Domestic Violence (cont.)
How is domestic violence assessed?
Unfortunately, although assessing whether a man or woman is being abused in
their relationship is quite manageable, less than one in 20 doctors do so
routinely. Despite these difficulties, it is known that questions that are most
effective in assessing domestic violence are open-ended as opposed to those
asking for yes or no answers (for example, "How do you and your
partner tend to disagree with each other?" versus "Does your spouse hit you?").
Indirect questions about things like how many emergency-room visits, injuries,
or accidents they have had this year are more likely to be answered candidly
than are direct questions about the cause of each injury. As with any sensitive
or potentially painful topic, questions about domestic violence are answered
truthfully more often when the person asked is alone with the professional, as
opposed to being asked with their partner (the potential batterer), child, or
other family member present during the discussion.
How is intimate partner violence treated?
Getting and keeping the victim of domestic violence safe is an essential part
of treating domestic abuse. Many legal and mental-health professionals who work
with victims recommend the development of safety plans, both for home and in the
workplace. Such a plan includes encouraging the victim to keep a charged cell
phone in his or her possession at all times, maintaining active peace,
protective, or restraining orders against the batterer, keeping a copy of the
order at all times, along with distributing copies of the order to the victim's
supervisor, workplace reception area, and security, as well as to daycare
providers. It is important for battered men and women to realize that abusers
sometimes escalate in their abusiveness when first served with a protective
order and to take appropriately heightened safety precautions. Other elements of
a safety plan may include the victim changing his or her work site, parking, or
work schedule, having an emergency contact person, and establishing danger
signals to alert neighbors or coworkers that the victim is in immediate danger.
One well-known approach to treating domestic abuse families is the Duluth
Model. It is also called the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) and
focuses on women as the victims and men as the perpetrators of intimate partner
violence. This treatment model takes the approach of empowering women by
providing them information, resources, and support. It also uses legal resources
as a means of keeping women safe and giving consequences to male batterers.
Regarding specific treatment for batterers, compliance with multiple treatment
sessions is thought to decrease the likelihood that domestic violence
perpetrators repeat the behavior.
Having professionals provide victims of domestic violence with information
about domestic-violence shelters and other housing, financial, and other service
supports in the community has been found to greatly decrease the amount of
violence that victims of intimate partner abuse experience after leaving the
abuser. For couples with whom alcoholism or other excessive alcohol use is an
issue, marital therapy that has alcoholism as a focus has also been found to be
effective.
Next: How is intimate partner abuse legally addressed? »
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