Introduction
Domestic violence has been a major problem in most regions all over the world. Most people assume domestic violence only involves couples or rather people in an intimate relationship, but that is not the case. Domestic violence also includes people in other relationships like adults living with their elderly parents and adult siblings residing in the same place. It has been difficult trying to get the exact figures so as to examine the extent to which domestic violence is prevalent because most victims fail to report the occurrences. However, in 2014, the Centre for Disease control shared the results of a National Intimate partner and sexual violence survey. Although its data were from 2011, the report showed that at one point in their lives, 31 % of women living in the United States encountered physical violence from their intimate partner (Kramer & Finely, 2016). Elderly abuse is also a form of domestic violence, mostly involving mistreatment or neglect of the elderly people, which refers to individuals over the age of sixty. There have also been instances where males have been the subjects of abuse, although rarely since the Bureau of Justice reported that 76% of all domestic violence cases between 2003 and 2012 were directed towards women (Kramer & Finely, 2016). This discussion aims at discussing some of the steps that can be taken towards mitigating as well as eradicating domestic violence.
Community Awareness
Many times, individuals faced with domestic violence have the willingness to take action but are not aware of the programs and services that are in place for such matters. Community awareness aims at dispersing this knowledge to the community to help members of the community in understanding what to do when faced with such situations. Community awareness involves various activities and means of informing the public.
Community awareness is achieved through different channels. In September of 2015, Verizon a telecommunications company invited people in Detroit for a rally to fight against domestic violence entitled HopeLine Drive (“Rally for hope,” 2015). Such activities usually involve influential members of the community whom members of the community greatly regard. For instance, in this case, the Michigan State University men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo was involved in the rally. Agencies fighting domestic violence in the area received a total of $100,000 to boost their efforts (“Rally for hope,” 2015). This rally is just one method of raising community awareness and the same may be achieved through many other methods such as organizing a marathon run, planning competitions, and rewarding the winners, making public announcements on the radio and television networks, among many others.
The Raising Voices, a non-profit organization conducted a phased community-based intervention referred to as SASA! The intervention aimed at curbing intimate partner violence in Uganda between the period of 2007 and 2012. The results of the study showed that SASA! was able to reduce domestic violence in different ways at the community and individual levels. Individuals reported an improved level of mutual support, improved communication, shared decision-making and better management of disagreements (Kyegombe, Starmann, Devries, Michau, Nakuti, Musuya, Watts, & Heise, 2014). Cases of domestic violence have in many instances been as a result of minor disputes at home, and this helped a lot in that respect. At the community level, the results showed a reduced level of acceptability for violence against women. Most females reported that SASA initiative helped in reevaluating the perception that violence against women was an issue that women should endure and helped them gain the confidence to speak out about the different forms of abuse that they were encountering. Results also showed an increasing support for women facing violence and men wishing to stop the use of force. People shared that before SASA! they refrained from advocating against violence to prevent being labeled a meddler for interfering with other people’s activities (Kyegombe, Starmann, Devries, Michau, Nakuti, Musuya, Watts, & Heise, 2014). These findings show how a well-mobilized community awareness program helps in fighting against domestic violence. In fact, the initiatives have been shown to reduce recurring of domestic violence.
24-Hour Toll-Free Hotline
In this modern era, the power of telecommunication cannot be underestimated. The National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-787-3224 has been in existence since 1996 and the achievements since then cannot be contested. For over 20 years, the hotline has been used to provide advice and education on healthy relationships and domestic violence (The National Domestic Violence Hotline, n.d.). Hotlines thrive on the fact that they are free, anonymous, and confidential; hence, providing individuals with the confidence to use them.
In 2015, there were 334,917 calls received by the national domestic violence hotline and 109,907 calls that were not received due to lack of resources. Of these contacts, 66% were victims and survivors of domestic abuse, 13% were friends and family, and the remaining 21% was composed of other people, including healthcare providers, professionals, and abusive partners (The National Domestic Violence Hotline, n.d.). Through the interaction with the victims of domestic violence, the National domestic violence center was also able to gather valuable information on the type of abuse whereby they reported cases of emotional or verbal abuse, physical abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, and digital abuse. This specific data has helped the government in implementing various policies aimed at curbing domestic violence. A law enforcement survey carried out via the hotline revealed that both victims who had previously called the police in the past and those who had not all shared a collective reluctance in involving the law enforcers to solve their domestic violence issues. On 15th of April 2015, the hotline also aided in organizing a national congressional briefing based on online threats and cyberstalking, which was hosted by the National Task Force in a bid to end sexual and domestic violence. Through 2015, 167,054 people were referred to domestic violence providers and 80,974 people were referred to other resources across the nation depending on the nature of their problems (The National Domestic Violence Hotline, n.d.).
These numbers clearly show a great many individuals face domestic violence in the country. Through their website, one can clearly see the importance of a toll-free hotline by reading the stories shared on the platform. Mobile phones and telephones are accessible to most of the population in current days. This availability makes the services of domestic violence readily available to most people who would not have received the same level of services using other means.
Educational Programs
This initiative focuses on the provision of education mostly for young adults and adolescents by teaching them on the right ways of living a safe and violence-free life. Domestic violence impacts on children and youth in a different way than it would on adults. Exposure to domestic violence in an individual’s early years of life has a significant impact on how they will lead their lives in the future. It is, therefore, crucial to stop this behavior in its grassroots level before it becomes a problem in the future. Therefore, the best way to target these age groups is through education programs.
According to Ghimire, Axinn, and Smith-Greenaway (2015), a study on the association between education and married women’s experience with domestic violence in Nepal revealed that mass education can change the gender-focused dynamics of different societies where females are perceived to have a subordinate status in the community. Results also showed that women’s early access to school facilities, their parents’ schooling, and their spouses’ level of education all reduce the probability of encountering domestic violence. In fact, the husband’s level of education had a significant inverse relationship with the likelihood of the women to experience domestic violence. This association proves that education helps in reducing domestic violence. In fact, the education programs conducted for adults and research to determine the effects of an empowerment education program in Tehran proved this after a study was performed on 91 married women. After the implementation of the education program, results showed a higher average level of awareness, attitudes, self-esteem, and efficacy among members of the community compared to the data collected from the people before the program (Taghdisi, Estebsari, Dastoorpour, Jamshidi, Jamalzadeh, & Latifi, 2014).
In fact, this goes to show how important education awareness is. In children and adolescents, education provides guidance on how they should lead healthy lives as well as informing them of the dangers of domestic violence helping them to grow as model individuals. On the other hand, education is still necessary for adults, especially to those who did not have the chance to get the social education and ethics in their early years.
Endorse Media Campaigns against Intimate Partner Violence
Typically, media campaigns are widely used as a prevention mechanism aimed at educating target audiences on a multitude of health related issues, including intimate partner violence (IPV) as in this case. Media campaigns have proved to be a useful tool due to their ability to reach many people, mostly composed of the target audience given that youths have the most access to the media. Media campaigns are set up to achieve two primary targets, including the provision of awareness on the particular topic and secondly, to use this shared information in giving the audience direction on why and how they should change an individual behavior or trend (Potter, Stapleton, & Moynihan, 2008).
In fact, to evaluate the impact of media awareness on the role of bystanders in occurrences of violence against women, a study was conducted involving two residential dormitories where one was used as the control and the other as the experimental room. Members of the experimental residence were exposed to media awareness channels where posters were hung in different sections of the experimental dormitory, and the control dormitory was left intact. Results after interviewing random members before and after awareness in the two dormitories showed that there was a significant difference in the level of knowledge exhibited by individuals who were exposed to media compared to those who were not (Potter, Stapleton, & Moynihan, 2008). It is this knowledge that enables people to take the right action when faced with issues such as IPV. Although this study focuses on violence against women, the same strategy can be employed in a national media awareness activity targeted at empowering the entire country.
Avenues for media campaigns are increasing every day, especially in the form of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and the like. Statistics show that currently in the year 2016, 78% of all Americans have an online social profile, up from only 24% in 2008 (“U.S Social network”, n.d.). This only represents the audience of online social platforms not including other forms of media circulation such as magazines, television and radio networks, billboards, among others. In essence, endorsing media campaigns against IPV will play a fundamental part in dealing with domestic violence.
Lead by Example
Children learn and adapt from what they collect from the environment surrounding them in their day-to-day life. When children are growing up, the parents form a large part of this environment. Besides, children are advised to learn from their parents even at school. As such, it is the role of parents to show their children that violence and abuse have no place in a healthy lifestyle. Children will often mirror their parent’s character as they gather different elements of the environment they are involved in daily.
According to Kolar and Davey (2007), approximately 3 million children are exposed to the domestic violence taking place between parents in their homes annually. In fact, the exposure makes them vulnerable to violence themselves. A study to determine the relationship between in-home violence coupled with depression with the use of physical punishment and to establish the role of child behavior in such relationships was conducted. The methods used were a regression analysis of a sample composed of children from kindergarten. Violence exposure, smacking, and depressive symptoms were measured through parent interviews, while children behavior was reported by teachers. Results showed that mothers exposed to domestic violence had a higher frequency of smacking their children (Silverstein, Augustyn, Young & Zuckerman, 2011).
Domestic violence among adults may also lead to long-term problems, mostly when the child is exposed to domestic violence frequently. Behavioral complications like anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression have been linked with exposure to domestic violence. From the common perception that children faced by troubled backgrounds like domestic violence back at home are confronted with a complicated school life, a study was conducted by matching student performance records with cases of domestic violence. Carrell and Hoekstra (2010) found out that children with exposure to domestic violence had significantly reduced reading and test scores and they misbehaved severally in the classroom, hence besides being affected themselves, they also affect the other children. It is clear that exposure to domestic violence has many adverse effects on a child’s life. By leading an ordinary violent free lifestyle, parents can help in preventing domestic violence in their family and encourage others to lead by example right from the very beginning. Therefore, parents should be the mentors of their children and the other members of the society.
Conclusion
Domestic violence is widespread all over the world, given the numbers of reported cases not to mention the unreported occurrences. Community awareness, implementation of educational programs, leading by example, and media campaigns are interventions that can be used to enrich the masses on their rights and empower them to rise and speak out against the perpetrators of domestic violence. Through these interventions, domestic violence can be mitigated and stopped from the beginning of a child’s life. Establishing a toll-free hotline provides an opportunity for thousands of victims to get the information and assistance they require from an extensive database of resources without disclosing their identity, an initiative that makes them open up. The government, people, and other well-wishers can combine their efforts and support domestic violence agencies with funds to help them carry out their mission. Being able to understand and comprehend domestic violence as the basis for abusive control with extreme repercussions is a critical stage in the journey towards implementing effective interventions.
References
“Rally for hope” with Detroit police department, deputy mayor ike McKinnon, msu coach Tom Izzo, Detroit Lions running back Ameer Abdullah, community and business leaders, raises awareness of domestic violence. (2015, Sep 30). News Bites – Telecommunications Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1717506734?accountid=45049
Carrell, S. E., & Hoekstra, M. L. (2010). Externalities in the Classroom: How children exposed to domestic violence affect everyone’s kids. American Economic Journal.Applied Economics, 2(1), 211-228. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.2.1.211
Ghimire, D.J., Axinn, W.G., Smith-Greenaway, E. (2015) Impact of the spread of mass education on married women’s experience with domestic violence.Journal of social science research,54,319-339
Kolar K. R., Davey D. (2007) Silent victims: children exposed to family violence. Journal of Nursing.23(2):85–91.
Kramer, L., & Finley, L. (2016). Domestic violence. Salem Press Encyclopedia
Kyegombe, N., Starmann, E., Devries, K. M., Michau, L., Nakuti, J., Musuya, T., … Heise, L. (2014). “SASA! is the medicine that treats violence”. Qualitative findings on how a community mobilization intervention to prevent violence against women created change in Kampala, Uganda. Global Health Action, 7, 10.3402/gha.v7.25082. http://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v7.25082
Sharyn J. Potter, Jane G. Stapleton & Mary M. Moynihan (2008) Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Media Campaign Illustrating the Bystander Role, Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 36:1-2, 39-55
Taghdisi, M.H.,Estebsari, F., Dastoorpour, M., Jamshidi, E., Jamalzadeh, F., & Latifi, M. The Impact of Educational Intervention Based on Empowerment Model in Preventing Violence Against Women.Iran Red Crescent Med J. 2014 July; 16(7): e14432. Published online 2014 July 5. doi: 10.5812/ircmj.14432
The National Domestic Violence Hotline. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2016, from http://www.thehotline.org/
U.S. population with a social network profile 2016 | Statistic. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/273476/percentage-of-us-population-with-a-social-network-profile/
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