Discuss about The Theory and Method of Comparative area Studies?
The topic of domestic violence is a key social issue in the developing, developed and under-developed countries. Children are getting affected by the domestic violence directly and indirectly (Vander Kolk and McFarlane 2012) claimed that, children can be described as the ‘forgotten victims’ of Domestic violence. Besides being the direct victims of domestic violence, children are getting affected by witnessing domestic violence which affecting their development significantly. Most of the indirect victims live in the environment where their mother or key caregiver is being victimized and thereby affecting child’s psychological development. Children living at their home while witnessing their mother being abused feel unsafe, as they are at a greater risk o being abused by them (Cross et al. 2012). They are often being used for controlling their mother. In this scenario, they tend to lose their childhood; the effect is also seen to hamper their educational development. Thus, this issue is of high concern. In this scenario, the lack of self-worth of the offensive partner makes him feel that he should control all of them, whom he believes himself superior. In a family, children are also included in the domain to be controlled by the offensive member of the family. This research will concern about the effect of domestic violence on the children, who are living in Women’s Refuge in UK.
This research study aims to determine and analyze the impact of domestic violence on the children living in the Women’s Refuge in UK. This study also aims to identify the factors affecting children development related to domestic violence.
To understand the concept of domestic violence as a social stigma
To identify the social and other factors contributing to domestic violence on children in UK
To analyze the effects of domestic violence on children living at the Women’s Refuge in UK
To understand the effects of child abuse on society and its development
To suggest recommendations for social work student for enhancing the effectiveness of domestic violence intervention for children living in Women’s Refuge in UK.
Domestic violence is a major concern of social research, the prevalence is increasing day by day and it is affecting the social structure significantly. In this context, besides women, children are at high risk. In the recent era, while domestic violence has been addressed as the well-established form of violence, the society has also provided the similar degree of attention toward child abuse (Sobkoviak, Yount and Halim 2012). Every year in UK, thousands of children experience the physical, psychological and sexual harassments at their home as a result of domestic violence. While addressing the family as the important institution in the society, one negative perspective e of family life is the effect of domestic violence on children, either as a victim or as the witness of the violence, as an indirect victim of the social conflict (Choi et al. 2012). The increased prevalence of domestic violence in developed nations has raised the importance of the issue in social research which is resulting in the increased movements related to the development of women’s refuge. As the prevalence rate is increasing it needs additional child protection acts with additional legislations. The children witnessing the domestic violence upon their dear ones are becoming traumatized and their positive development is being creased. Thus, it is the major issue of concern in recent researches. The study would shed light on the research topic by analyzing the effects of domestic violence on children living in women’s refuge in UK.
Concept of Domestic Violence
Domestic violence can also be referred to the domestic abuse that is a specific pattern or behavior related to the violence or abuse of one person against other in domestic scenario. The domestic violence can be categorized into different types which include the domestic violence, intimate partner violence and family violence. There are different forms of domestic violence, generally include physical, emotional, sexual, economic, verbal, gender aspects, family violence extensions etc. In general, women and children are the most common victims of domestic violence. However, men are also found to be victims of domestic violence, but the prevalence of women and children abuse by domestic violence are of major concern (Jones et al. 2012).
Children abuse has been identified as the major issue of concern in social perspective, as it is enhancing the cost of health care and affecting the development of children. The domestic violence makes a coercive and violent environment to the sexual and physical abuse of children. It has been revealed that woman abuse coincides with the children, who are at a greater risk. The literature reviews of North American and Australian studies showed that the co-occurrence of physical child abuse and domestic violence in families varies in different levels. It has been reported by Fisher et al. (2012) that, some child abuse was 15 times more likely to happen in some families where there was domestic violence. Different types of child abuse have been measured. A child can be subjected to the domestic violence in the fetus stage, the fetus can be targeted for being violated or it can be affected by the terrorized mother who has been abused. Children can be physical, emotionally or sexually harassed, they often used as the hostage for forcing their mother to return home or they can be forced to be the witness of the violence. Both direct and indirect abuse of children affects their development in several ways.
There are some causes which lead to the domestic violence in children. It has been revealed that, domestic violence itself the potential cause of domestic violence. The children who are the direct victims of domestic violence or have witnessed domestic violence to their mother or other caregivers during their childhood are more prone to become abusive at their adulthood which affects their children brutally. However, there are not single factors causing domestic violence or child abuse; rather child abuse is likely to develop in the families where different risk factors exist (Hart and Rubia 2012). Surveys revealed that families who are under pressure or unable to receive support from others are most often victims of abuse and neglect. A number of risk factors or causative factors of domestic violence towards children are poverty, unemployment, lack of education, social isolation, violence between parents and lack or support from the extended family. In some cases, high expectations from the child, past and childhood history of parents, low self-worth and self-confidence, depression, work pressure, depression, abuse of drug or alcohol as well as some community attitudes like racism, gender inequality, acceptance of physical punishment and use of forces are also the contributors of domestic violence to children.
Domestic violence on children is one of the major health issue having significant public-health consequences. The effects of domestic violence can be short-term or long-term effects. These effects are relatively linked with the development issues of children. The effects can be from different dimensions. The physical effects or physical injury are the major effects. There can be minor physical injury such as bruises or it can lead to severe cases of broken bones, pain or it can be fatal also. However, it has been revealed that the abuse leaves emotional scars more than the physical ones. Sometimes, physical abuse leads to recurring health problems including impaired brain development, cognitive and language development problems; physical ailments like bronchitis, high bp, asthma and ulcer (Sugaya et al. 2012). It has also been observed that children who were abused are prone to develop psychiatric disorders at the age of 21 including eating disorder, sleeping disorder, depression, anxiety, low-self esteem etc. leading to unresolved long-term psychological effects. Behavioral effects are also identified as he results of domestic violence on children. It has been revealed that abused children are 25% more prone to experience behavioral problems like delinquency, teen drug usage, teen pregnancy etc. Children witnessing domestic violence to their mother are 11 times more prone to show criminal behavior as a juvenile.
Biological theories
According to the biological theories, the violent behavior is originated from organic and biological resources by the changes in genetic factors and biochemistry of brain during brain development which might be influenced by trauma. According to this theory, the trauma of early exposure to chronic violence leading to the changes in the brain functioning of child’s brain function and the violent behavior in adulthood (Norman et al. 2012).
Individual Psychopathology theory
According to this theory, the domestic violence is originated in the dysfunctional personality structures or individual psychopathology those are more likely to be shaped by the experiences gained in the childhood. Researches have been showed that male batterers are more prone to score low in mental health assessments and criminality indicators in comparison to the nonbatterers. Other researchers have been showed that abusive males witnessing domestic violence or undergoing direct abuse destabilizes the ability to trust and control emotions and reduces the ability to establish a healthy relationship (Thompson and Trice-Black 2012).
Social Structure Theory
According to this theory, the imbalance of underlying power which might be understood by examining society as a whole aspect is causing the domestic violence. The analysis concentrates upon the male domination over women and children via political, physical and economic control (Hart and Rubia 2012).
Child abuse is a social issue along with domestic violence upon women. It has been suggested that child abuse and domestic violence has a strong link residing within the families. According to Thompson and Trice-Black (2012), abusive fathers are prone to hurt their children emotionally or physically, when the child defends for his mother, to whom the abusive is showing violence. Indirect abuse is also causing social problem which includes educational deficit, children with mental disorders. Children, who are direct or indirect victim of domestic violence are more prone to be related with criminal activity, thereby contributing in the development of a unhealthy society. However, it is more difficult to determine the mechanism how the domestic violence upon women leads to child abuse. It has been seen that, in some child abuse cases, children are not the primary targets. In this context, it can be said that, women’s refuge is a safe place for women and children and it attempts to reduce incidence of domestic violence. In recent days, it is seen that, women’s refuges are being closed. As a responsible member of society, social work students should take active part in preventing the closure of women’s refuge (Chandra and Sharma 2013).
What is domestic violence? How is it affecting children?
What are the risk factors contributing to the domestic violence on children in UK?
What are the effects of domestic violence on the children living in the Women’s Refuge in UK?
What can be done to improve the effectiveness of domestic violence intervention for children living in Women Refuge in UK?
Research Methodology
As per Ahram (2011), research methodology is one of the important chapters of the entire research work. This is considered important, as this specific chapter provides enough information about how the research work is required to conduct to gain the desired outcome easily. Therefore, it can be easily stated that the use of the proper methods in a systematic way help the researcher to resolve all the research questions as well as the emerged research issues in the present context and along with that to recommend some of the positive suggestions as per the outcomes.
Al (2013) has described that there exist two types of research philosophies and they are positivism philosophy and interpretivism philosophy. In order to carry on this specific task, positivism research philosophy has been selected, as this has justified the situation of the research work. Positivism philosophy has been helpful in those contexts, where the researcher is required to explain the research work with the help of in-depth analysis of the research work. in the other hand, the interpretivism philosophy has been proved to be inappropriate for this particular research work because of the nature of this philosophy.
Alvesson and Sandberg (2013) have said that there are two types of research approaches and they are deductive research approach and inductive research approach. It has been found that the deductive research approach is concerned with preparing a hypothesis based on the already existing theories and after that designing new research strategy in order to test the hypothesis. In contrast, inductive research approach is associated with qualitative research, while deductive approaches are more easily connected with the quantitative research work. Brown and Stowers (2013) has said that deductive research approach tends to explore an already known theory or phenomenon and examines if that theory is valid in the given circumstances or not. Therefore, the researcher has selected deductive research work instead of inductive research work, as this has justified this particular research work more accurately.
Chandra and Sharma (2013) has stated that descriptive, exploratory and explanatory are the three major parts of the research design and among these three parts, the researcher has selected descriptive research design, as this has helped the researcher to gain valuable information. Eaton (2013) has stated that descriptive research design has helped the researcher to easily relate the research aims and the objectives in order to obtain positive findings of the research work.
In this research work, the researcher has collected both primary and secondary data from surveys and interviews in order to prepare a mixed method of research.
Secondary Research
The researcher has reviewed the existing literature and this has helped the researcher to gain more knowledge on the research topic. Recently updated books, journals and several websites have helped the researcher to gain related knowledge to research topic (Gornall 2011).
Primary Research
This research work has helped the researcher to get data from those population, who are directly associated with the current circumstances. Therefore, this research work helps the researcher to gain original knowledge of the situation.
After gaining data from the online survey, the research has undertaken a simple random sampling technique on the fixed sample size of 100 mothers in different women’s refuge in UK. Harrison and Reilly (2011) have said that probability sampling technique gives importance on the unbiased management of the huge population in a cost effective manner. On the other hand, to get relevant information from interviews, convenient and non-probability sampling technique has been used on the sample size of 3 managers of women’s shelter camp.
In order to gain relevant data, the researcher has selected 100 women in Women’s refuge camp in different parts of UK. Beside quantitative data collection method, the researcher has gained data from 3 managers through qualitative data collection process.
Leedy and Ormrod (2013) have said that it is important to follow some rules during the conduction of the research work. Data Protection Act of 1998 has stated that any researcher cannot force a person to take part in the survey and interview. Novikov and Novikov (2013) have said that any participant can withdraw his/her participation and the researcher are not allowed to use the gathered data for any other purpose with the consent of the participants. Most importantly, the researcher is not supposed to influence any of the participants, as this might hamper the result of the entire research work.
Time and money are the two major limitations for the researcher to carry on the entire study. If the researcher could have got more time to carry on the research work, the researcher could have collected more data (Popping 2012).
During the conduction of the research work, the team has helped largely to carry on the entire study. Moreover, the funding from the collage has helped to do the research work. Extended support from the supervisors has helped to figure out the research work. Most importantly, help from the classmates have made the entire research work easy.
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After conduction of the entire research work, knowledge of preparing further research work has been grown. Apart from that, selection of the research variables, data collection process, data sampling techniques has been learned from the conduction of this specific research work. Techniques for gathering data from the updated books and journals have been achieved after preparation of this particular research work.
Ahram, A. 2011. The Theory And Method Of Comparative area studies. Qualitative Research, 11(1), pp.69-90.
Al, S. 2013. Interpretive research design: concepts and processes. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16(4), pp.351-352.
Alvesson, M. and Sandberg, J. 2013. Constructing Research Questions. London: SAGE Publications.
Brown, J. and Stowers, E. 2013. Use of Data in Collections Work: An Exploratory Survey. Collection Management, 38(2), pp.143-162.
Chandra, S. and Sharma, M. 2013. Research methodology. Oxford: Alpha Science International Ltd.
Choi, J., Jeong, B., Polcari, A., Rohan, M.L. and Teicher, M.H., 2012. Reduced fractional anisotropy in the visual limbic pathway of young adults witnessing domestic violence in childhood. Neuroimage, 59(2), pp.1071-1079.
Cross, T.P., Mathews, B., Tonmyr, L., Scott, D. and Ouimet, C., 2012. Child welfare policy and practice on children’s exposure to domestic violence.Child abuse & neglect, 36(3), pp.210-216.
Eaton, S. 2013. The Oxford handbook of empirical legal research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16(6), pp.548-550.
Fisher, H.L., Schreier, A., Zammit, S., Maughan, B., Munafò, M.R., Lewis, G. and Wolke, D., 2012. Pathways between childhood victimization and psychosis-like symptoms in the ALSPAC birth cohort. Schizophrenia bulletin, p.sbs088.
Gornall, L. 2011. Book Review: Mixed Method Design: Principles and Procedures. Qualitative Research, 11(4), pp.456-457.
Harrison, R. L. and Reilly, T. M. 2011 “Mixed methods designs in marketing research”, Qualitative Market Research: an International Journal, 14(1), pp. 7 – 26
Hart, H. and Rubia, K., 2012. Neuroimaging of child abuse: a critical review.Frontiers in human neuroscience, 6(52), pp.1-24.
Jones, L., Bellis, M.A., Wood, S., Hughes, K., McCoy, E., Eckley, L., Bates, G., Mikton, C., Shakespeare, T. and Officer, A., 2012. Prevalence and risk of violence against children with disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. The Lancet, 380(9845), pp.899-907.
Leedy, P. and Ormrod, J. 2013. Practical research. Boston: Pearson.
Norman, R.E., Byambaa, M., De, R., Butchart, A., Scott, J. and Vos, T., 2012. The long-term health consequences of child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Med,9(11), p.e1001349.
Popping, R. 2012. Qualitative Decisions in Quantitative Text Analysis Research. Sociological Methodology, 42(1), pp.88-90
Sobkoviak, R.M., Yount, K.M. and Halim, N., 2012. Domestic violence and child nutrition in Liberia. Social science & medicine, 74(2), pp.103-111.
Sugaya, L., Hasin, D.S., Olfson, M., Lin, K.H., Grant, B.F. and Blanco, C., 2012. Child physical abuse and adult mental health: a national study. Journal of traumatic stress, 25(4), pp.384-392.
Thompson, E.H. and Trice-Black, S., 2012. School-based group interventions for children exposed to domestic violence. Journal of family violence, 27(3), pp.233-241.
Vander Kolk, B.A. and McFarlane, A.C. eds., 2012. Traumatic stress: The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body, and society. Guilford Press.
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