The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children and Crisis Intervention Strategies
Children who are born and raised in homes where domestic violence occurs experience fear, anxiety, and tension because their environment is unpredictable. This causes psychological and emotional trauma in the children, and the children have a similar experience to those who have been subjected to child abuse (Antle et al., 2007). Children grow up worrying about their future, attempting to predict what will happen the next day, and devising ways to protect themselves and their siblings in the event that violence occurs again (Antle et al., 2007). The physically and emotionally safe and secure environment in which children are supposed to grow is unavailable to them, and children must grow with the primary goal of surviving the day. Such children have little time for play, future planning, or relaxation. Children who are repeatedly exposed to domestic violence grow up to be aggressive, hyperactive, and disobedient. Other consequences include difficulty concentrating, low self-esteem, nightmares, and disturbed sleep, and fantasizing about normal domestic life (Sharpen, 2009).
Several intervention measures are taken in the event of domestic violence to protect the abused from the aggressor. It is intended to assist victims in coping with the physical, psychological, and emotional trauma caused by domestic violence (Howarth et al., 2016). Domestic crime response entails developing an emphatic conversation with the abused, assessing his/her needs, and providing psychological counseling to avoid future crises (Howarth et al., 2016). This paper discusses the effects of domestic violence on children in greater depth and can aid in developing the most effective intervention methods to combat crime. Domestic violence has had many negative effects on child upbringing, and prevention measures should be strengthened to minimize the long-term effects on children.
Review of Literature
Children who have been exposed to domestic violence suffer the consequences when they reach adolescence and even as adults. The negative effects include behavioral, cognitive, social, mental health, and physiological issues (Sharpen, 2009). Many programs for the intervention and prevention of domestic violence have been developed. Parental and child psychotherapeutic intervention, prevention, and community-based intervention programs are among those offered. Many countries have empirically tested these programs to protect children from the effects of domestic violence (Stanley, 2011).
Previous Research
Domestic violence has a negative impact on many aspects of a child’s development, including educational development and mental health, according to (Antle et al. 2007, Chang et al. 2008, Holt et al. 2008, and Stanley 2011). Domestic violence has similar effects on children as child abuse. However, this link is less addressed to clinicians undergoing child safeguarding training (Sharpen 2009).
Another study was carried out by Researching Education to Strengthen Primary Care on Domestic Violence and Safeguarding (RESPONDS) to create a knowledge base that could be used to train clinicians and general practice teams on the links between child safeguarding and domestic violence (Chang et al., 2008). The study discovered that combining child safeguarding and domestic violence training offered new ways of improving clinicians’ and general practice teams’ skills, knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy in dealing with issues related to protecting children in a violent domestic environment (Chang et al., 2008).
According to (Gellert 2007), child neglect and domestic violence are linked to a variety of factors, including violence in the parent family, substance abuse, social isolation, and economic stressors. Children who witness domestic violence and child abuse are more likely to develop depression, anxiety, isolation, and other behavioral issues (Kernic et al., 2003). Other risk factors associated with domestic violence include the perpetrator’s personality traits, traditional values, and verbal conflicts (Gellert, 1997; Stets, 1995; Williams, 1995). Other risk factors associated with the child’s exposure to domestic violence include a lack of parenting skills, maternal depression, and parental blame attributes (Smokowski & Wodarski, 1996).
Hughes (1997) estimates the comorbidity rates of child abuse and spouses to range between 40% and 60% (Hughes, 1997), whereas Ross (1996) estimates that approximately 50% of batterers directly abuse their children. Ross also claims that only 24% of those who have been abused retaliate or take action against the batterer (Ross, 1996). According to (Hughes, 1997), the effect of domestic violence on children leads to maladjustment later in life.
Domestic Violence’s Effects on Children’s Mental Health
As previously discussed, domestic violence has a number of mental health consequences. Some of these consequences are discussed further below.
Depression and anxiety.
There is a link between child exposure to domestic violence and internalising symptoms such as depression and anxiety, according to research. Children who are repeatedly exposed to domestic violence are more anxious and depressed than those who live in friendly, violence-free environments, according to research (Stanley, 2011).
Symptoms of Trauma
There is posttraumatic stress disorder, which affects children as they grow older. These include reliving violent events, difficulty concentrating and paying attention, intrusive thoughts, numbing, and nightmares. Previous exposure to domestic violence has also been linked to higher levels of posttraumatic stress in children, according to research (Ross, 2016).
Physical harm is a possibility.
Children may become involved in a fight by accident or as hostages and sustain injuries as a result. An object aimed at the victim may strike the child if it is held by the victim or if the child attempts to intervene to defend the victim (Chang et al., 2008).
Child abduction is an example of post-separation violence.
The abuser may exploit children’s innocence to torment the abused, abducting and holding the children hostage in order to prevent the victim from leaving or returning home after separation. The risk is usually significant, as children have suffered or even died in the long run as a result of the abuser punishing the victim (Howarth et al., 2016).
Children’s Exposure to Domestic Violence in the Home.
Domestic violence in the home can affect children in a variety of ways, including:
Observing domestic violence incidents as they occur
Hearing noises from squabbling or fighting, as well as threats
Being a hostage, intervening, or being a victim of the violence
Seeing the aftermath, such as blood, broken items, bruises, ripped clothes, and so on.
Being aware of the violent environment at home (Gellert, 2017).
Interventions for Children Who Have Witnessed Domestic Violence
Most countries have numerous programs to assist victims of domestic violence, particularly women and children. The majority of these programs are shelter programs that began in the United States in the 1970s and address the underlying concerns about why shelter places (places for emotional support and safety for victims of domestic violence) should be provided to women and children (Howarth et al., 2016). Shelter programs have evolved to include a wide range of social services, counseling, legal assistance, job training, housing assistance, and drug and alcohol abuse treatment. Shelter programs are implemented in a variety of organizations, including women’s organizations, religious organizations, hospitals, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These organizations have hired social workers, clinicians, and psychologists to provide the necessary services to victims of domestic violence (Howarth et al., 2016).
In a study conducted, two reviews were used in the systematic evaluation of interventions for children who have been exposed to domestic violence (Howarth et al., 2016). The first review, which had a wide range of study designs and was published in English between 2000 and 2002, was examined. Cohort studies, qualitative studies, observational studies, and cross-sectional studies were among the study designs used in these studies. Rizo et al. conducted the second review, which summarised interventions that targeted children who were directly or indirectly exposed to domestic violence and included studies from the first review that used quantitative methodologies as the study design (Howarth et al., 2016). (Howarth et al., 2016) included in their study interventions aimed at improving the mental health, behavior, educational, or social outcomes of children exposed to domestic violence. The appropriate interventions were those directed solely at the parent, solely at the children, or both at the parent and at the children.
Despite the fact that children are victims of domestic violence, most interventions focus on the parent, particularly the mother. This is based on the assumption that if the parent changes his or her behavior, the child will be protected. Parent support groups, mental health support, home visits, parent education, and therapeutic and social support services are examples of such interventions (Kernic et al., 2003). Intervention programs for children who have been exposed to domestic violence include conflict resolution skills, maltreatment prevention skills, and therapeutic interventions (Gellert, 2017).
Obstacles to an Effective Response
Most domestic violence incidents go unreported, despite victims reporting them to health professionals. According to studies, only 6% of victims are identified and assisted by the appropriate authorities. Most carers in healthcare settings are unaware of the prevalence of abuse among victims. Furthermore, there are only a few primary programmes that educate on domestic violence, and continuing medical education courses rarely address the issue of domestic violence in the curriculum (Gellert, 2017).
Some carers are also hesitant to enquire about domestic violence because they believe it will take a long time to receive a response. Other barriers to effective domestic violence responses include healthcare providers’ misconceptions and attitudes toward domestic violence, as most providers believe domestic violence does not occur among their patients (Kernic et al., 2003). This is common among healthcare providers whose patients share a profession, social class, level of education, and cultural or religious background. Some providers may also be familiar with the family’s history and believe that there is no possibility of violence occurring in the home, which is not always the case (Howarth et al., 2016).
Non-Consequences Intervention’s
Although the information has been available since the 1970s, healthcare providers are only now beginning to recognize domestic violence. Most hospitals, even those with better domestic violence protocols, have ignored the issue. When victims of domestic violence, particularly women and children, seek help but nothing is done, there is a progression of symptomatology in the victims when they come into contact with a healthcare facility that is unwilling to assist them (Szilassy et al., 2017). The victims start to notice something disturbing that becomes repetitive. A victim will first seek medical attention for a physical injury. Nonetheless, healthcare providers will only provide her with symptomatic treatment, forcing her to seek additional assistance because the issue is not addressed or because of a new injury from continued abuse. As time passes, the victim will be identified as the source of the problem and labeled variously as a hysteric or a crock (Szilassy et al., 2017).
The Value of Collaboration
Collaboration between various concerned bodies in dealing with domestic violence, such as child welfare associations, juvenile courts, police, and women’s rights activists, has been found to improve both the fight against domestic violence and child welfare. The significance of this collaboration has been emphasized in most studies on the subject and is demonstrated in the Greenbook project evaluation techniques (Antle et al., 2007).
Finding Promising and Evidence-Based Practices
Promising and evidence-based practice are terms used to describe programs that have been evaluated with a focus on the effectiveness of the intervention program’s outcomes for the targeted victims. The evidence-based programs demonstrate a more conclusive level of efficacy of the intervention program, whereas promising practices demonstrate effectiveness despite the fact that they may be too new to have the level of evidence required to become evidence-based practices. If a program is attempting to launch a new intervention for specific victims, it is critical to search the available evaluation networks and registries, and each registry should have the necessary thresholds for evaluating the chosen programs (Stanley, 2011).
A Future Devoid of Violence
The Promising Futures initiative created a useful tool for searching interventions that can be used for children exposed to domestic violence, allowing the user to specify factors such as age, the language of programme participants, and intervention type. The plans for a nonviolent future include summaries that include information about the links to the registries and the evidence level, allowing for evidence evaluation (Szilassy et al., 2017).
Finally, domestic violence has long-term consequences in a person’s life. Children who are exposed to domestic violence at a young age will develop negative characteristics associated with the impact of domestic violence. They, too, may become violent in the future or become victims of domestic violence. To keep their children from witnessing their fight, parents must find better conflict resolution methods other than violence. Because the issue has not been addressed, intervention methods have fallen short of expectations, and many families continue to experience domestic violence. It is, therefore, critical to develop better intervention methods and strengthen the collaboration among concerned parties in order to completely eliminate domestic violence.
References
Antle, B. F., Barbee, A. P., Sullivan, D., Yankeelov, P., Johnson, L., & Cunningham, M. R. (2007). The relationship between domestic violence and child neglect. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention. 7(4), 364.
Chang, J. J., Theodore, A. D., Martin, S. L., & Runyan, D. K. (2008). Psychological abuse between parents: Associations with child maltreatment from a population‐based sample. Child Abuse & Neglect. 32(8), 819–829.
Gellert, G. A. (2017). Confronting violence. Westview Press.
Howarth, E., Moore, T. H., Welton, N. J., Lewis, N., Stanley, N., MacMillan, H., … Feder, G. (2016). A systematic review of interventions for children exposed to domestic violence and abuse: Evidence from controlled trials. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK401381/
Kernic, M. A., Wolf, M. E., Holt, V. L., McKnight, B., Huebner, C. E., & Rivara, F. P. (2003).
Behavioral problems among children whose mothers are abused by an intimate partner. Child Abuse and Neglect. 27, 1231–1246.
Ross, S. M. (2016). Risk of physical abuse to children of spouse-abusing parents. Child Abuse and Neglect. 20, 589–598.
Sharpen, J. (2009). Improving Safety, Reducing Harm: Children, Young People and Domestic Violence; A Practical Toolkit for Front‐line Practitioners. The Stationery Office, London.
Stanley, N. (2011). Children Experiencing Domestic Violence: A Research Review. Research in Practice, Dartington.
Szilassy, E., Drinkwater, J., Hester, M., Larkins, C., Stanley, N., Turner, W., & Feder, G. (2017). Making the links between domestic violence and child safeguarding: An evidence‐based pilot training for general practice. Health & Social Care in the Community, 25(6), 1722–1732. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12401
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Question 
Selected topic:
Domestic Violence and the psychological impact on children
For your Case Assignment, develop a 2-page outline for your final Capstone Assignment based on the topic selected in module 1.
The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children and Crisis Intervention Strategies
Make sure you include a title page and the references page, and write an introduction to your topic (e.g., purpose statement, reason for the topic, etc.).