Credit programs, patriarchy and men''s violence against women in rural Bangladesh

Although violence by men against women in Bangladesh occurs in most cases within the home, in a larger sense it does not originate in the home nor persist only within the home. It is simply one element in a system that subordinates women through social norms that define women's place and guide their conduct. This paper uses ethnographic and structured survey data from a study in rural Bangladesh to explore the relationship between domestic violence against women and their economic and social dependence. It describes some of the common situations in which violence against women occurs in Bangladeshi society, analyzes its larger context, and identifies factors that appear to lessen its incidence in this particular socio-economic setting. The study findings suggest that group-based credit programs can reduce men's violence against women by making women's lives more public. The problem of men's violence against women is deeply rooted, however, and the authors argue that much more extensive interventions will be needed to significantly undermine it.     

Untangling serially dependent underreported count data for gender-based violence

Underreporting in gender-based violence data is a worldwide problem leading to the underestimation of the magnitude of this social and public health concern. This problem deteriorates the data quality, providing poor and biased results that lead society to misunderstand the actual scope of this domestic violence issue. The present work proposes time series models for underreported counts based on a latent integer autoregressive of order 1 time series with Poisson distributed innovations and a latent underreporting binary state, that is, a first-order Markov chain. Relevant theoretical properties of the models are derived, and the moment-based and maximum-based methods are presented for parameter estimation. The new time series models are applied to the quarterly complaints of domestic violence against women recorded in some judicial districts of Galicia (Spain) between 2007 and 2017. The models allow quantifying the degree of underreporting. A comprehensive discussion is presented, studying how the frequency and intensity of underreporting in this public health concern are related to some interesting socioeconomic and health indicators of the provinces of Galicia (Spain).     

Violence against the elderly: analysis of aspects of mental health care in five Brazilian cities

This is a research on the aspects of mental health care offered to elderly victims of violence in the cities of Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Recife and Manaus. It was used the triangulation method that relied on the analysis of secondary data, information from questionnaires and individual and group interviews, defining itself as a target audience of this study, professionals and managers in mental health care. It was investigated the line of practices developed in services regarding policies governing mental health attention and addressed to the elderly who are victims of violence. Among the findings are: the disparity in records between elderly care hospitals (22.3%) and outpatient (0.4%), lack of information on the care of elderly victims of violence; and the incipient perception of professionals regarding the violence as a health intervention. In conclusion, there is a need for greater public investments: in improving the quality of information; the adequacy of the physical structure of services; the training/qualification of professionals to attend for specific elder health issues; under the aspect of violence, it was observed the need to adopt actions of prevention and attention of the most frequent disorders in the elderly.     

Structural violence in long-term, residential care for older people: comparing Canada and Scandinavia

Canadian frontline careworkers are six times more likely to experience daily physical violence than their Scandinavian counterparts. This paper draws on a comparative survey of residential careworkers serving older people across three Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario) and four countries that follow a Scandinavian model of social care (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) conducted between 2005 and 2006. Ninety percent of Canadian frontline careworkers experienced physical violence from residents or their relatives and 43 percent reported physical violence on a daily basis. Canadian focus groups conducted in 2007 reveal violence was often normalized as an inevitable part of elder-care. We use the concept of "structural violence" (Galtung, 1969) to raise questions about the role that systemic and organizational factors play in setting the context for violence. Structural violence refers to indirect forms of violence that are built into social structures and that prevent people from meeting their basic needs or fulfilling their potential. We applied the concept to long-term residential care and found that the poor quality of the working conditions and inadequate levels of support experienced by Canadian careworkers constitute a form of structural violence. Working conditions are detrimental to careworker's physical and mental health, and prevent careworkers from providing the quality of care they are capable of providing and understand to be part of their job. These conditions may also contribute to the physical violence workers experience, and further investigation is warranted.     

Violence against women

In Sweden as in most other Western countries, violence against women has become a public issue. Despite its historic occurrence in virtually every time period of human existence, it has only recently been defined as a social "problem" and not as a private affair. Most social programs that deal with the problem are therefore quite recent so that little definitive evaluation of their impact is available as yet. This paper attempts to provide a short survey of the most important activities for coutnering violence against women that are currently ongoing in Sweden.     

Violence Against Women

In Sweden as in most other Western countries, violence against women has become a public issue. Despite its historic occurrence in virtually every time period of human existence, it has only recently been defined as a social "problem" and not as a private affair. Most social programs that deal with the problem are therefore quite recent so that little definitive evaluation of their impact is available as yet. This paper attempts to provide a short survey of the most important activities for countering violence against women that are currently ongoing in Sweden.     

Asking patients about violence: a survey of 510 women attending social and health services in Trieste,Italy

Violence against women is frequent, and has serious consequences for their physical and mental health. Until now, a common response of health services and professionals to victims has been the denial of the violence. The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of present and past violence among women attending social and health services in Trieste (Italy) for any reasons, and to evaluate the feasibility of asking them about violence. Five public health care facilities were involved: a hospital-based Emergency Department, two "Consultorio Familiare", and two community-based Social service centers. The final sample consisted of 510 women; the response rate among eligible women was 76% across all facilities. The study revealed a high prevalence of different kinds of violence, mostly perpetrated by men well known to the victim. Among the women interviewed, 10.2% had experienced physical/sexual violence in the last 12 months, regardless of perpetrator. Violence by a male partner or former partner, occurred in 6.4% of women; by other relatives, 1.6% of women; and by "other" persons 3.3% of women. The results demonstrated the feasibility of "asking about violence" in all cases; moreover, those women who had been abused were often eager to talk about it. A systematic approach to the issue of violence is a necessary condition for responding appropriately to the needs of women who have experienced or are experiencing violence. Nevertheless, to avoid the replication of a common bias against victims of violence, health and social personnel should be appropriately trained before "asking all cases" becomes a policy within health and social services.     

The costs of interpersonal violence--an international review

This article reviews evidence of the economic impact of interpersonal violence internationally. In the United States, estimates of the costs of interpersonal violence reach 3.3% of GDP. The public sector-and thus society in general-bears the majority of these costs. Interpersonal violence is defined to include violence between family members and intimate partners, and violence between acquaintances and strangers that is not intended to further the aims of any formally defined group or cause. Although these types of violence disproportionately affect poorer countries, there is a scarcity of studies of their economic impact in these countries. International comparisons are complicated by the calculation of economic losses based on foregone wages and income, thus undervaluing economic losses in poorer countries.     

Injury and anomie: effects of violence on an inner-city community.

OBJECTIVES: Widespread violence affects individuals but also alters group life. This study was designed to examine the effects of violence on an inner-city community. METHODS: A qualitative study was undertaken that included field observations and semistructured interviews. The study took place in Washington Heights, a New York City neighborhood with a high rate of violence, largely secondary to the drug trade. RESULTS: The 100 people interviewed differed widely in their definitions of violence and in their likelihood of having experienced violent acts in the course of daily life. High, medium, and low violence microenvironments were identified; risk of exposure to violence, but not individual definitions of violence, differed by location. Violence in all parts of the neighborhood inhibited social interactions, but the intensity of this effect differed by microenvironment. CONCLUSIONS: In Washington Heights, violence has injured individuals and fractured social relationships, leading to the state of social disarray referred to as "anomie." The public health response to the violence epidemic should address anomie through community organizing efforts.     

医务社工与志愿者在医院服务管理中作用的评价

目的 通过实证调查采集患者、医务工作者和志愿者对医务社工及志愿者工作的评价,解析医务社工及志愿者在医院服务管理中的作用.方法 采用问卷调查、文献查阅、深度访谈法,调研上海市3家三级甲等公立医院获取第一手资料.结果 调查结果显示,患者、医务人员及医务管理人员高度认可医务社工与志愿者在医院服务管理的作用.结论 医务社工和志愿者在医院服务管理中能发挥独特的作用,可以增进医患沟通,缓解或预防医患矛盾,给患者更多人文关怀和增值服务,一定程度上解决了医患之间的诊治经费问题,提升服务品质,降低人力成本,应当得到全社会更多的重视.     

Violence against women

In India, violence against women is increasing and takes many forms while laws to protect women are ignored. Despite this fact, the new reproductive and child health program ignores sexual violence. Health personnel can respond by: 1) accepting the magnitude of the problem; 2) investigating the deaths of young women; 3) documenting findings; 4) ensuring that sexual abuse is recognized as a public health problem; 5) disseminating findings; 6) ensuring the protection of female field workers; 7) recognizing violence as an occupational health hazard; 8) facilitating the empowerment of women; 9) training women in self-defense; 10) ensuring that colleges and training institutes address violence as a women's health concern; 11) studying the psychological effects of violence; 12) collaborating with the National Commission for Women and the National Human Rights Commission; and 13) advocating for incorporation of sexual violence as a reproductive health issue in the national reproductive health program. In particular, domestic violence is a pervasive violation of women's human rights and has been resistant to social advances because of its "hidden" nature. Domestic violence exists because husbands believe they have an absolute right over the sexuality of their wives. Abusive husbands also abuse their daughters while sons learn violent behavior from their fathers. Crimes must be considered irrespective of whether they are committed outside or inside the home.     

Opinions of students and educators concerning health: the public school perspective in a peripheral area of the city of São Paulo

This study focused on prevailing concepts in society concerning adolescents' health problems and needs. Based on concerns in the field of Collective Health in relation to public policies for social protection, the study attempted to grasp the public school perspective concerning these issues. The study's theoretical reference was the social determination of the health-disease process and the view that health needs are translated into demands for changes in the harmful processes resulting from relations in the production process. Data were gathered through interviews with pedagogical coordinators and focus groups with adolescents in public schools from the Raposo Tavares School District (Municipality of S o Paulo). The results showed that the participants recognized: (1) the sphere of social determinants at the base of adolescents' health problems and (2) in addition to disease processes, a set of social problems impacting the health-disease process, highlighting drug use and violence. Health needs are translated as demands for cross-sector public social policies.     

Public conceptions of mental illness: labels, causes, dangerousness, and social distance.

OBJECTIVES: The authors used nationwide survey data to characterize current public conceptions related to recognition of mental illness and perceived causes, dangerousness, and desired social distance. METHODS: Data were derived from a vignette experiment included in the 1996 General Social Survey. Respondents (n = 1444) were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 vignette conditions. Four vignettes described psychiatric disorders meeting diagnostic criteria, and the fifth depicted a "troubled person" with subclinical problems and worries. RESULTS: Results indicate that the majority of the public identifies schizophrenia (88%) and major depression (69%) as mental illnesses and that most report multicausal explanations combining stressful circumstances with biologic and genetic factors. Results also show, however, that smaller proportions associate alcohol (49%) or drug (44%) abuse with mental illness and that symptoms of mental illness remain strongly connected with public fears about potential violence and with a desire for limited social interaction. CONCLUSIONS: While there is reason for optimism in the public's recognition of mental illness and causal attributions, a strong stereotype of dangerousness and desire for social distance persist. These latter conceptions are likely to negatively affect people with mental illness.     

Self-Presentation on the Web: Agencies Serving Abused and Assaulted Women

Objectives. We examined the content and usability of the Web sites of agencies serving women victims of violence.Methods. We entered the names of a systematic 10% sample of 3774 agencies listed in 2 national directories into a search engine. We took (in April 2012) and analyzed screenshots of the 261 resulting home pages and the readability of 193 home and first-level pages.Results. Victims (94%) and donors (68%) were the primary intended audiences. About one half used social media and one third provided cues to action. Almost all (96.4%) of the Web pages were rated “fairly difficult” to “very confusing” to read, and 81.4% required more than a ninth-grade education to understand.Conclusions. The service and marketing functions were met fairly well by the agency home pages, but usability (particularly readability and offer of a mobile version) and efforts to increase user safety could be improved. Internet technologies are an essential platform for public health. They are particularly useful for reaching people with stigmatized health conditions because of the anonymity allowed. The one third of agencies that lack a Web site will not reach the substantial portion of the population that uses the Internet to find health information and other resources.Internet use is nearly ubiquitous in the United States, particularly among adolescents.1,2 A great majority of online adults and adolescents use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.2,3 Thus, public health agencies can use multiple online platforms to make and keep their work accessible to the public.A growing number of studies record the prevalence, promises, and problems of online health resources. Some have analyzed Web site content to document function and usability.4–9 Others have focused on users and concluded that the Internet is a particularly effective way to reach people with stigmatized health problems (e.g., depression, herpes, urinary incontinence); because of the anonymity it allows, the Internet is their preferred source of information.10 In this study, we focus on agencies serving women victims of violence, specifically sexual assault and intimate partner violence. We chose violence against women because, like other conditions with multiple negative health outcomes, it is a stigmatized phenomenon despite its high prevalence in the population.11 In addition, the delivery of information on violence prevention via the Internet is particularly important to young people because first incidents of intimate partner violence and sexual assault occur relatively early in life (about 70% of first assaults occur by 24 years of age)11 and young people are more likely than older persons to use the Internet.1,2Previous studies about Web sites specific to violence against women are few, include little about sexual violence, and do not analyze the Web sites themselves.12–16 The sole exception, which examined 172 police department Web sites for domestic violence survivors, reached 2 conclusions: the posted information was insufficient, and the design was focused on the perspective of the Web site creator rather than that of the end user.17We examined the service and marketing functions as well as the usability of the Web sites of 261 agencies that serve women victims of violence. In studying the content, we assessed whether the provided information addressed benefits, barriers, and other constructs of the widely used Health Belief Model,18 which are of particular relevance to such victims because they potentially provide a “preferred path of action.”19     

Violence narratives of Mexican women treated in mutual-aid residential centers for addiction treatment

Background

Violence against women is a social and public health issue in Mexico. The aim of this article is to explore violence among an understudied group of women, who attended Mutual-Aid Residential Centers for Addiction Treatment and experienced stigma both as women and addicts. These centers are particular kind of addiction treatment services that stem from 12-step philosophy, but that have been found to manipulate said philosophy and exercise extreme forms of psychological and physical violence.

Methods

Thirteen semi-structured interviews were carried in 2014 and 2015 out with women who resided in at least one of these centers to understand their experiences of violence prior and during their rehabilitation process. The interview guide covered questions regarding substance use initiations, family violence and dynamics, and rehabilitation experiences. Qualitative data was analyzed using interpretative-phenomenological analysis.

Results

Two categories emerged: violence and substance use and abuse, and violence against women in recovery. Results show that all participants experienced violence in their family since childhood, particularly sexual and physical violence. As a result, participants experienced guilt, sadness and shame, which led them to contexts of consumption. Violence continued as they explored alcohol and drug use, even though women felt empowered.

Conclusions

Treatment reproduced masculine violence constantly, but women felt that they were in a context that helped them understand their addiction. Even though women felt these centers played a crucial role in their recovery, women’s particular needs and experiences are not considered in the treatment program.

     

Not fear, nor quarantine, but science: Preparation for a decade of research to advance knowledge about causes and control of violence in youths

Both the single case I encountered in the Boston Globe and several sources of national data give a picture of young Black males as a group at extraordinarily high risk for injury and premature death. It is a consequence of violent behavior most often directed toward them by individuals of the same race and of similar age. I do not believe, however, that focusing on the behavioral characteristics of this subgroup will gain us much in controlling the very high costs in life and well-being they incur. Rather, we need to concentrate our attention on the social contexts in which these young men grow up, on the quality of housing and public schools available to them, on their access to firearms, and on opportunities for legitimate employment available to them. This is an urgent, pressing need for which there exists no formula for success. Many communities across the country are making an effort to find ways of coordinating such needs into a common and sustained strategy. We are clearly at the beginning stage of a campaign.

In morally isolating ourselves from this segment of the population, we confer on it the status of being quarantined. Public fear and distrust assume the appearance of a rational response. Gradually these young men and their would-be families become functionally obsolete in society. As a matter of policy, the environments they inhabit are neglected, and, predictably, they deteriorate.

It is in this sense that our science policy in regard to violence may be ahead of public policies that regulate (or fail to regulate) the environments in which violence breeds most extensively. The fact that public health, bolstered by the basic developmental and sociological sciences, is poised to take on a leadership role in combating this modern epidemic is welcome news.

Recalling the successes of public health campaigns to control infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, may only be relevant in providing us with a sense of what constitutes a campaign to combat violence. The key actors in this important endeavor appear to be ready for a period of intense cooperation and forging of new knowledge. Now that we have failed in our effort to meet the 1990 objective for a reduction in violent death, the challenge is indeed a weighty one.     

Beyond the perception and the obvious: what sex offender registries really tell us and why

This work examines the sex offender registries in 49 states in terms of the public information they offer from a social construction and social reality standpoint. Social construction is the dominant perspective for the information given about sex offenders to the point where the market for public information may be failing in this regard. This failure could indeed be caused by how difficult it is for a society to look at such acts, focusing on the offender instead. Oregon and West Virginia emerge as registries higher on social construction and reality than others, though none emerges as clearly the most "informative." Third-party dissemination of information is explored.     

A study about families of children and teenagers who were victims of violence and faced judicial intervention

The goal of this study was to track the steps of families that committed some kind of violence against their children and faced judicial intervention, as well as to explore their perceptions about the events involving such intervention; to quantify and assess the lawsuits, during the period from 2000 to 2005, characterizing situations of family violence and re-victimization. The study was theoretically based on the ecological context of human development. The methodology employed was quantitative-qualitative. The tools used were: analysis of the proceedings, filling out census maps, elaboration of genogram and ecomap. The analysis was based on dialectic hermeneutics. The results showed that there were 1766 lawsuits at the court, 8.21% of which were linked to family violence. Three empirical categories came up: I didn't have, which portrays a kind of childhood where negation was a constructive element of interactions, perversely engendered in the economic, political and institutional universes; "It doesn't help and it won't change anything" showed a Judicial System that did not understand society and its conflicts, and "In the street", featuring everyday routines of social exclusion.     

The services for women victims of sexual violence: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVE: To assess public services attending female victims of sexual violence in the city of Sao Paulo. METHODS: This is a qualitative study conducted in two public services attending female victims of sexual violence. Interviews with 42 women were conducted, 13 of whom had sought these services for assistance and 29 were professionals working in these services. Evaluation of the services was based on the categories: reception, access, resolvability and sanitary responsibility. RESULTS: The analysis of the interviews per category has shown that there was reception in both services, problems with respect to access due to the lack of information concerning these services, and quality resolvability with a multi-professional team. As to the sanitary responsibility, it is present in these specialized services but is deficient in the emergency services and basic health care units. Many women are unaware of the rights they are entitled to with respect to specialized services. Frequently their late arrival compromises the efficacy of care. There are deficiencies both in terms of reference and counter reference. CONCLUSIONS: The results ratify the importance of these services and the need for their decentralized expansion. Health courses should introduce the theme of sexual violence at the undergraduate level.     

Violence and health: preliminary elements for thought and action.

Violence is one of the most serious problems that society, and the public health sector in particular, has to deal with today. This article begins with a discussion of the concept of violence itself, bringing out its historical and cultural dimensions and emphasizing its essential relationship to the exercise of force in the interest of power under conditions of inequality. Violence must be seen as a process that includes its origins, the conditions that allow it to happen, its different forms of expression, and its individual and collective consequences. The violence-health relationship is seen as having different levels: violence threatens or denies not only health but the entire vital human process. The author analyzes the different forms of violence: violence that impairs health (torture, disappearances, rape, child abuse, elderly abuse) and violence that kills (suicide, homicide, war). Recent data show that the problem is on the increase and pervades everyday life. The author then examines the mechanisms by which violence impinges on health care institutions, especially the health services, training institutions, and agencies responsible for orienting and financing the sector. Finally, the health sector is revealed as not only a victim or patient of violence, but, unfortunately, sometimes an agent of violence, which means that changes are needed in approaches, attitudes, and behavior.