Ana Isabel Sani

Práticas educativas parentais em mulheres vítimas e não vítimas de violência conjugal

This study examines the impact of domestic violence against women on parenting practices. The sample consists of 60 mothers divided into two groups, victims of domestic violence (n = 30) and non victims of domestic violence (n = 30). The mothers were between 21 and 60 years of age, mostly married or living together, with low qualifications and belonging to poor families from a province in the North of Portugal. The data collected with the Inventory of Educational Practices revealed that in comparison to women who were not victims of domestic violence, abused women more often use inadequate educational practices in the interaction with their children, while classifying these practices more frequently as being adequate.

Casa abrigo: a solução ou o problema?

RESUMO - Este artigo apresenta um estudo qualitativo que analisou o ajustamento psicologico de nove criancas em Casas Abrigo a luz dos significados atribuidos a experiencia acolhimento. Da analise de conteudo com recurso ao programa informatico NUD*IST emergiram cinco constructos chave associados a experiencia acolhimento: integracao/superacao, suporte, responsabilizacao, disciplina e seguranca. Os resultados reforcam a posicao de que o ajustamento psicologico das criancas e complexo e fortemente determinado pelas significacoes construidas. O acolhimento possibilita a minimizacao da sintomatologia desadaptativa. Palavras-chave: crianca, violencia interparental, representacoes, casas abrigo. ABSTRACT - This article presents a qualitative study that analyses the psychological adjustment of nine children in a shelter home in the light of the meaning attributed to the sheltering experience. From the analysis done with the software NUD*IST five key constructs related to the sheltering experience emerged: integration/overcoming, support, responsibility, discipline and security. The results strengthen the belief that the psychological adjustment of children is complex and highly determined by constructed meanings. The shelter homes offer the possibility to minimize the negative effects in children. Keywords: children, interparental violence, representations, shelters

Intervenção em situações de violência doméstica: Atitudes e crenças de polícias

Aim: The present study aims to understand police officers’ beliefs regarding the phenomenon of domestic violence against women and assess how this could be connected with the way they act. Method: The sample consists of 453 police officers, from the Metropolitan Police Command of Public Security Police of Oporto. They were administered the Marital Violence Beliefs Scale [Escala de Crencas sobre Violencia Conjugal] (E.C.V.C.) and the Intervention Scale which compose the Police Attitudes Scales (E.A.P.). Results: The results revealed a greater disagreement regarding the set of legitimizing myths of marital violence and a greater percentage of participants oriented to perform service procedures (unconditional action, regardless of the victims intention to report the crime), especially when faced with physical violence situations. The correlational results suggest that higher levels of legitimizing beliefs of marital violence are associated with a more conditioned police action. The comparative analysis of two groups with more or less legitimating beliefs about violence against women, found that there is no statistically significant difference in the type of police action in domestic violence situations. Conclusion: The results support the association between beliefs about the phenomenon of domestic violence and police action in these cases.

Violence against the elderly: narrative of a case

Violence against the elderly is now recognized as a health problem, which compromises not only individual and family adjustment, but also the development of society. This violence is defined as “an intentional act or failure to act by a caregiver or another person in a relationship involving an expectation of trust that causes or a risk of harm to an older adult”.4 This definition is consistent with the 1995 proposed definition by the International Network for Prevention of Elderly Abuse (INPEA), which is generally adopted in most documents and manuals (cf. Portuguese Association for Victim Support, APAV, 2010) to define violence perpetrated against a person aged 60 or over.