Research Essay
(Domestic Violence)
Topic- Compare and contrast the different methods and processes of identifying community issues and community intervention strategies, highlighting the implications for Indigenous community work practice.
The main purpose of this essay is to understand the community issues in Australia related to domestic violence. A community is a society or a group of people who shares a common place to live i.e., who have common views, ideas and beliefs to share. Australian communities and other country communities face issues related to domestic violence which arises due to a difference in the views and ideas. In concern to it, various researches are done in order to discover the community issues which are related to domestic violence.
In addition, this essay will compare and contrast the different methods & processes that will help in identifying the community issues & strategies. Further, this research essay will also highlight the implications on an indigenous community in which intervention strategies are developed for dealing with this problem. However, this essay will help in identifying and understanding the community issues in – depth and will help in generating intervention strategies to overcome such community issues.
Compare and contrast the different methods and processes of identifying community issues and community intervention strategies
For identifying community issues, different methods are used i.e., quantitative research method, qualitative research method and also hybrid research method. All these methods focus on different aspects of doing or conducting a proper research. According to Ragin (2013), a quantitative method related to the objective truth on one reality whereas qualitative method is related to subjective truth in which multiple realities are involved. Both the methods help in generating an assumption which might be different but effective. Each assumption helps in developing an understanding of the standards which are related to community issues faced by Australian people.
On the other hand, the hybrid method is a method which can also be used by the researcher for identifying the community issue faced by the people. The hybrid method is a method which uses both qualitative and quantitative method for collecting a large amount of useful data in order to identify the relevant result or outcome related to domestic violence in the same community. Domestic Violence is a very big issue which is something related to a community where this violent action is seen (Berns, 2017). This reflects the community values and beliefs that get affects with the issue or condition. The domestic violence is something which is observed and seen in every country community because every community has individuals who do not understand the meaning of sharing, beliefs in a community.
In the research study of Green & Haines (2015), it is clearly explained quantitative method focuses more on individual rather than on a group of people in a same community. But at the same time, the qualitative method helps in focusing towards a group of people as it is based on interpretivism research. While studying, it is found that qualitative research is interpretivism research whereas quantitative method focuses on experimental research. On the other hand, Allen et al., (2017) stated that quantitative research method help in easily identifying the community issues as it helps in collecting a data by conducting a proper survey so that it becomes easy to calculate and examine the rate of violence ratio in an Australian community. In oppose to it, Minkler & Wallerstein (2012) illustrated that use of qualitative data will also help in identifying the issues more effectively as there are data which already exist and found useful. The use of qualitative method helps in collecting data when there is a high need to develop in-depth knowledge.
While comparing the qualitative and quantitative research, it is found that there is a difference in the size of research which is conducted under the quantitative method. In this method, the size of the research is limited as it is very difficult to involve each member of a community in the research process (Creswell, 2013). In this case, the researcher uses a small proportion from a group of people of a community. In contrast to it, a qualitative method includes a large number of data which is already collected by another researcher as well as this method used a random sampling method to collect the useful data which appears in the same proportion of the population in the same community.
With the help of quantitative method, there are various ways through which community issues are easily identify or determine i.e., interview, questionnaire, survey, etc. These all forms of ways help in collecting the data related to the community issues which are observed or address during survey for domestic violence. In context to it, Moore (2014) elaborated that collected data is available in the form of statistics and numbers which becomes easy to evaluate and measure the ration of domestic violence face by the community people (mainly women and exception in case of male).
In a qualitative method, data collected helps in reducing time duration to identify the community issues because the process of identifying and evaluating issues get decreased to large extent. Moreover, in this method, a community is observed in different ways or aspects by other researcher ad this result into chances of failure in identifying the relevant and accurate result related to community issues (Las Nueces et al., 2012). In a quantitative method, the researcher observes the community from both from an internal and external side in order to identify types of issues and the major reason behind the increase in the community issues. This involvement of the community in a survey may lead to failure in research purpose as there are people who give a false answer to the questions.
Moreover, the comparison between quantitative and qualitative method is that qualitative data provides is more based on case study as it is the best way to examine and identify the range of community issue which community people are facing to a large extent. The use of both qualitative method and quantitative method as hybrid method might be effective for understanding the reason behind the increase in community issues. In respect to this, a qualitative method is considered as the best way to analysis the community issues. It is because with the qualitative method, the researcher could able to target the larger audiences and this will contribute towards the achieving the valid result. Thus, it can be stated that qualitative method is suited for the community issue.
Community Intervention Strategies
It is essential for to address the domestic violence issue to facilitate the community welfare and make socio-economic development. In order to handle this issue in the indigenous community, there is need to consider offender, victim and whole community to make changes in the society and prevent such community issues. Some strategies like punishment, sentence, and penalties can be used to prevent offender to make domestic violence. The victim can be supported through protection in future by separating from the offender. At the same time, some social campaigns or programs can be run to develop awareness among the community members regarding prevention of domestic violence (Memmott, et al. 2001).
On the other hand, time of execution is a basis for categorizing the community intervention strategies for preventing domestic violence. Proactive intervention, during violence and post-violence intervention is the major strategies based on time execution to prevent domestic violence. The intervention strategies can be classified on the basis of the support plan. The post-violence strategy is used to provide support to the victim after an occurrence of violence. The victim is the central aspect in intervening the strategy to reduce the impact of domestic violence (Cathy, 2013).
For supporting the victim, formal and informal counseling is provided to the victim to acknowledge of legal rights and suggest actions against the violence. Face-to-face counseling is used to suggest the victim about their rights to go against the domestic violence and abuse and provide suggestions. In addition, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services (ATSI) can be provided to the victim to understand the situation and give the right advice. There are several organizations like ATSILS, IBA, etc. that provide such services.
Apart from this, the identity strengthening program can be another intervention strategy that includes culture development, educational training and skill development to distract the offender from the violent activities. Under these programs, public awareness is raised by using media campaigns and culturally appropriate information distribution. For instance, different media channels like television, newspapers, radios, posters, videos and social media are used to develop awareness of people regarding domestic violence and how to prevent it. These programs are also helpful to the victims to handle such situations and prevent the occurrence of such incidents. In addition, the offenders learn how to control their anger to prevent the violation (Eckhardt et al. 2013). These programs can be used before, during and after the occurrence of the violent situations. In addition, behavioral reform programs are used to develop good characteristics and traits in the offender in the detention centers. The offender learns how to control the anger and develop self-relief skills to reduce the violent behavior through anger management programs, anti-violence grouping and prison-based programs. These programs provide long-term and permanent effects with focus on offender (Memmott, et al. 2001).
On the other hand, monitoring program and community policing such as night patrolling and warden schemes are other intervention strategy for preventing domestic violence within the community. Night patrols include the volunteers who patrol the main street on a routine basis and observe the suspects like alcoholic persons. It helps to resolve the problems and settle the disputes before an occurrence of big drama (Wundersitz, 2010). After the occurrence of violence, the night patrol transports the victims to the appropriate places like medical centers or shelters. At the same time, it is also crucial for the night patrols to get the police support to maintain the law and order in the community. Apart from this, Memmott et al.’s framework (2001) identified shelter program is effective to ensure the success of night patrols and respond violence in indigenous communities. These programs are used for the people who are affected by alcohol and are potential perpetrators of violence. For providing security to the women and children escaping violence, safe houses are provided. In addition, safety and healing options are also provided to the victims.
Besides these programs, meditation activities are conducted to teach people to be calm and controlled. Dispute intervention approaches are used to solve the conflicts between the people and keep the violent person in the private environment. Law-related programs and justice programs are also run to support the victim to defend their cases and get justice. In these programs, cultural appropriation, conflict resolution through mediation, prevention of the recidivism and legally punishment are significant to prevent the domestic violence (Jahanfar et al. 2013).
It can be ensured the safety for victims through police response and emergency shelter. In addition, crisis intervention services like a hotline, legal advocacy and medical care and assistance are also provided to support the victim. There should be proper and timely judicial response against any domestic violence with the enforcement of orders for protection. Follow-up services can be provided to the victim through counseling, healthcare, support groups, etc. The intervention programs are effective to align the justice system including judges, probation and parole, pre-trial service, police and pre-sentence investigation (Memmott, et al. 2001). Educators and therapists work with the perpetrators or offenders to provide training and monitor to change their behavior. Community education and media initiatives can be used to change the understanding of people and properly respond the domestic violence.
Conclusively, it can be revealed that domestic violence is a considerable community issue that should be addressed properly. The qualitative and quantitative approached are used to identify the community issue i.e. domestic violence. Both approaches are different from each other as both have their own advantages and limitations in indentifying the community issues. In addition, both approaches together are also effective to identify the domestic violence issue. In addition, it can also be summarized that intervention strategies including punishment, sentence, and penalties, monitoring program, and community policing, identity strengthening program and Law related programs and justice programs can be effective to prevent the domestic violence on Indigenous community.
Moore, C. W. (2014) The mediation process: Practical strategies for resolving a conflict. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Ragin, C. C. (2013) The comparative method: Moving beyond qualitative and quantitative strategies. USA: Univ of California Press.
Allen, G. J., Chinsky, J. M., Larcen, S. W., Lochman, J. E., & Selinger, H. V. (2017) Community psychology and the schools: A behaviorally oriented multilevel approach. UK: Routledge.
Green, G. P., & Haines, A. (2015) Asset building & community development. USA: Sage publications.
Minkler, M., & Wallerstein, N. (2012) Introduction to community organizing and community building. Community organizing and community building for health and welfare, 5-26.
Creswell, J. W. (2013) Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. USA: Sage publications.
Las Nueces, D., Hacker, K., DiGirolamo, A., & Hicks, L. S. (2012) A systematic review of community‐based participatory research to enhance clinical trials in racial and ethnic minority groups. Health services research, 47(3pt2), pp. 1363-1386.
Berns, N. S. (2017) Framing the victim: Domestic violence, media, and social problems. UK: Routledge.
Pestka, K., & Wendt, S. (2014) Belonging: women living with intellectual disabilities and experiences of domestic violence. Disability & Society, 29(7), pp. 1031-1045.
Padgett, D. K. (2016) Qualitative methods in social work research (Vol. 36). USA: Sage Publications.
Cathy Humphreys PhD, B.S.W., (2013) Inclusive domestic violence standards: strategies to improve interventions for women with disabilities?. Violence and victims, 28(1), p.50.
Eckhardt, C.I., Murphy, C.M., Whitaker, D.J., Sprunger, J., Dykstra, R. and Woodard, K., (2013) The effectiveness of intervention programs for perpetrators and victims of intimate partner violence. Partner abuse, 4(2), pp.196-231.
Jahanfar, S., Janssen, P.A., Howard, L.M. and Dowswell, T., (2013) Interventions for preventing or reducing domestic violence against pregnant women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2.
Memmott, P, Stacy, R, Chambers, C & Keys, C (2001) ‘Violence in Indigenous communities’, Crime Prevention Branch, CommonwealthAttorney-General’s Department.
Wundersitz, J. (2010) Indigenous perpetrators of violence : prevalence and risk factors for offending. Australian institution of criminology.
