Family violence: contemporary research findings and practice issues

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe recent empirical research findings about family violence, and to explore selected social work treatment issues in the light of these findings. The last two decades has seen a proliferation of research about family violence. Most of the early research used small clinical samples and so generalizing findings to other groups has been difficult. However, the recent research has examined a number of important psychosocial correlates of family violence using more methodologically sound methods. As a result, we now know quite a bit about how and why family violence occurs. Also, within the last decade a number of studies have explicated the kinds of treatments and approaches that are most effective in dealing with abusive people. This paper summarizes these treatment strategies.