Domestic and family violence (DFV) is considered a major social, health, and welfare issue by organizations all over the world (Douglas, 2017). It can be defined as acts of violence happening in domestic settings or intimate relationships. The violence could be in form of physical, emotional, sexual, or psychological abuse. It can affect people from all backgrounds, ethnicities, races, and ages, however, statistical data report that mainly children and women are affected by domestic and family violence. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABSS), Personal Safety Survey (PSS) 17% of women and 6.1% of men have experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner. 23% and 16% of women and men have suffered from emotional abuse by previous or current partners, respectively (AIHW, 2021).
One of the most important issues faced by this group is the low reporting of the cases. This may be due to the perception that the incident of violence will not be considered a crime if done by the family members rather than committed by a stranger. Other reasons for low reporting are embarrassment and shame. fear of the perpetrator, cultural hindrances, and feeling the trauma while talking about the event to different groups or parties. Another major issue faced by this group is the children who have witnessed the violence. This can lead to various psychosocial and physical violence problems in the children. They can also be more exposed to marital conflict, substance abuse, and physically abusive towards their family in the future. Also, children in families who have frequent domestic violence are more exposed to the risk of physical abuse as well. This leads to the social confinement of the children.
Case management can be defined as a joint process of assessing, planning, facilitating, and advocating for the services provided to an individual's holistic needs (Lukersmith et al., 2016). In the case of domestic and family violence, the case managers help in assessing the client's problems and provide various resources which are needed by the victims of DFV such as food, clothing, housing, medical bills, emergency funds, and other basic needs (Muller, 2014). For example, Windermere is a family violence case management organization in Victoria which helps in providing support with information and advocacy to the clients (Windermere, 2022). It helps the families of Casey and Cardinia by outreaching out to the clients at their location and developing a family support plan. Developing a safety plan in the case of an emergency is one of the prime features of case management. They also help with the legal services which are needed by the clients and work with an interdisciplinary team of therapists, counselors, and community services to provide a strong support system to these families. This organization also assists in different services such as financial and health services, which are needed by the victims of domestic and family support violence.
There are various services in Australia that can help the victims of family and domestic violence. 1800RESPECT is a free counseling service provided in Australia. It helps the victims with confidential telephone and online counseling. Kids Helpline is a confidential phone and online counseling service for people between the ages of 4 to 25. A family safety pack has been developed by the Department of Social Services, Government of Australia for providing information about the laws regarding domestic and family violence. safety Commissioner is a service provided for technology-facilitated abuse. Different states in Australia have their services for providing care and counseling to the victims of domestic and family violence. E.g., the Centre for Women Safety provides health services to women victims who have suffered from domestic and family violence in Western Australia. Stopping family violence in Western Australia organization that focuses on supporting the victims of DFV and responding to the involved perpetrators. There is a huge impact on the quality of life of the victims of DFV on getting the appropriate services. It helps in dealing with depression and PTSD which can cause mental health issues to the victims if not treated in the initial stages. It has been reported that the victims of DFV show symptoms of very low self-esteem and hopelessness (Bigizadeh et al., 2021). They live with the feeling of anxiety due to the fear of the violent companion. Counseling sessions can help in providing a support system to the victims and also to the related family members, such as children and elderly members. It can help in employing the victim as most of the cases reported of domestic violence show that the women were not able to leave the relationship or report the abusive incident because there was a lack of financial independence. Developing problem-solving skills, developing a plan for exiting the relationship, learning about a positive approach, and improving self-esteem and confidence is one of the various domains in which these social services need to work for benefit of the victims of DFV (Subhashchandra et al., 2022).
Domestic violence can be prevented by capacity building and effective programming the prevention (Schober et al., 2015). For capacity building, it is important to assess the capacity of major stakeholders working in this area such as the local community services, childcare agencies, women's safety organizations, police, legal system, the proprietors, and the victims of domestic violence (Ali et al., 2020). This can be done by increasing the primary prevention of the DFV on ground level and assessing the changes. The faith leaders of the community have a very wide impact on the people of the locality and therefore, it can be recommended to involve them in conveying the message about the prevention of domestic violence. Schools and teachers can be associated with case management as children spend a lot of time in school away from home. The teachers should be trained to identify the changes in the behavior of the children and counsel them. Health care providers can also help in recognizing the patients of domestic violence and can help the victims by reporting the incidences (Othman et al., 2014).
Ali, T. S., Karmaliani, R., Khuwaja, H., Shah, N. Z., Wadani, Z. H., Aijaz, S., & Kulane, A. (2020). Community stakeholders' views on reducing violence against women in Pakistan. BMC Women's Health, 20(1), 98. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-020-00961-3
Bigizadeh, S., Sharifi, N., Javadpour, S., Poornowrooz, N., Jahromy, F. H., & Jamali, S. (2021). Attitude toward violence and its relationship with self-esteem and self-efficacy among Iranian women. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 59(4), 31–37. https://doi.org/10.3928/02793695-20201203-06
Douglas H. (2017). Domestic and family violence, mental health and well-being, and legal engagement. Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, 25(3), 341–356. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2017.1396865
Family & domestic violence. (2022). Windermere®. Family & Domestic Violence News | Windermere
Family, domestic and sexual violence. (2021). Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Family, domestic and sexual violence - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au)
Lukersmith, S., Millington, M., & Salvador-Carulla, L. (2016). What is case management? a scoping and mapping review. International Journal of Integrated Care, 16(4), 2. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.2477
Muller L. S. (2014). A case management briefing on domestic violence. Professional Case Management, 19(5), 237–240. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCM.0000000000000054
Othman, S., Goddard, C., & Piterman, L. (2014). Victims' barriers to discussing domestic violence in clinical consultations: a qualitative inquiry. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29(8), 1497–1513. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260513507136
Schober, D. J., & Fawcett, S. B. (2015). Using action planning to build organizational capacity for the prevention of intimate partner violence. Health Education & Behavior: the Official Publication of the Society for Public Health Education, 42(4), 449–457. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198114564501
Subhashchandra, K., Selvaraj, V., Jain, T., & Dutta, R. (2022). Domestic violence and its associated factors among married women in urban Chennai: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 11(2), 633–637.
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