Contemporary State of the Domestic Violence Issue - Research Paper Example

Domestic Violence Background on the Client The theme of the research pertains to issues regarding domestic violence. The client which has been inducted as part of this research is a female who has been suffering from various forms of domestic violence in her life The specific characteristics of the client pertain to the fact that she is a female abused by her father and husband both in terms of domestic violence. The female is of Hispanic origin with native origins from the southern American States. She has a family of four, 3 boys and one girl, with a child due to be born in January. The problem that is faced by the client is that she suffers from abuse regarding domestic violence. The client has a history of the specific abuse, both at the hand of her father in the initial years of her life, and now at the hand of her husband and his family. The client has been married for 13 years and has been living with her family in slums and ghetto regions of the cities in rented and government funded housing. The family has been shifting houses every 8 to 10 months due to their changing financial situation and the constraints government funded schemes for the homeless in the cities. The diagnosis that has been made till now regarding the predicament faced by the client is that the environment in which the client resides as well as the current financial position and the homeless state of the client and her family have aggravated the issue of domestic abuse. The client does have history regarding being a victim of domestic abuse from her childhood as well. The client is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder due to the repeated domestic abuse. Introduction to Domestic Violence Domestic abuse is one of the many forms in which the women are exploited in the modern society and cultures by their families and husbands. There exist various different forms of domestic violence which can include sexual, emotional as well as violence in terms of intimidation, stalking, threats and economic deprivation. This is one of the passive forms of abuse of women which often goes unreported due to the submissive and lack of confidence and resources available to the victims of domestic abuse. Domestic abuse was actively targeted and received attention on the 1970s with the movements for women's rights. Research and findings from studies regarding domestic violence have indicated that "around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime and nearly one-third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, according to a 1998 Commonwealth Fund survey. Nearly 25 percent of American women report being raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or date at some time in their lifetime, according to the National Violence Against Women Survey, conducted from November 1995 to May 1996." ('Domestic Violence is a Serious Widespread Social Problem in America: The Facts', 2008) The costs that have to be born by the society and the government as a result of increase in the incidents of domestic violence pertain to the increased health related costs of physical assault and rape as well as homicide which sums up to $5.8billion every year in America. 4.1 billion of this cost is taken up by the direct medical care and the psychological mental health care that is required for the victims of domestic violence. Aside from this domestic violence also decreases productivity and earning which can create a loss I $1.8 billion on a yearly basis. "Women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know rather than by a stranger." ('Domestic Violence in the Workplace Statistics', 2001) Practice Question The practice question that has been formulated for EBP specific to the case above is as follows: Is it possible to treat post traumatic stress amongst female victims of domestic violence through a combination of Psychological and drug therapy in order to prevent them from suffering from post traumatic stress in the future The psychological intervention can take the form of behavioral therapy and group counseling while the anti-anxiety drugs can be used to facilitate treatment. The Reasons for Selecting the Question Domestic violence is a increasing phenomenon in the country with many added to the victims of domestic violence everyday. The above mentioned practice question has been selected in order to identify the best possible approaches that can be employed to treat the client in the case. Post traumatic stress is one of the main conditions that can remain with the domestic violence victims after their experiences. And this practice question aims to identify strategies that can be employed to eliminate the condition through a combination psychological and drug intervention based treatments. The Reason for the Highlighting the Topic As mentioned earlier, domestic violence is one of the most common forms of abuse prevalent in the American society which needs to be tackled at the grass root level. While strategies have been implemented by different government and independent bodies to reduce domestic violence, the treatment of domestic violence victims is also important and needs to be focused upon in order to provide the victims with the confidence to be self sustainable and independent to manage their lives. The intervention highlighted in the practice question can provide new strategies which can be employed to increase confidence amongst the domestic violence victims and treat their posttraumatic stress. References 2001, 'Domestic Violence in the Workplace Statistics', American Institute on Domestic Violence, available at http://www.aidv-usa.com/Statistics.htm 2008, 'Domestic Violence is a Serious Widespread Social Problem in America: The Facts', available at http://endabuse.org/resources/facts/ http://new.vawnet.org/category/index_pages.phpcategory_id=497#544 Read More