Project 3

Introduction

Our purpose with this study is to find out whether certain groups (race, LGBTQ+, disabled, and domestic violence victims) experience more violence and microaggressions than people who are not a part of these groups, all while gaining more information on rarely discussed topics. Each researcher involved in this study was responsible for choosing a very diverse topic regarding violence prior to our survey assimilation. The survey asks questions related to racial violence, the LGBTQ+ community and the religious violence that they endure, domestic violence, and violence regarding the handicapped.

Methods

This survey consisted of a series of 56 questions relating to violence.

The survey was posted in Qualtrics survey database and limited to existing students at the College of Coastal Georgia. The study had 52 participants ranging from ages 18 to 64, of all races, sex, year in college, marital status, parental status, and any other aspects of their lives. The only requirement is that “you” are a student at the College of Coastal Georgia. Definitions for questions that pertain difficult words were defined under each question, making it easier for the participant to understand. For example, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a microaggression is defined as a “comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group,” (Merriam-Webster).

Promotion of this survey was done by posting within the school app, which allows students to engage with one another. We also reached out to professors to promote on D2L (our schools web portal), by encouraging students to take part in our survey.

The primary source used for this research study was a well conducted survey. that will be able to provide official statistics from the College of Coastal Georgia. The Secondary sources that were used were peer reviewed, scholarly research studies and articles.

We collected information from a total of 52 participants. Majority of responses came from female students, (44-female, 7-male, and 1 non-binary). 75% of the participants ranged in age from 18-24, 11.54% ranged in age from 25-34, 7.69% ranged in age from 35-44, 3.85% ranged in age from 45-54, and lastly 1.92% ranged in age from 55-64. No respondents were over the age of 64.

68.33% of the participants were from white/Caucasian students, 5.00% came from Hispanic or Latino students, 16.67% came from black or African American students, 1.67% came from Native American or American Indian students, and lastly 8.33% came from students of Asian/Pacific Islander decent.

In Table 1.1 you will be able to see the results to the answer "How would you describe your sexual orientation?"

Table 1 - Sexual Orientation Results

Results

When asked if the student had ever experienced domestic violence, 80% answered "No" leaving 20% who answered "yes". These numbers gave hope to me regarding the students of CCGA. Although there is still that 20% that most likely need help or aid regarding domestic violence.

Data collected from College of Coastal Georgia students answering the question, "Do you think that Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) abusers are more violent than nonAOD abusers?", the majority believed that definitely, yes they are. Research agrees with the sample population.

The students were asked if they believed that domestic violence was an issue at the College of Coastal Georgia, and the popular answer was "might or might not be," leading me to believe that there is not much awareness of domestic violence in our sample group.

When asked if they were uncomfortable around people similar to their abuser? (same age, race, gender, etc.) The population leaned more to "probably not". More research into what psychologists could do, could help to improve understanding regarding domestic violence.

The response to, "Do people treat you differently after they discover you were/are abused?" was a tie between "might or might not" and "Definitely not". Interesting enough we humas are empaths and sympothize with other humans. It's what we were made to do.

Four students came forward that they had been in more than one abusive relationship. Table 2 displays that less students have been in more than one abusive relationship.

Table 2 - Results of having more than one abusive relationship.

Discussion

Redefining “Domestic Violence”

An article derived in the research portion of this project, by Briana Barocas, Danielle Emery and Linda G. Mills,” terms “domestic violence” as “formula stories that are constructed in order to understand a social problem and to help those affected by that problem in defining and assigning a narrative to a lived experience,” (Barocas, et al. – 941). The issue is that people look at domestic violence as a taboo topic that in most circumstances have the same result. The article takes a criminal justice standpoint while making the point that the term domestic violence needs to be broadened and offender’s treatment is proving ineffective. An example from the survey we conducted is that majority of people don't think that violence is an issue here at the College of Coastal Georgia. The feedback recieved from our survey concludes that 67% of students' think that there "might or might not" be an issue at CCGA, 11% responded "probably not" and 22% said that there was "definitely not" an issue regarding domestic violence here at CCGA.

The article went more in depth, by saying, “more specifically, the article focuses on changes needed in state standards to enable the provision of treatment options that align with the broad legal definitions of domestic violence and to promote innovation in offender treatment, such as the possibility of involving victims in the offenders’ treatment should victims want to be included,” (Barocas, et al. - 941). This supports my theory that there needs to be more light shed on the domestic violence, what it is, who is involved and what should be done about it.

Table 2 defines a few states definition of the relationship between domestic violence offender and victim. The research was pushing for “change in the state standards for offender treatment programs would allow for the testing and replication of alternative approached, enabling service providers to implement programs that show promise elsewhere in their own communities,” (Barocas, et al. – 945).

Table 2 -Definition of relationship between domestic violence offender and victim

Who is responsible for managing and counseling of domestic violence victims?

Research done by Mary McCauley, Jennifer Head, Jaki Lambert, Shamsa Zafar and Nynke van den Broek states that, “Data collection was conducted using semi-structured key informant interviews (KII) with doctors working in the obstetric departments of public and private hospitals in the Islamabad Capital Territory in Pakistan in May 2016,” (McCauley, et al. – 2).

Other officials, such as policy makers/advisors and researchers were also included in the study to support the decision that needs to be made regarding issues of domestic violence in pregnant women. After conduction of the interviews, the conclusion that they met was that, "most participants felt that doctors alone should not be responsible for the counseling and managing of women who report domestic violence during and after pregnancy.

It was suggested that a different cadre of healthcare provider (such as nurse or midwife) working in the hospital should receive specialized training," (McCauley, et al. -5). Many factors led them to this decision including doctor's not having enough time and concern for personal safety regarding domestic violence.

Being that 69% of our respondents were white or Caucasian, (refer to Table 1), it leads to the question of what cultural differences exist between aiding victims of domestic violence. If studies are being done on who is ressponsible for individuals in these types of situations, I believe that race should be important to know when researching domestic violence.

What is the difference between AOD abusing abusers and nonAOD abusers?

When asking the student body if they thought that Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) abusers were more violent than nonAOD abusers? The response was that 33% voted "definitely yes", 11% of students said, "probably yes", 22% of students answered with "might or might not", 22% said "probably not", and lastly 11% say "definitely not. After analyzing the data, it is surprising that 22% of students think that AOD abusers are not more violent than nonAOD abusers. Reviewing previous studies done on this specific matter, falsifies their hypothesis of nonAOD abusers being more abusive than individuals who are on alcohol or other drugs. Any situation is escalated with the addition of drugs of any sort.

The abbreviation AOD, stands for alcohol and other drugs. This research study conducted by Mark Thomas, Larry Bennett, and Charles Stoops goes in depth on the difference between intoxicated abuser versus non drug related abuse, and whether or not the treatment should be the same for both situations.

In their study, they “compared 274 AOD batterers and 524 non-AOD batterers (batterers who do not have AOD problems). Results indicated AOD batterers were more violent and were more likely to perpetrate violence that is severe in nature. They also reported higher levels of anger and trauma, had a greater proclivity toward a borderline personality orientation, and were much more likely to use AOD during an incident if violence at least half of the time,” (Thomas, et al. – 121).

How can Educational Psychologists make a difference?

After asking the student body of the College of Coastal Georgia if they had ever experienced a microaggression because you were abused, the results once again surprised me. 11 % responded "definitely yes", 0% responded "probably yes", 44% responded "might or might not", 33% responded probably not", and lastly, 11% responded "definitely not".

Keeping in mind that Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a microaggression as," a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group, (Merriam-Webster). The results leaned toward being undecided and no, probably not.

In a research article by Leanne Cort and Tomy Cline, both partners in psychology at the University College London, discussed the importance of the emotional and physical abuse involved in domestic violence, while also discussing the cultural aspect of a controversial issue. Research suggests that, “in the context of domestic abuse, the caregiver role may be compromised, through high levels of stress, inconsistent parenting, and a lack of attentiveness and resourcefulness to reason, and be in tune with, the child,” (Cort – 167). Not only does it affect the parent-child relationship, educational psychologists “showed a lack of awareness and understanding of domestic violence in the field,” (Cort – 169). The article suggests specific changes that Educational Psychologists can make in order to make a difference. “The educational psychologist role is essential in raising awareness of the impact of domestic violence on children and families by “making the invisibility of domestic violence visible”.” (Cort – 177).

Conclusion

One limitation that our study had was that we had a smaller sample size than we anticipated.

A second limitation that exists is that some of the participants would not complete the entirety of the survey making our data analysis even smaller. Maybe shortening the survey would have helped the participation rate.

A third limitation is that we are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic which affected our overall research study. Our resources were limited, and the lack of communication may have led to misunderstandings in the research.

Our survey suggests that more research needs to be completed regarding domestic violence and steps need to be taken in regard to the legal system, medical system, and collegiate system. In order for awareness to be shed. Educating yourself and others on taboo matters like this one, takes time and if I had to complete the project again, I would have probably chosen a different research method, other than a survey. This matter would be better examined through longitudinal research and we did not have the time or the means for that type of study.

Work Cited

Barocas, Briana, et al. “Changing the Domestic Violence Narrative: Aligning Definitions and Standards.” Journal of Family Violence, vol. 31, no. 8, Nov. 2016, pp. 941-947. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10896-016-9885-0.
Cort, Leanne, and Tony Cline. “Exploring the Impact of Domestic Abuse on the Mother Role: How Can Educational Psychologists Contribute to This Area?” Educational Psychology in Practice, vol. 33, no. 2, Jan. 2017, pp. 167-179. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=eric&AN=EJ1138734&site=eds-live&scope=site.
McCauley, Mary, et al. “Keeping Family Matters behind Closed Doors’: Healthcare Providers’ Perceptions and Experiences of Identifying and Managing Domestic Violence during and after Pregnancy.” BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth, vol. 17, Sept. 2017, pp. 1-8. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/s12884-017-1520-4.
“Microaggression. “Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microaggression. Accessed 23 Apr. 2020.
Thomas, Mark D., et al. “The Treatment Needs of Substance Abusing Batterers: A Comparison of Men Who Batter Their Female Partners.” Journal of Family Violence, vol.28, no. 2, Feb. 2013, pp. 121-129. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10896-012-9479-4.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse