The Effect of Personal Experiences with Domestic Violence: Understanding Child Welfare Workers' and Domestic Violence Service Providers' Attitudes and Beliefs Around Domestic Violence

Background and Purpose

Both child welfare workers and domestic violence providers face a number of challenges in serving families experiencing the co-occurrence of domestic violence (DV) and child maltreatment. Awareness of this co-occurrence has increased over the years as research has shown that this a growing phenomenon. It is estimated that one in four women experience domestic violence during their lifetime, and between 3.3 and 10 million children are exposed to domestic violence. Thus, child welfare workers and domestic violence service providers play a key role in addressing abuse and providing appropriate services.  Having such a role makes it crucial to understand workers’ attitudes and beliefs about domestic violence. As such, this study examined attitudes and beliefs regarding domestic violence among child welfare and domestic violence service providers in a northeastern state.

Methods

Data were collected cross-sectionally in a self-administered online survey to child welfare and domestic violence providers (n=823) to determine attitudes and beliefs about domestic violence using a valid and reliable 10-item scale (α = 0.7484). Most providers were female (87.24%), and 38.64% had a Master’s degree or higher. Nearly half identified as white (46.78%), almost a quarter identified as black (23.09%), one-fifth identified as Hispanic/Latino, and 9.48% identified as other. Multivariate multiple regression was used to estimate the effect of personal experiences with domestic violence on attitudes and beliefs regarding DV in their current work.  Regression models included demographic variables, education, employment factors, as well as personal experiences with DV, which were used as predictors to assess attitudes and beliefs around DV.

Results

Results indicated that when controlling for demographics, knowing someone personally who has experienced domestic violence is associated with more favorable attitudes and beliefs regarding domestic violence, such as supporting DV victims and disagreeing with common myths, compared to those who do not know someone personally (p<.02). And, for those who know someone involved with the state’s DV program, they also have more favorable attitudes and beliefs regarding domestic violence compared to those who do not know anyone (p<.06).

Additionally, those who believe that their life has been impactedby domestic violence also have more favorable attitudes and beliefs regarding domestic violence compared to those who do not feel that their life has been impacted (p<.01).

Implications

This research lends to better understanding the impact of personal experiences with DV on attitudes and beliefs around DV, suggesting that these experiences may also influence service delivery. Future research may include understanding how to support staff with personal experiences of DV in order to prevent secondary trauma and to encourage delivery of the most optimal services for families, as well as explore potential differences in attitudes and beliefs among different service delivery agents.