This blog post will describe a Multi-Level Public Health Resilience-Building Intervention program focused on building resiliency with families who have experienced domestic violence. The name of the program is "Stop the Cycle: Strengthening Families Who Experienced Domestic Violence."
The reason this program was created was due to the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs in the United States, one of which is domestic violence. According to the CDC, ACEs affect more than half of adults in the United States (CDC, 2022). ACEs are traumatic events that occur during childhood and have lifelong effects such as increased risk of developing chronic conditions like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, and even early death due to these conditions or the increased risk of death by suicide (CDC, 2022). There are various types of traumatic experiences that can have lifelong effects, which include physical, mental, and/or emotional abuse, and dysfunction in the household such as divorce, mental illness, substance abuse, and domestic abuse (Felitti et al., 1998).
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, In the United States, more than 10 million adults experience domestic violence annually ("NCADV | National Coalition Against Domestic Violence", 2022). Domestic violence affects all people regardless of demographics such as race, gender, ethnicity or age, and is often accompanied by emotional abuse ("NCADV | National Coalition Against Domestic Violence", 2022). According to a recent study, children exposed to domestic violence often become victims of violence, and are at greater risk for adverse outcomes (Huecker et al., 2022). Furthermore, trauma can be generational, where families or individuals who share the same circumstances such as a household and experience trauma continue the cycle of exposure to traumatic experiences with future generations (Mohatt et al., 2014). This cycle allows for the continuation of traumatic experiences and negative health outcomes.
The Stop the Cycle program utilizes the CDC's Social Ecological Model to address families for both preventative care and treatment. The program would be provided in partnership with a local county public health department to help connect families to resources and local services. Below is a description of the intervention program at each of the CDC's model.
Individual level: To impact individual attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, children and parents will have access to individualized learning and therapy provided by trauma-informed adults to help them build age-appropriate coping and resiliency skills.
Relationship level: Families will engage in counseling sessions together to improve skills such as communication and stress management. Classes will be led by trauma-informed social workers, public health workers, or counselors. Counseling sessions offered will also include couples-only offerings to accommodate for families where the parents or adults in the household are still together.
Community level: Public spaces such as schools and community centers will offer free events and services such as family engagement nights, healthy living expos, job fairs, and free childcare services to provide resources families may need to help maintain a positive, less stressful home environment. Also . included at events would be resources for care such as women’s shelters and temporary housing. These events and safe spaces will provide families with a social network outside of the home which they can utilize in times of need, and to continue upon progress made through individual and family-level interventions. Print materials such as educational flyers will be distributed and visible in shared settings such as schools, local businesses, and neighborhood centers.
Societal level: Marketing materials for the Stop the Cycle program will be visible throughout the community, building social norms for a zero-tolerance policy for domestic violence. An anonymous tip line to the program organizers will allow community members to report suspicious activity.
In summary, this program is a multi-level intervention approach to support families who experience domestic violence to reduce the impact of trauma, and prevent future incidents and inter-generational cycle of violence.
References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, April 6). Fast facts: Preventing adverse childhood experiences |violence prevention|injury center|CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violencepr...tudy%2Ffastfact.html
Felitti, V., Anda, R., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D., Spitz, A., & Edwards, V. et al. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. American Journal Of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245-258. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0749-3797(98)00017-8
Huecker, M., King, K., Jordan, G., & Smock, W. (2022). Domestic Violence. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499891/.
Mohatt, N. V., Thompson, A. B., Thai, N. D., & Tebes, J. K. (2014). Historical trauma as public narrative: a conceptual review of how history impacts present-day health. Social science & medicine (1982), 106, 128–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.01.043
NCADV | National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Ncadv.org. (2022). Retrieved from https://ncadv.org/STATISTICS.
Comments (0)