Class Descriptions

Intimate Partner Violence

SW608

Credits:	3
Prerequisites:	None

Pathway Associations

Community Change
Global
Interpersonal Practice	Elective (Host)
Mgmt & Leadership
Policy & Political
Program Evaluation
Older Adults
Children & Families	Elective

Course Description

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant social issue in the U.S., which has persisted despite extensive efforts to eradicate it through numerous policy and practice interventions. In this course, learners will be introduced to key concepts, definitions, and theories of IPV. Learners will also receive applied opportunities to implement best practices for identifying, screening, and responding to IPV in health, mental health and substance abuse practice settings. Issues related to those who experience and witness IPV as well as those who use violence will be discussed, including social and cultural factors (e.g., age, gender and gender identity, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation) associated with IPV exposure.

Objectives

1. Identify and understand what is meant by the term Intimate Partner Violence.
2. Understand prevalence data and its limitations along with missing information and knowledge in the field, including limitations in existing research and practices for communities of color, LGBTQ populations, individuals with disabilities, and other underserved and under-researched populations.
3. Summarize theoretical perspectives and competing views regarding why IPV occurs and cite research in support of various perspectives.
4. Assess the roles of advocates, health care providers and the state and federal legislatures in creating the programs and policies which shape responses to IPV.
5. Apply understanding of the complex, interrelated socio-cultural factors that may explain the complicated dynamics of abusive relationships.
6. Conduct screening for IPV depending on practice setting.
7. Facilitate safety planning with a victim of IPV.
8. Identify community resources, social service, and legal options for victims of IPV.
9. Identify physical and behavioral health symptoms due to exposure to IPV.
10. Apply knowledge and to provide care that is safe, timely, efficient, effective and equitable.
11. Listen actively and encourage ideas and opinions of other professionals you engage with on behalf of a victim of IPV.
12. Forge independent relationships with other professions within and outside of the health system to improve care and advance learning.
13. Forge skills and resilience necessary to work as an activist for social change to address the underlying mechanisms that foster IPV.

Design

Course activities will be designed to help learners think critically and implement theory-driven practices for identification, screening, and response to IPV across multiple levels of intervention (e.g., individual, family, and community) and within clinical settings. A variety of pedagogical strategies, including experiential exercises, group projects, small group discussions, didactic lectures, videos, role-playing, guest speakers, reflective writings, and community projects will be used. The course may contain hybrid elements drawn from the IPV MOOC that is in development.

Intensive Focus on Privilege, Oppression, Diversity and Social Justice (PODS)

This course integrates PODS content and skills with a special emphasis on the identification of theories, practice and/or policies that promote social justice, illuminate injustices and are consistent with scientific and professional knowledge. Through the use of a variety of instructional methods, this course will support students developing a vision of social justice, learn to recognize and reduce mechanisms that support oppression and injustice, work toward social justice processes, apply intersectionality and intercultural frameworks and strengthen critical consciousness, self-knowledge and self-awareness to facilitate PODS learning.

Multiculturalism and Diversity This course will examine the ways in which gender, race, class, religion/faith, sexual orientation, immigration status, ability, and other social stratifications impact both perpetration and victimization of IPV. This course will also examine how policies and practice approaches differently affect people of color, the poor, immigrants, LGBT individuals, and other marginalized groups.

Social Justice and Social Change. Sexism, racism, classism, and heterosexism interactively shape IPV as well as the policies and resources a society devotes to addressing the issue. The course will examine the global movements that have attempted to address IPV and how social workers and other professionals can engage in activism within and outside of the systems they work within.