Social Work Practice and Domestic Violence

Social Work Practice and Domestic Violence



Social Work Practice and Domestic Violence

Introduction

To put some social work into practice is all the times formed by the requirements and wants of the era, the troubles they present, the uncertainties they engender, the resolutions that appeal, and the acquaintance and expertise available.

Definitions and Terms in the communal sciences and in social work are repeatedly complicated to describe specifically. Terms might have quite a few dissimilar meanings, and this is particularly true across various cultures. The diversities in languages give challenges to a general perceptive of social science and social work definitions and terms. We are all culture bound to a particular scope, even the most internationalist or globalist amongst us.

Lazarus (1997) defined that social work "refers to the core functions and specialized helping services performed by social workers in their professional capacity as members of the profession. The functions and specialized tasks that are part of the social workers' helping efforts are goal oriented and geared to problem solving and change." Sanders and Pedersen finished off by saying that there are "understandable interrelationships and it is helpful to view social work as a profession functioning in the context of the broad field of social well-being." (Dean 2002).

Discussion

Finding a generally-accepted definition for domestic violence proved to be an elusive endeavor. This may be because there is no consensus definition of the term(Brandell 1997). Each writer seems to define the term to fit his or her topic or agenda. For instance, Chez(Brandell 1997), in focusing on female victims of domestic violence, defines the term as “the repeated subjection of a woman to forceful physical, social, and psychological behavior to coerce her without regard to her rights.” Some definitions are basic and general: “a pattern of regularly occurring abuse and violence, or the threat of violence, in an intimate (though not necessarily cohabitating) relationship” (Kazdin 2003). Other definitions are comprehensive and specific(Kazdin 2003). The more comprehensive definitions, although phrased differently, typically possess the following common elements:

a pattern of abusive behavior (as contrasted to a single event);

the abusive behavior involves control, coercion, and/or power;

the abusive behavior may be physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, and/or financial; and

the victim of the abusive behavior is a cohabitating or non-cohabitating intimate partner or spouse.

The British government has adopted one of the more expansive descriptions of domestic violence, one that includes all of the foregoing elements: “Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality." Beyond the basic definition, the government furnishes further description of domestic violence as “a pattern of abusive and controlling behaviour” by which the abuser attempts to gain power over the victim. The government contends that domestic violence crosses age, gender, racial, sexuality, wealth, and geographical lines. (Dean 2002)Interestingly, the definition offered by the government expands the description to include other “family members” in addition to “intimate ...