This paper draws upon recent empirical research on femicide to conceptualize a public health approach to femicide prevention. We focus our discussion on non-criminal justice approaches to and perspectives on the prevention of femicide as an outgrowth of domestic violence (DV). The public health approach to violence prevention calls for the assessment of high-risk groups and the identification of risk and protective factors that lead to the development of interventions at multiple levels of the social ecology. Recent findings indicate that women at highest risk of intimate femicide tend to be marginalized groups. Other research has investigated individual- and community-level risk and protective factors that could lead to the development of targeted intervention strategies. Of particular interest to our discussion are community-level factors that may lead some groups of battered women to be more vulnerable to femicide; we will also discuss the roles that informal social networks and formal health caregivers could play in intimate femicide prevention. In the case of informal social networks, some research indicates that members of battered women's social networks are often ill-equipped to help battered women, which may lead to their increased vulnerability to femicide. In the case of formal sources of medical care, although recent attention has been placed on identifying battered women, less attention has been given to the specific goals of such interventions, or to the efficacy of safety planning as a viable intimate femicide prevention strategy.
Learning Objectives: 1) to summarize the current approach to intimate femicide prevention in public health. 2) to describe the public health approach to intimate femicide research and prevention. 3) to identify public health prevention models appropriate for use in intimate femicide prevention efforts
Keywords: Homicide, Women
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.