141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

286544
A new analysis approach to social problems: A case study looking at domestic violence

Monday, November 4, 2013

Kathy Sias, MSW , School of Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL
The purpose of this analysis was to define strategies to further decrease male partner assaults. Historical approaches evolved to provide victims with support and reduced the social acceptance of domestic violence. Unfortunately, these approaches are not effective in addressing the men who are assaulting today. A review of the current environment using a problem solving approach (process improvement) is presented. It includes analytic techniques used at a top ten multi-national corporation. This approach results in identifying the strengths and weakness of existing strategies, understanding their impact on options today, and supports the development of recommendations. A social policy process improvement review enables an assessment of the current environment in the United States and aids those in the policy implementation phase of addressing violence against women and girls. The findings suggest that there are now legal and political barriers to implementing potentially effective treatment strategies for mandated male offenders. The current domestic violence paradigm appears to focus on punishing men by sending them to ineffective treatments. Medical personnel who screen for domestic violence do not have evidence based solutions to recommend to women who wish to remain in their relationship. A silo public health structure exists limiting the leverage of available resources for those exposed to the childhood trauma of family violence. In education girls are encouraged to embrace “boy” qualities yet “girl” qualities in boys are dismissed -- resulting in a glass wall between boys and girls. Additionally, human values course material needs inclusion in schools to increase social capital.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Administration, management, leadership
Program planning
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Explain process improvement Demonstrate process improvement techniques on a social problem Discuss strengths and weaknesses of strategies implemented during the second wave of the feminist movement, and provide actionable steps for today’s environment.

Keywords: Domestic Violence, Change Concepts

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Kathy Sias worked for Intel Corporation for 22 years. She received Intel’s highest Achievement Award (300 of 65,000 employees received it that year). This was in acknowledgement for her identification of a multi-departmental problem, and the development and successful implementation of a highly effective strategy to address it. Kathy is currently pursuing a Ph.d. in Social Welfare and applying this background to the area male partner assault.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.