Intimate partner violence (IPV) or rather domestic violence is a critical and widespread issue in which the former or current intimate partner indulges in physical, verbal, psychological, or even sexual assault. Intimate partner violence often occurs in various settings ranging from the socioeconomic, ethnic, cultural, and religious groups. The devastating burden of intimate partner violence is suffered by women. From the statistics, the most common perpetrators of partner violence are male intimate ex-partners or partners. Regardless of women’s perception of intimate partner violence as a minor issue, it results in long-lasting impacts on their mental and physical health. For instance, it is presumed that women who emerge as victims of violent relationships have a higher likelihood to report depression and anxiety ( Campbell, 2002). The primary focus of this paper is to critically analyze the aspects of intimate partner violence ranging from the challenges associated with the management of behaviors, family considerations, and challenges in the care of IPV patients.
Critical Analysis
Owing to the detrimental consequences on health, economic, and social welfare; intimate partner violence against women is recognized as a global problem. It is categorized as a life-threatening mishap that primarily affects girls and women and has been recognized as one of the leading causes of mortality (Feder, Hutson, Ramsay, & Taket, 2006). The bigger challenge is that the grave consequences associated with IPV not only affect involved individuals but also their families and the entire society. It is often challenging to manage some of the behaviors that give rise to domestic violence since it largely entails absolute privacies behind the scene.
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Another significant challenge is that the behavioral conducts and the resultant consequences associated with IPV are detrimental to the co-existence of any given family. The vice not only affects the main protagonists but also the children. Exposure of children to intimate partner violence is deemed as a form of child maltreatment with high levels of impairment comparable to neglect and other forms of child abuse ( Vest, Catlin, Chen, & Brownson 2002). Therefore, regardless of the perceived advancements in the aspect of intimate partner violence, there is the need to examine and implement appropriate safety planning strategies as part of the response to IPV’s implications on children.
Moreover, the medical community is considered as one of the most significant institutions with the mandate of handling the issues of intimate partner violence victims. Most often, women experiencing domestic abuse make frequent contacts with their primary care clinicians. Battered or physically assaulted women usually visit the healthcare institutions for various medical complaints, such as headaches, sleep disorders, and abdominal pains ( Vest et al., 2002). Pregnancy appears as one of the high-risk factors in such cases. Thus, clinicians play an essential role in curbing the negative implications of IPV.
Given that women exposed to IPV suffer from chronic mental and physical health problems, such as anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorders, among many others; there is still a big challenge with regards to the provision of quality care ( Campbell, 2002). The primary reason is that most medical staff members do not have adequate expertise to handle such cases. They are poorly trained on management of IPV victims, hence leading to the provision of suboptimal care. Therefore, the main challenges are attributed to lack of knowledge, patient disclosure, system-level support, self-efficacy, and time.
Conclusion
From this analysis, it is evident that intimate partner violence is indeed one of the severe issues that subject victims to physical, social, and psychological problems (Feder et al., 2006). Regardless of the vast knowledge on this vice, there is still a lot to be done especially by the medical units to assist the victims. The clinicians need further training to correct various misconceptions. Physician’s levels of competence can be improved through formulation and dissemination of relevant institutional protocols for managing intimate partner violence.
References
Campbell, J. C. (2002). Health consequences of intimate partner violence. The Lancet , 359 (9314), 1331-1336.
Feder, G. S., Hutson, M., Ramsay, J., & Taket, A. R. (2006). Women exposed to intimate partner violence: expectations and experiences when they encounter health care professionals: a meta-analysis of qualitative studies. Archives of Internal Medicine , 166 (1), 22-37.
Vest, J. R., Catlin, T. K., Chen, J. J., & Brownson, R. C. (2002). Multistate analysis of factors associated with intimate partner violence. American Journal of Preventive Medicine , 22 (3), 156-164.
