Challenges Faced by Counselors When Assessing Spousal Abuse - Article Example

Specifically for this study, intimate partner violence counselors have faced numerous challenges in attempts to handle and suppress cases of spousal abuses. Despite the degree of the challenges faced, practitioners always have strategies to overcome present difficulties. Cultural issues constitute one of the challenges faced by counselors in assessing spousal abuses. Some cultures approve the beating of women by men, making it difficult for the abused to report, take any actions or share particular details.

Jackson-Cherry and Erford (2014) elaborate that the language barrier is one of the common cultural issues that stumble counselors from performing effective assessment of spousal abuses.  Religious beliefs have also presented problems to counselors when trying to assess spousal abuses. Some religions like Christianity urge women to obey and submit to their husbands. Most Christians have used the concept to punish women perceived as incompliant. The same concepts have prevented abused females from disclosing much information about their suffrages.

Socioeconomic issues also contribute to the challenges faced by counselors in assessing spousal abuses. Jackson-Cherry and Erford (2014) discuss that most families in lower socioeconomic class are likely to experience intimate partner abuses. This has been due to scarcity of resources, unemployment, social isolation, substance abuse, and pregnancy. Abuse victims from low socioeconomic classes may hold certain information or fail to corporate due to fear of further abuse. To deal with the challenges, counselors have to learn to appreciate the cultural views and values of families affected by domestic violence.

Here, appreciating means avoidance of opposing or faulting beliefs that perpetuate abuses and instead teach the affected society about and need to protect human rights. In case of abuses committed within low socioeconomic families, counselors can solicit for resources and alternative shelters for victims (Jackson-Cherry & Erford, 2014). Furthermore, counselors can merge with human rights activist to sensitize public about the negativity of domestic violence.