Class Descriptions

Family Violence Prevention and Intervention

SW702

Course Description

The focus of this course is on the methods of prevention, intervention and social change used to address and end the major forms of family violence. "Family" is defined broadly to include any intimate relationship. The course will provide overviews of the risk factors and traumatic effects of family violence. There will be an emphasis placed on the special needs of oppressed groups. Most family violence organizations work on multiple levels, such as macro, mezzo, and micro levels, and they frequently come into contact with a variety of fields of service, primarily the legal, health and mental health, housing, public assistance, and child welfare systems. Therefore, models of inter-system and inter-disciplinary coordination will be presented. Illustrations of the integration of micro, mezzo, and macro practice will be given, in particular how dimensions of power, privilege, oppression, and difference influence actions, perceptions, choices and consequences across system levels. The understanding and critical evaluation of theories, policies, organizations, and interventions using scientific principles will be stressed.

Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1) Understand the scope of family violence and the risk factors and traumas associated with it, including common myths about these factors held by those in various fields of service.
2) Understand root causes, risk factors and maintaining factors for family violence within a social ecological framework that includes the links between family violence and sexism, racism, classism, ethnocentrism, ableism, heterosexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression and understand the variation in risk and maintaining factors across diverse dimensions (ability, age, class, color, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), marital status, national origin, race, religion or spirituality, sex, and sexual orientation).
3) Understand their own attitudes, potential biases, and privileged positions and those of professionals and the public about various types of family violence and about survivors and offenders of this violence, as well as the impact of such attitudes on the ways in which survivors and offenders are treated at micro, mezzo, and macro levels.
4) Demonstrate basic skills for detecting family violence and promoting help-seeking of both the abuser and the survivor.
5) Demonstrate knowledge of and basic skills in assessment of risk factors and effects and the use of such assessments for developing intervention and prevention plans.
6) Understand the most common models of intervention and prevention for various types of family violence at the individual, family, organization, community and social levels. Included will be an understanding of the impacts of social norms, historical and current cultural oppression, ideology, public policies, and organizational structure on service delivery systems.
7) Understand applicable laws and codes of ethics governing the practice of family violence prevention and intervention.

Design

The course will use a variety of pedagogical methods, including didactic lectures, experiential exercises, group discussions and projects. An emphasis will be placed on the development of skills through demonstrations, videos, and role-playing. Guest speakers may be invited from the field to describe the latest intervention and prevention programs. Special attention will be given to students' attitudes and emotional reactions to the material covered, and their effects on the way in which they approach clients.