Introduction:
Domestic violence or assault can negatively impact the health of the affected individuals. The victims get traumatized physically, mentally, and emotionally, which even affects their quality of life. The physical health challenges can vary from increased risk of stroke and heart disease to gynecological issues, cancer, chronic pain, lung disease, and diabetes. Mental health challenges include anxiety, depression, and unstable mental health, which may encourage the victim to indulge in maladaptive behaviors like substance abuse, suicidal attempts, and risky sexual behaviors. Moreover, the affected individuals tend to have a more compromised social life and poor productivity when compared to their peers and end up leading isolated lives, which may negatively impact their financial status and increase the health risks of victims and their families. According to recent studies, domestic violence in one in four women and one in nine men has been reported. And children are most commonly involved especially if the parent is already a victim.
Who Is at Risk of Domestic Violence?
Risk factors include:
- People who depend on others for basic needs, like children, the elderly, and the disabled.
- Disabled individuals find it difficult to communicate with others.
- People living in vulnerable communities often experience the threat.
- People who are given the least importance of being neglected among a certain group or population.
- Individuals belonging to families which are commonly involved in conflicts and fights.
- People who lack support and encouragement from loved ones.
- People belonging to weaker economic sections and who have less societal values.
- Individuals who are exposed to environments or groups that are commonly involved in alcohol or drug abuse.
- Male and female sex workers are more prone to sexual violence.
What Are the Socio-Ecological Risk Factors of Domestic Violence?
The risk factors can be grouped under the following categories which include:
1. Individual:
- Trauma.
- Substance abuse.
- Unstable mental health.
- Aggressiveness.
- Impaired cognitive skills.
2. Interpersonal (Family/Peer):
- Familial violence.
- Damaged interpersonal relationships.
- Adverse childhood experiences.
3. Community:
- Lack of employment leads to choosing the wrong profession, like the illicit drug trade.
- Environmental hazards.
4. Societal:
- Racial or ethnic discrimination.
- Gender discrimination.
- Poverty.
What Are the Public Health Strategies Implemented to Prevent Domestic Violence?
1. Strengthening Public Health Sectors:
- The public health departments that ensure the effectiveness and quality of domestic violence prevention policies need to be encouraged and strengthened.
- Providing infrastructure to accommodate and encourage violence prevention public health teams.
- Health information data systems like the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) are developed to report cases of domestic violence without being neglected.
- Developing various prevention strategies, policies, and programs on domestic violence.
- Implementing steps to put into practice the ideas developed by research to put an end to domestic violence.
- Improvising the communication and feedback system to enhance the quality of the preventive programs.
2. Improving Surveillance:
The data or information system plays an important role in guiding public health professionals to identify the cause behind the encountered violence and study the nature, risk factors, and interventional measures. Surveillance helps in identifying the deaths and injuries caused due to violence in the following ways:
- Developing uniform strategies for case detection.
- Strict documentation of the reports.
- With the data available, assessing the nature of the violence can be carried out with ease.
- Surveillance helps to devise action plans at local, state, and national levels to prevent domestic violence through the available data.
3. Providing Funding and Other Resources: Public health sectors working on violence prevention acts do face a lack of funding to carry out further programs. Hence, these institutions should be strengthened by funding through the following means:
- Providing funding facilities to increase the resources at the state and national levels.
- Various programs on violence prevention do require investments. Hence, more emphasis should be given to funding strategies that help in implementing the policies on violence prevention.
4. Educating and Advocating for Violence Prevention Policies:
- It is imperative to customize the policies that are specially cared for by various National agencies and organizations to prevent violence.
- These authorities can be strengthened by making use of the Violence Against Women Act, which aids in implementing effective rules and regulations against acts of violence.
5. Developing Effective Policies, Programs and Tools: NCIPC (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control) works on developing various policies and programs to prevent violence, which include the following.
- VETO-Violence is a violence prevention tool, an adjunctive initiative of the CDC that mainly focuses on the prevention of domestic violence.
- Another initiative called Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE) has been started to prevent youth violence.
- Various publications that encourage prohibiting violence among the youth are developed, which mainly focus on attitudes and behaviors among the youth.
6. Identifying the Link Between Various Types of Violence and Other Important Aspects of Public Health Concerns:
- It is necessary for the research and funding team to focus on the aftereffects of violence; however, it is equally important to recognize the link between exposure to violence and ill effects on health.
- Child abuse is linked with mental stress, which can even cause neurological and immune disturbances early in the victim’s life and can put those children at high risk of developing chronic diseases in later life.
- Also, such victims end up indulging in maladaptive behaviors like substance abuse, smoking, alcohol abuse, and even suicidal attempts.
7. Conducting Needs Assessments and Strategic Planning:
- All concerned state and national authorities need to consider evidence-based strategies and other public health initiatives to set goals and support inter-organizational collaboration in putting an end to the practices of domestic violence in the community.
- Hence, these initiatives and policies adopted require constant support from the national bodies to support local and state organizations in preventing domestic violence.
Conclusion:
Domestic violence impacts the affected individuals and their families’ lives negatively. Many people not only encounter physical trauma but also get involved in maladaptive behaviors due to the excessive mental stress they undergo. Some end up losing their lives, and some undergo trauma, which greatly affects their quality of life. Hence, public health organizations need to be vigilant to identify such cases and, through their surveillance system, make strategies and policies and intervene at the right time, spreading awareness against domestic violence and avoiding grave consequences by counseling and providing the support the individual requires to lead a better life.
