This book focuses on the importance of assessing risk in domestic violence cases to prevent and reduce its escalation into homicide (so called uxoricide). Spousal killers in a substantial number of cases exhibit a history of prior spousal violence: in addition to this, witnessing violence has debilitating effects on children. For this reason domestic violence is also becoming a hot political issue on the European agenda. Integrating the US and Canadian experiences with the European ones increases the book's value and broadens perspectives. Assessing the risk and adopting appropriate measures can help reduce the risk of escalation of violence. It aims at gathering contributions from experts in the field of domestic violence and victimisation to present state of the art research in the risk assessment of domestic violence cases.

This book gives mental health professionals the knowledge and practical skills they need to provide effective treatment to individuals who engage in IPV and have a history of exposure to trauma.

"Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious social problem affecting both men and women worldwide that can lead to a variety of negative mental and physical health effects. This book contains nine chapters that address the problem of IPV, exploring methods of preventing IPV as well as treatment for victims of IPV. Chapter One centers on the issue of blame, reviewing current research on the associations between self-blaming attributions and psychological outcomes among survivors of IPV. Chapter Two proposes a theoretical reflection on the phenomenon of domestic violence based on its understanding as a problem sustained by cultural beliefs and discourses and which can be tackled through education and the promotion of public debate, by means of institutional advertisements. Chapter Three highlights the importance of capacity building Brazilian police forces to tackle cases of IPV as well as to protect and enable victims to fully exercise their rights. Chapter Four argues that the Domestic Violence Risk instrument used by Portuguese police to assess IPV cases should be reworked, as it tends to assign a medium level of risk in cases that the scientific community would likely associate with high risk. Chapter Five discusses the relationship between IPV and academic stress. Chapter Six reviews research on factors affecting women's treatment engagement in the aftermath of IPV, including characteristics of the violence/violent relationship, types of mental health problems following IPV, and individual differences in personality and demographics. Chapter Seven deals with the coping mechanisms available to women living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania who experience IPV. Chapter Eight details the relevance of methodological and ethical aspects of studies on violence involving children and how these requirements may affect research validity in this domain. Finally, Chapter Nine presents a study of violence against women media campaigns that use graphic imagery and how they impact fears of behaving assertively and of victimization, safety self-efficacy, and collective female self-esteem"--

Stop intimate partner violence before it starts Intimate partner violence touches everyone. With more than 1 million cases reported each year, this pervasive social problem has devastating effects on victims, families, and communities. Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence presents a comprehensive overview of the wide range of efforts and approaches that have been successful in preventing physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. A growing frustration with the limits of therapeutic intervention and with the costs imposed on society by intimate partner violence has created a need for greater emphasis on state-of-the-art prevention programs that really work. Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence addresses the challenges of conducting and evaluating such programs, gaps that exist in programming and research, and future trends in those areas. A panel of domestic violence experts, researchers, and healthcare professionals examines how to change the ways individuals and the current health care system think about, and respond to, intimate partner violence; how to change the ways young people deal with anger in intimate relationships; and the ways society can support families to reduce the occurrence of violence in intimate relationships. Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence examines: identifying risk factors the cost-benefit of universal and targeted programs the effectiveness of parenting, stress management, and substance abuse programs community capacity theory community development social networks media and public awareness campaigns healthcare screening programs and much more Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence documents the effectiveness of prevention interventions, encouraging prevention specialists to use evidence-based interventions to enhance the effectiveness of their own work. This powerful book is an invaluable professional resource for social workers, family life educators, researchers, and practitioners.

Domestic violence does not begin the day an adult heterosexual male decides to beat and batter an adult heterosexual female. Domestic violence is a complicated and multifaceted enigma that includes child, sibling, spousal, intimate partner, and elder abuse. Despite spending billions of dollars on domestic violence, the number of some categories of

This book brings together an international collection of researchers and practitioners from a range of fields--including sociology, social work, psychology, law, public health and medicine, and victims services and advocacy--to examine promising, innovative strategies and programs for preventing intimate partner violence (IPV). The interdisciplinary contributions both discuss findings from evaluations of current IPV prevention programs and identify gaps in knowledge, paying particular attention to the needs of underserved groups like racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and refugees, and members of LGBTQ communities. Among the many issues addressed are primary prevention programs that target adolescents and young adults, strategies specifically designed to engage men and boys in IPV prevention, IPV screening in various settings, the impact of the criminalization of IPV on minority populations, restorative justice programs, interventions for women who use violence, and innovative shelter programming to prevent revictimization. Uniting the major themes examined throughout the book, the concluding chapter delineates paths to more effective prevention strategies by highlighting ways that all stakeholders can work more effectively toward reducing violence.

Violence against women and children is a serious public health concern, with costs at multiple levels of society. Although violence is a threat to everyone, women and children are particularly susceptible to victimization because they often have fewer rights or lack appropriate means of protection. In some societies certain types of violence are deemed socially or legally acceptable, thereby contributing further to the risk to women and children. In the past decade research has documented the growing magnitude of such violence, but gaps in the data still remain. Victims of violence of any type fear stigmatization or societal condemnation and thus often hesitate to report crimes. The issue is compounded by the fact that for women and children the perpetrators are often people they know and because some countries lack laws or regulations protecting victims. Some of the data that have been collected suggest that rates of violence against women range from 15 to 71 percent in some countries and that rates of violence against children top 80 percent. These data demonstrate that violence poses a high burden on global health and that violence against women and children is common and universal. Preventing Violence Against Women and Children focuses on these elements of the cycle as they relate to interrupting this transmission of violence. Intervention strategies include preventing violence before it starts as well as preventing recurrence, preventing adverse effects (such as trauma or the consequences of trauma), and preventing the spread of violence to the next generation or social level. Successful strategies consider the context of the violence, such as family, school, community, national, or regional settings, in order to determine the best programs.