Domestic violence has occurred as early as 730 B. C. , and occurs still today (ICADV, 1999).
This crime is not random or arbitrary, and includes physical, psychological, and emotional abuse (MCADSV, 2012). Domestic violence affects all family members, including children. Co-workers as well as increasing health care costs also are affected (Zerra, ed. , 2002). Persuading domestic violence victims to report the crime is difficult, but possible. Advocates to stop domestic violence can use methods such as persuasion through emotion, and face-to-face persuasion to relay their message (Myers, 2010).
Individuals may be motivated to exhibit altruistic behaviors in an attempt to help victims of domestic violence through the social exchange theory. This may occur in conjunction with methods of persuasion (Heath, 2006). Many individuals who want to help domestic violence victims will also create various intervention strategies, such as a domestic violence response team (DVRT), providing victims with information, education, medical care, empathy, and understanding (Jaffe, & Wolfe, 2009).History of Domestic Violence Domestic violence dates back to 730 B. C.
when husbands were legally permitted, and sometimes encouraged to discipline physically their wives (ICADV, 1999). Husbands could beat their wives with a rod or stick as long as it was no bigger in circumference than the man’s right thumb, hence the phrase “The Rule of Thumb” (ICADV, para. 1, 1999). During the Middle Ages, men were given permission by the Church to beat their women for correction. In the early 1400s men were asked to “treat their wives with as much mercy as they would their hens and pigs” (ICADV, para.
7, 1999).In the early 1500s marital rape was not recognized because the courts believed a woman was under contract when she marries a man, and the woman could not withdraw consent until the couple divorced (ICADV, 1999). During the late 1500s battered women who killed their husbands were buried alive, having only their heads exposed, leaving them to die. However, it was legal for a husband to kill his wife (ICADV, 1999). In 1871, Alabama and Massachusetts were the first states to declare wife beating illegal (ICADV, 1999).
Over the next several years, many other states adopted such laws.It was not until after 1911, when the first family court was established that laws began to change. During the mid-1900’s shelters and intervention programs were creating, providing battered women a place to go. However, it would not be until 1994 that the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) would be passed by Congress (ICADV, 1999). Nature of Domestic Violence Domestic violence is more than the physical signs that are visual.
It is patterns of attacks and intimidation that abusive individuals use to control their intimate partners (MCADSV, 2012).Domestic violence can occur during the relationship or after the relationship has ended. Victims of domestic violence tend to have feelings of confusion and fear for many reasons (MCADSV, 2012). Victims believe there is a threat of harm or death if they attempt to leave the relationship.
There may be financial hardships if he or she leaves an abusive relationship. The victim may also have feelings of guilt because of potential cultural and religious values that society emphasizes in keeping families together (MCADSV, 2012). Abusers are meticulous with their patterns of abuse and intimacy.They effectively intertwine intimacy and abuse to confuse and control their partners (MCADSV, 2012).
This pattern is not random or arbitrary. Domestic violence has some unique characteristics. Partners do not share the role of discipline or control in an abusive relationship, and the abuser and the victim do not have equal rights and responsibilities within the relationship (MCADSV, 20120. Domestic violence is “a complex pattern of increasingly frequent and harmful physical, sexual, psychological, and other abusive behaviors used to control the victim” (MCADSV, p. 1, 2012).
Societal EffectsDomestic violence not only affects the survivor of the attack, but also the survivor’s children, family, the person who is the abuser, the abusers family, the general health care system, and several parts of society (Cherry, 2012). Domestic violence affects families from affluent communities and those from poor ones, the educated and non-educated, varying ethnicities, and those who are heterosexual and homosexual (Feinstein, 2013). People that are abusive not only destroy families but also cause destabilization to society. The effects of domestic violence on the victim’s health are severe.
Battering causes significant costs on the community (Zerra, ed. , 2002). There are not only costs from the immediate injuries that occurred, but there are also long-term health care costs that could evolve later. According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control in the United States, they estimate the annual direct medical costs of caring for women who have been battered in the United States alone is nearly 1. 8 billion dollars (UNICEF).
At the time we consider psychological abuse to be less severe than physical violence many people recognize the devastating mental health effects that domestic violence has on individuals.Domestic violence can be fatal Death occurs not only as the result of an intentional murder but also as a result of injuries that occurred inflicted by the violence. The U. S. Department of Justice estimates nearly 37 percent of women visiting the emergency room or police station are there due to domestic violence and abuse (Feinstein, 2013).
Women survive domestic violence every day, but the victim’s ability to function in daily life is affected (Feinstein, 2013). A person once battered, may start to feel ashamed, embarrassed, humiliation, and isolation from others (Feinstein, 2013).The victim of domestic violence may make more visits to the doctor, is more likely to be out of work, have a higher risk of substance abuse as well as a higher risk of abandonment. Victims face possible termination because of changes due to abuse. Children of domestic violence often have effects that will last until adulthood (Feinstein, 2013).
Recent studies show that at least half of the children that were injured during a domestic violence incident have lasting effects. When children view violence as part of their parent’s relationship they often grow up to become abusers themselves and tend to believe that domestic violence is acceptable (Feinstein, 2013).Studies have shown that the main reason one becomes violent is a result of a learned behavior rather than genetics (Goldhagen 1995). Domestic Violence affects everyone around the victim, including those in the workplace, how the victim performs at work, family may think they are targeted by the abuser, and the victim may lie, hide things, and protect the abuser (Goldhagen 1995). Elements of Persuasion The communicator, the message, the channel, and the audience are four factors needed to make persuasion effective (Myers, 2010).Persuading individuals to report and cease abuse is the most influential part of the communication process.
Several methods of persuasion exist that employ the process of identifying, reporting, and stopping abuse. An effective method of persuading the public to assist with stopping domestic violence is persuasion through emotion. Combining altruistic behavior with an emotional message is the most successful way to rally for the cause. Domestic violence is a very serious issue and according to Myers (2010) messages that arouse fear are effective because the recipients are vulnerable but can take protective action (p.
253).Determining how to communicate the emotion evoking message and considering the audience who receives it makes a difference in how effective the message will work for domestic violence prevention. Displaying pamphlets in doctor’s offices, human service agencies, and local business is a very discreet method of advertisement. Victims can silently obtain the pamphlet and read it in a private and safe place. This method plants the seed of hope for a potentially safe future and provides critical information that will assist the victim in the taking the first steps toward reaching out for assistance and support.
Commercial television advertisements are the best way to evoke sympathy, sadness, and anger in the viewers, this method creates awareness while influencing emotion. Billboards and posters that display domestic violence hotlines and graphic images of victims creates another method of domestic violence awareness while providing critical phone numbers for domestic violence victims to use. Even though face-to-face influence is the preferred method to successful persuasion, it is not always possible to achieve. Employers, coworkers, teachers, friends, and family members are the best possible sources for face-to-face persuasion.
They have an idea of the victim’s daily routine, their natural state, and their physical abilities. These people are most likely to notice the signs and symptoms of domestic abuse first. With a successful campaign that focuses on domestic violence prevention, the individuals who come into contact with victims will have easy access to the information on how to stop domestic violence and will be more likely to persuade the victim to leave their tragic environment. Teachers can report to the proper authorities if they suspect a child lives in a violent home; however it does not mean that others in the home who are of legal age will walk away.Every method of persuasion counts in the fight to stop domestic violence. Motivations of Altruistic Behavior in Social Exchange Theory According to Myers (2010), altruistic behavior is a selfless motivation to increase another person’s welfare.
Emotional persuasion depends highly on the context and the relationship of the individuals. Individuals become motivated to help others who are dealing with domestic violence, and in return may get an unexpected internal reward. Seeing a pamphlet or a commercial about domestic violence evokes an emotional response which motivates a person to help (Heath, 2006).Face-to-face persuasion evokes a person to act through seeing the effects of domestic violence. An individual who notices that a coworker who seems nervous every time his or her phone rings and they show up each day with unexplained bruising may talk to the individual, and try to help him or her out of the situation (Admin, 2013). Intervention Strategy and Prevention Implications Domestic violence is a complex phenomenon, which has several variables plaguing women and children around the country.
Regardless of the amount of variables involving these victims, proper preventative measures and immediate interventions can change their lives.Prevention through educating the young, raising the awareness, and challenging their attitudes. The purpose of intervention is to provide the victims with rapid options to deal with their situation, as well as to provide emotional, directional, and physical support. There are three preventive strategies: primary, secondary, and tertiary (Jaffe & Woolfe, 1999). The primary preventive strategy would be focused on reducing the amount of domestic violence incidents in a population before they occur (Jaffe & Woolfe, 1999).
This primary preventive strategy can begin with an infant, where paraprofessionals conduct home visitations for new parents, to school-aged children utilizing school-based awareness programs, which discuss alternate conflict-resolution skills. Adolescents and early adults can receive primary preventative measures through school, however; based more on their age group, such as specific information on how to form intimate relationships, and public education, which can promote local resources and how to respond to domestic violence situations (Jaffe & Woolfe, 1999).Contrary to the primary population-based strategies focus, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies are directed towards individuals who have elicited behaviors commonly associated with domestic violence, as well as those who have experienced recurring incidents (Jaffe & Woolfe, 1999). Because the damage has essentially created the secondary and tertiary strategies, strategies for prevention rely heavily on intervention programs tailored to the specific victim. Individuals who fall under secondary strategies rely on a community-based intervention team where they would be cognizant of the problem and be provided the coordinated services.
The tertiary victim would also receive intervention, however, on a larger more serious scale (Jaffe & Woolfe, 1999). Intervention for those victims who have been harmed and the acts of violence are instilled in their minds must be provided with strong professional interventions. Interventions for the secondary and tertiary victims can come in many ways provided by multiple agencies. One way would be to have a Domestic Violence Response Team (DVRT). This team would be comprised of professionals, paraprofessionals, and volunteers, such as past victims of domestic violence.
The diversity of this group would ensure that each victim would receive the necessary information, guidance, and support they need to overcome such atrocities within domestic violence. The professionals would be there to analyze the victims’ superficial feelings and cater to the victims based on their findings within their scope of practice. The past victims play a vital role because they will more than likely be able to relate to every victim because they have also been exposed to it. The past victim could provide a connection, based on their past background, as opposed to that connection lacking when dealing with a health professional.
