NCJ Number
200549
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 9 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2003 Pages: 590-598
Date Published
May 2003
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article examines the co-occurrence of substance abuse and domestic violence through case studies of three female practitioners who have struggled to help battered women who abuse drugs.
Abstract
Although it is recognized that domestic violence and substance abuse co-occur, practitioners and researchers have mainly focused on men who batter and their substance abuse problems. However, many battered women abuse drugs as well, but little is known about the etiology of their substance abuse problems. The authors review the research literature that is available about battered women who abuse drugs and then they present case studies of three practitioners who have focused on the drug problems of battered women. The case studies focus on the development of service programs for substance abusing battered women, including a guiding philosophy for this type of work, a look at how assessments and in-take are conducted, how battered women are identified for inclusion in these programs, and how services are designed. The case studies reveal that different ethnic groups respond differently to traditional treatment methods, which were originally designed from a Eurocentric perspective. Additionally, the case studies illustrate that battered women often have more problems than simply the physical and emotional abuse of domestic violence, but they are reluctant to identify all of their problems during initial assessment and in-take. Finally, the authors contend that perhaps the most important aspect of program design involves listening to battered women discuss their lives. Practitioners must recognize the complexities of the problems faced by battered women if effective treatment and intervention programs are to be developed.