domestic violence against women differ as a result of : 1- varying demographic characteristics of people? 2- being employed or being enrolled in a law, or a health care related field? 3- receiving previous training in domestic violence and having previous contact with a domestic violence case?
Knowledge and Attitudes toward Domestic Violence against Women in North Cyprus
Biran MERTAN, Uur MANER, Fato BAYRAKTAR, enel HSN, Gzde PEHLVAN, Driye ELK, Fatih BAYRAKTAR
Eastern Mediterranean University, Psychological Counseling Guidance and Research Center (EMU-PDRAM), North Cyprus.
Method Participants A total of 305 participants were included in the sample. The student sample (n=170) was obtained from the Nursing Department (n=70); Department of Psychology (n=43) and Department of Law (n=57) of the two universities in North Cyprus.
The police sample (n=135) was obtained from different police stations in different cities of North Cyprus.
Materials Demographic Information Form: The form included questions regarding the participants demographic characteristics such as age, gender, nationality and profession.
Domestic Violence Attitudes Scale (DVAS): The scale was used to assess knowledge and attitudes towards domestic violence against women. The scale had a good reliability (=.79).
Procedure The participants were randomly selected from either a university or a police station. The scales were administered either in group settings in a university/job environment or in a face-to-face situation. The administration took 30 minutes on average.
Discussion The findings indicate that there is a need to enrich the curricula of Nursing departments and Law Faculties in North Cyprus with domestic violence theories and with practices regarding intervention and prevention for domestic violence. The results also emphasizes the value of training police officers in North Cyprus about domestic violence issues as well as raising their awareness to gender issues and human rights.
The results of the study shows that there is an urgent need to implement social policies, legal legislation, regulations and social work regarding domestic violence against women in North Cyprus in order to increase the knowledge, awareness and sensitivity of both current and future professionals in areas related to domestic violence.
Background Previous research indicated that domestic violence against women has reached epidemic proportions in many societies around the world and no racial, ethnic or socioeconomic group is immune, (Alhabib, Nur & Jones, 2010). While the prevalence of domestic violence against women continues to rise in the world, research emphasizes the contributing role of peoples knowledge, attitudes or perceptions of domestic violence within a society (Fagan, 1989; Gracia, 2004; Lackey & Williams, 1995). Domestic violence victims usually first apply to police stations or hospitals (McMullan, Carlan & Nored, 2010). Therefore law enforcement and health care professionals can play a vital role in handling domestic violence cases.
References Alhabib S., Nur U. & Jones S. (2010). Domestic violence against women: Systematic review of prevalence studies. Journal of Family Violence, 25: 369-382. Fagan J. A. (1989). Cessation of family violence: Deterrence and dissuasion. In Tonry M. & Ohlin L. (Eds.), Crime and justice: An annual review of research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 377 425. Gracia E. (2004). Unreported cases of domestic violence against women: Towards an epidemiology of social silence, tolerance and inhibition. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 58: 536 537. Lackey C. & Williams K. R. (1995). Social bonding and the cessation of partner violence across generations. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57: 295 305. McMullan E. C., Carlan P. E. & Nored L. S., (2009). Future Law Enforcement Officers and Social Workers: Perceptions of Domestic Violence. [Electronic version] Journal of Interpersonal Violence: 25: 1367.
Figure 1. Group Means of the Knowledge and Attitudes Scale for Police Officers and Student Samples. Results
An independent samples t-test analysis indicated that the mean score of participants who had no previous training (M=146.3, SD= 20.5) in domestic violence was significantly lower on the DVAS than those who reported having previous training (M=170.5, SD= 12.9), t (278) = 1.72, p < .05.
An independent samples t-test analysis indicated that the mean score of participants who had more contact (M=171.3, SD= 14.7) with a domestic violence case was significantly higher on the DVAS than those who reported having less contact (M=167.6, SD= 13.2), t (278) = 2.14, p < .05.
A one-way ANOVA analysis indicated a significant difference between the samples, F (3, 274) = 24.17, p < .001. Police officers had on average the lowest score on the DVAS for the entire sample. Among the students from different disciplines however, Psychology students had, on average the highest score (M =176.28) whereas Nursing students had on average the lowest score (M =173.59) (see Figure 1).
A two-way ANOVA was conducted for each demographic variable such as age, gender and nationality. The analysis did not reveal any significant main or interaction effects of any of the demographic variables for the average DVAS score.
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