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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Understanding the general public's view about Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) is vital, as it would help with the development of targeted interventions and effective public policies to tackle this rising problem in society.
AIM: Our interview-based study investigated the public awareness, attitudes and perceptions towards DVA, and explored mechanisms to tackle DVA in the community setting in the UK.
METHOD: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 29 community-dwelling adults who responded to study invitations and adverts on social media. We used a topic guide to ensure consistency across the interviews, which were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically to detect emergent themes.
RESULTS: All responders were aware of the concept of abuse. Thirty-eight percent declared either having experienced DVA directly or that they knew someone close to being abused. More than half of the responders were not aware of existing DVA supportive services in the UK. Overarching themes generated from the contextual analysis included contributing factors for DVA, challenges and barriers facing victims and proposals for future interventions.
CONCLUSION: Community-dwelling adults acknowledge the impacts of abuse, but many fail to recognise specific instances or events in their daily lives contributing to DVA. Raising public awareness, particularly in children through the school curriculum, highlighting existing support services and introducing the routine use of short screening tools for DVA in health and social care settings can increase awareness, early identification and signpost to effective interventions. Sustained, multi-level community-facing interventions are recommended to reduce the stigma and fears associated with DVA.
Language: en |