John R. Barner

Interventions for Intimate Partner Violence: A Historical Review

Intimate partner violence (IPV), also known as domestic abuse or relationship violence, has generated a large research literature for the last half-century, particularly in the areas of criminal justice, psychology, and the social sciences. Interventions for victims and perpetrators of IPV have largely been sequestered to separately evolving efforts of law enforcement and the psychotherapeutic community (Chang et al. Women’s Health Issues, 15(1), 21–30, 2005; Dalton Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 15(1), 59–75, 2007; Dobash and Dobash 2000; Feder et al. 2008; Gerbert et al. Journal of Family Practice, 49(10), 889–895, 2000; Wathen and MacMillan. Journal of the American Medical Association, 289(5), 589–600, 2003). This article presents a brief overview of the historical evolution and development of these discrete perspectives and identifies and assesses current collaborative interventions rooted in these historical precedents. In conclusion, the authors provide a summative discussion of the most current findings of research into IPV interventions, with a particular focus on the changing roles of race and gender in both the criminal prosecution of IPV and services provided to IPV perpetrators and victims.

Prevalence of partner abuse: rates of emotional abuse and control

Partner abuse research over the past two decades has divided violent, threatening, or abusive phenomena into discrete areas of interest to researchers that, although distinct, are still broadly defined under the common category of “domestic abuse” or, more recently, intimate partner violence (IPV). Thus, any concerted attempt to typify the various substrata of IPV research must recognize the distinct features of each area regarding their component parts (i.e., behavioral or psychological sequelae, incidence and prevalence, and social or interpersonal context) while maintaining the overarching categorical commonality as variants of IPV. This article constitutes a contemporaneous and systematic review of the research on three aspects of controlling coercive violence (CCV): emotional abuse, sexual coercion, and stalking or obsessive behavior, along with a separate examination of when these IPV substrata are combined with physical assaults on intimate partners. Each CCV substrata is operationally defined in research terms common to the social science research, and tabular and narrative data is provided on the incidence and prevalence of each substrata and the combined category. Notable findings derived from this review are reported for each of the three aspects of CCV. For emotional abuse, prevalence rates might average around 80%, with 40% of women and 32% of men reporting expressive aggression (i.e., verbal abuse or emotional violence in response to some agitating or aggravating circumstance) and 41% of women and 43% of men reporting some form of coercive control. For sexual coercion, national samples demonstrated the widest disparity by gender of victim, with 0.2% of men and 4.5% of women endorsing forced sexual intercourse by a partner. By far, the largest selection of highly variable studies, stalking and obsessive behaviors showed a range from 4.1% to 8.0% of women and 0.5% to 2.0% of men in the United States have been stalked at some time in their life. Women were reported as having a significantly higher prevalence (7%) of stalking victimization than men (2%). For all types of violence, except being followed in a way that frightened them, strangers were the most common perpetrators; as reported in approximately 80% of cases, women were most often victimized by men they knew, most frequently, their current or former intimate partners. Among women who reported repeated unwanted contact, current (15.9%) and former (32.9%) intimate partners were the perpetrators in nearly half of the most recent incidents and the largest subdivision of reports came from college or university student samples. A separate examination reports of these types of IPV combined with physical assaults on intimate partners reported the strongest link was between stalking and other forms of violence in intimate relationships: 81% of women who were stalked by a current or former husband or cohabiting partner were also physically assaulted by that partner and 31% reported being sexually assaulted by that partner. Of the types of IPV reported on, most forms of violence that show the highest rates of reportage come from large national samples, with smaller samples showing increased variability. This article concludes with a brief section delineating conclusions that can be drawn from the review and the potential implications for research, practice, and IPV scholarship.

Research Productivity in Top-Ranked Schools in Psychology and Social Work: Does Having a Research Culture Matter?.

The h-index for all social work and psychology tenured or tenure-track faculty in the top 25 social work programs and psychology departments as ranked by U.S. News and World Report in 2012 and 2013, respectively, were obtained, permitting comparison of the scholarly influence between members (N = 1,939) of the two fields. This involved N = 970 social work faculty and N = 969 psychology faculty. The average h-index for social work and psychology faculty were 6.62 and 15.67, respectively. This more rigorously designed controlled-comparative study contraindicates prior research that showed social work faculty to be relatively equal to psychology, in terms of its scholarly influence. Results are discussed in terms of discipline-specific research pedagogy and practice in psychology.

The Dance of Closeness-Distance in Couple Relationships after the Death of a Parent

In-depth interviews of 18 couples focused on the couple relationship after a partner experienced the death of a parent. Working from a view of couple relationships as involving a dance of closeness and distance, never getting too far apart or coming too close, the article explores how a parents death can alter the conditions, forms, and grounds of closeness-distance and how issues of support following the death are entangled in the dance. As they grieve, bereaved partners might want closeness at some times, distance at others, and might welcome or reject offered support. A parent death may be freeing in terms of time or emotion and may profoundly effect thoughts about the meaning of life. The dance of closeness-distance may change if people feel freed by the death and work with new life meanings. Closeness-distance is also affected by how partners feel about what they shared or did not share as a result of the loss. Further complicating the dance are the effects of practical issues that may arise following a parent death, including dealing with a surviving parent and with the estate of the deceased.

Citation Impact of Women in Social Work: Exploring Gender and Research Culture

Purpose: We assessed citation impact scholarship of women in the top 25-ranked schools of social work in the United States. Method: We used a mixed methodology. Part 1 was a secondary data analysis of the top-25 U.S. News and World Report ranked schools from 2012 using the Hirsch h-index over a 10-year period. Qualitative interviews were conducted with graduates from top-ranked schools. We then examined the faculty websites. Results: The mean h-score was 18.64. The majority of these women were employed at the University of Washington (n = 6), followed by Columbia University and the Universities of Southern California (n = 3, respectively), Michigan, and California at Berkeley (n = 2, respectively). Discussion: The overall impact scores for these women are significant and speak to a number of factors including negotiating long-standing systemic and structural variables. We continue to describe elements of research cultures, which are essential to our profession’s academic development in today’s corporate university cultures.

Citation Impact Scores of Top African American Scholars in Social Work Schools The Story Behind the Data

U.S. tenure-track positions have steadily declined over the past 30 years and emphasis on research productivity has escalated. To achieve higher research and scholarship goals, the literature revealed that African American scholars have additional issues to overcome beyond the usual hurdles and challenges confronting other faculty. This study explored current research productivity by examining citation impact scores (h-indices) collected from Publish or Perish of African American scholars in top 25 ranked schools of social work cited in the 2012 U.S. News and World Report. The resultant sample consisted of N = 14 scholars with h-index scores of 9 and higher. Results revealed nonsignificant statistical differences between specified subgroupings, and 80% of these scholars overexceeded their respective school mean h-index scores. Future research calls for a more comprehensive knowledge of faculty research and scholarship activities overall, including unique subgroups of Social Work scholars such as African Americans.

Life or death decision making: Qualitative analysis of death penalty jurors

The relationship between capital jury instructions and imposition of the death penalty in the United States is analyzed through 36 semi-structured interviews collected as part of the archives of the national Capital Jury Project (CJP) at the School of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York in Albany. Former capital jurors expressed confusion, frustration, or ambivalence in areas of instruction clarity and procedural integrity. Specifically, jurors reported significant degrees of confusion as to the clarity of the instructions and the verbiage used to define their role and the exact parameters guiding both their sentencing decision and findings of fact. Moreover, a discrepancy was found in the degree to which statutory aggravation influenced decision making as opposed to mitigating testimony, calling into question both the constitutionality of the death penalty and its compliance with legal precedent. The article concludes with a discussion of the relevance these findings have for forensic social workers working in capital cases including implications for policy and practice.

Giving at a loss: couple exchange after the death of a parent

Abstract The concepts of “gift” and “debt” have frequently been subject to sociological discussion. This paper develops a theoretical view of couple relationships following the death of a parent as involving elements of indebtedness to the deceased parent and “giving” within the couple dyad. Illustrations of the theoretical dynamics are drawn from in-depth interviews conducted with couples in which one or both of the partners had experienced the death of a parent. The illustrations focus on the roles of exchange, reciprocity, and responsibility with relation to the parent death as simultaneously “gifts” and “debts.”

African American Faculty in Social Work Schools: The Impact of Their Scholarship

ABSTRACT Purpose: This study assessed the citation impact of scholarship of African American faculty in the top 25 ranked schools of social work cited in the 2012 U.S. News and World Report. Method: The citation impact scores (Hirsch h-index) of these scholars were examined. Results: The overall mean h-index score for the top 25 ranked schools of social work and African American scholars was 6.62 and 12.14, respectively. The individual h-index for almost 80% of these scholars exceeded their respective school mean h-index scores. Discussion: While the literature revealed long-standing systemic and structural barriers to research productivity for African American scholars overall, these faculty somehow found ways to circumvent these challenges. Future research calls for a more comprehensive exploration into the character and impact of scholarship produced by African American faculty to further expand the knowledge base about elements of research cultures in social work.

Implications of human trafficking in Asia: a scoping review of aftercare initiatives centered on economic development

ABSTRACT The trafficking of persons is one of the most egregious violations of human rights in modern society. Given the disproportionate effects across demographic categories of age and gender, as well as concentrated impacts within the developing world, there is a strong need for research and literature on program effectiveness and appropriate aftercare efforts for those persons whose lives and livelihoods have been impacted by trafficking. The purpose of this article is to provide a scoping review of what is known about effectively helping survivors of human trafficking experiencing lack of economic opportunity and the implications for practice and future research regarding the absence of literature. From over 14,000 initial search results, this article focuses on those initiatives (N = 16) that support economic development of the individual or family after being trafficked. Implications arising from the review for trafficking policy, areas for further research, and implications for practitioners are highlighted and discussed.