Excerpt from Past Work: Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a form of domestic violence, in which a partner causes

psychological and physical pains to the other partner in an intimate relationship. There are many

forms of IPV which may include: slapping, beating, sexual coercion, insults, threats and constant

humiliation. Women and children are more vulnerable to IPV, because they often have fewer rights

or lack appropriate means of protection. And in some cultural settings, certain types of violence

are deemed socially or legally acceptable, thereby contributing further to the risk to women and

children (NRC, 1996). Apart from the violence on women, a recent survey on children in the USA

revealed that, there is a likelihood of maltreatment experienced by children who had witnessed

intimate partner violence than children who had not witnessed intimate partner violence (Hamby

et al. 2010). IPV is not racially discriminatory, but it is more common in African American in the

US. Accordingly, African American women are particularly vulnerable and it differs from IPV

among heterosexual Caucasian couples (Taft, Bryant-Davis, Woodward, Tillman, and Torres,

2009). IPV is a global social problem, which can said to be more difficult to treat within African

American communities (Finfgeld-connett, 2015). ‘Among African American women, IPV

emerges within the context of ubiquitous and perpetual oppression and abuse’ (Finfgeld-connett,

2015). What makes it difficult to overcome in the black community is because of the barriers

hindering supports; ambivalence of others, fear, mental health problems, and negative perceptions

of helping services. The barrier can also be in form of pity and cultural understanding, African

American women are always seen sympathizing with the plight of Black men. This empathy came

from witnessing the marginalization, discrimination, and disproportionate incarceration faced by

most black males (Few and Rosen, 2005; Lichtenstein and Johnson, 2009).
Goodman et al. (2003) categorized strategies used by women to keep themselves safe into six

groupings labelled placating, resistance, SP, legal, formal and informal, which describes a range

of private and public attempts to enhance women’s safety in IPV situations. The safety of the

victim is usually the primary objective when dealing with IPV, therefore the Safety plan is usually

the first intervention used in the case of domestic violence. Safety Plan(s) are procedures followed

to increase the safety of victims in an IPV situations (Lindhorst, Nurius, and Macy, 2005). It is

usually holistic, therefore it is often incorporated into trauma-informed care (Ferencik and

Ramirez-Hammond, 2013). Safety Plan as a primary intervention helps to empower and facilitate

victim’s autonomy (Campbell, 2001). For social workers and health practitioners, there is always

a challenge faced when preparing intervention to support victims of IPV, especially for African

American, and this is because most mainstream interventions in the U.S. are designed according

to the values of western individualist societies, which is lightly different from African American

perspectives. Gondolf and Williams (2001) asserted that African Americans are often

unresponsive and suspicious of social services system due to its domination by Caucasian and they

feel they are unfamiliar and unsympathetic to their social reality and experiences. This is because

they do not share the same Afrocentric surroundings or racial and cultural backgrounds. Therefore,

in designing a safety/intervention plan for victim’s safety or batterer’s treatment, a culturally

accepted methodology or model must be employed. To effectively work with culturally different

populations, culturally appropriate interventions must be used (Erickson and El Timimi, 2001).

Therefore, to design an effective safety plan, especially for an African American family, culturally

inclusive.