relationship. Social workers should be able torecognize such incidences in order they can advise such couplesaccordingly. The theory further proves that fathers are more likelyto engage in social violence (Reyeset al., 2015). This happens when they inflict sexual,psychological and sexual abuse to their children thus creating amentality to the children that violence and confrontation can be usedto resolve conflicts in their relationships. Witnessing parentalviolence creates a possibility of the children to use violence intheir future relationship.
Connection between and the Social LearningTheory
Witnessing parental harassing and parental violence increases thepossibility of the children, regardless of their gender, to beperpetrators of violence while those who do not experience end upbeing victimized by their spouses. Individuals form a perception ofthe opposite genders from their childhood, and if they are exposed toviolence at home, they will form a negative perception of theexperience (Matiaset al., 2014). The men are likely to hold aconservative attitude hence finding nothing wrong with expressingthemselves through violence. On the other hand, women are likely tobe protective of themselves and to develop a liberal mentality andthis will increase their chances of expressing violence in theirrelationships.
Research Relating to the Theory Use and
As a concept in social learning theory, intergenerational transfer ofdomestic violence has been supported by the fact that the childrenlearn abusive language from their families. If the family has atendency of using vulgar language, the child will have them deeplyenrooted, and this will affect their future relationships (Simon& Brooks, 2017). Although some children are likelyto change the situation in the hope of a better family, someespecially sons are likely to have a misconception of relationshipand carry on their behavior to their spouses thus creating a cycle ofviolence.
The magnitude of marital violence is influenced by the considerationof roles of both spouses in their daily lives. There is a generalassumption that individuals act according to their perception aboutother people`s attitude. In the case the man is responsible for thefamily upkeep, it is likely that he will feel powerful and will feelthe need to show it by perpetrating in violence and the same occursfor the women where they feel they are in control because they areproviding for the family (Wilkinset al., 2014). Such individuals are likely exposed todomestically violated families, and they decide to inherit thetreatment and apply it in their situation., When social workersunderstand such a scenario, it is possible for them to find asolution that will put the cycle to an end.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Rationale for Using the Model
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy model is effective in addressingdomestic violence where offenders are tutored by psychologists totreat violent behavior. The model focuses on the Social Learningtheory as it explains that since violence is a learned habit, theperpetrators can also learn the act of nonviolence (Babcocket al., 2016). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy attempts tochange their behavior by identifying their thought processes and thebeliefs that contribute to their violence. After identifying them themental pathways to violence are challenged and the abusive people areprovoked to change their understanding of violence and to disrupt thecognitive chain of events that lead to their marital violence. Thesocial workers teach the violent spouses nonviolent assertivenessanger management techniques, communication skills and social skillsthat will help in reducing the violent shown against their spouses(Babcock etal., 2016). Using the Cognitive Social Model, theSocial workers also change the violent spouses` perception ofviolence and their attitude towards the victims (Wilkinset al., 2014). In many cases, there are usually manyemotions beneath the violence, and by addressing them, the socialworkers helps the violent partners to open up and reduce theirviolence tendencies towards their spouses.
Why the Model Addresses the Needs of the Population
The Cognitive Behavioral Model encourages the subjects to be aware oftheir actions by thinking and analyzing them carefully. It iscomposed of several phases which include the assessment phase wherethe social worker or the therapist assesses the situation and deducesthe facts from the situation. This phase ensures that the exactproblem is highlighted and ready to be addressed. The second phase isthe reconceptualization where the subjects of the study analyze theiractions and what could have led to their behavior (Cattaneo& Goodman, 2015). The third stage is the skillsacquisition where the subjects who in this case are the maleoffenders acquire the nonviolent skills. The needs of the populationare to stop domestic violence and when the perpetrators of theviolence learn new skills violence will cease. The fourth phase isthe skills consolidation and application where the subjects aretaught to apply the skills they have learned in their real lives. Thelast phase is the follow, and the social workers follow up on theperpetrator of domestic violence to ensure that he/she does notrelapse to the abusive nature thus eliminating the problem ofdomestic violence.
Importance of utilizing the theory and practice model with thesocial issue
As a form of psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Concentrateson the patterns of beliefs and thinking, attitudes and values thatare behind that mode of thinking. People who take part in the modellearns skills that will be useful to effectively solve daily problemsand the skills that they can use to achieve their goals legally.Domestic violence has been a major social issue and it has manyundesirable results such as death, physical and emotional injuries,and incarnation as the physical use of violence is a crime (Reyeset al., 2015). The Social Learning Theory has depictedthat people act from what they have learned through observation andexperience while the cognitive behavioral therapy explains that anindividual can unlearn the negative things and learn the positiveattributesWhen the two are used to address the current cases of domesticviolence, it is possible that the social ill will reduce tremendouslyas they offer a way of applying the model to the individual to ensurechange and to maintain the positive change achieved.
Conclusion
Domestic violence has affected many people in the country, and thishas reduced their quality of life physically and financially. Mostcases of domestic violence are of recidivism and they should beaddressed promptly. It is evident that domestic violence has livedlong and if nothing is done to change it, it is likely to remain thatway for centuries to come. The Social Learning Theory explains thatpeople acquire their present characters through learning and thisexplains the current rates of the domestic violence as childrenlearned from their violent parents and neighbors. It is, therefore,important that parents observe their behavior when with theirchildren as the young ones are learning from them. The cognitivemodel uses this theory to address the social issue successfully, andif followed, domestic violence will gradually be a thing of the past.
References
Babcock, J.,Armenti, N., Cannon, C., Lauve-Moon, K., Buttell, F., Ferreira, R., &Lehmann, P. (2016). Domestic violence perpetrator programs: Aproposal for evidence-based standards in the United States. PartnerAbuse, 7(4),355-460.
Cattaneo, L.B., & Goodman, L. A. (2015). What is empowerment anyway? A modelfor domestic violence practice, research, and evaluation. Psychologyof Violence, 5(1),84.
Dardis, C.M., Dixon, K. J., Edwards, K. M., & Turchik, J. A. (2015). Anexamination of the factors related to dating violence perpetrationamong young men and women and associated theoretical explanations: Areview of the literature. Trauma,Violence, & Abuse, 16(2),136-152.
Dobson, D., &Dobson, K. S. (2016). Evidence-basedpractice of cognitive-behavioral therapy.Guilford Publications.
Haj-Yahia, M.M., Sousa, C., Alnabilsy, R., & Elias, H. (2015). The influenceof Palestinian physicians’ patriarchal ideology and exposure tofamily violence on their beliefs about wife beating. Journalof Family Violence, 30(3),263-276.
Matias, C.,O’Connor, T. G., Futh, A., & Scott, S. (2014). Observationalattachment theory-based parenting measures predict children’sattachment narratives independently from social learning theory-basedmeasures. Attachment& human development, 16(1),77-92.
McGinnis, M.L. (2016). Post Matter of ARCG: An Expansion of American Compassionfor International Victims. PennSt. L. Rev., 121,555.
Reyes, H.,Foshee, V. A., Fortson, B. L., Valle, L. A., Breiding, M. J., &Merrick, M. T. (2015). Longitudinal mediators of relations betweenfamily violence and adolescent dating aggressionperpetration. Journalof marriage and family, 77(4),1016-1030.
Simon, J. D.,& Brooks, D. (2017). Identifying families with complex needsafter an initial child abuse investigation: a comparison ofdemographics and needs related to domestic violence, mental health,and substance use. ChildAbuse & Neglect, 67,294-304.
Wallace, P.H., & Roberson, C. (2016). Familyviolence: Legal, medical, and social perspectives.Routledge.
Wilkins, N.,Tsao, B., Hertz, M., Davis, R., & Klevens, J. (2014). Connectingthe dots: an overview of the links among multiple forms of violence.
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