Domestic Violence Against Minority Women: Interventions, Preventions and Health Implications

Male violence against women in general is a major source of frustration, fear, distress, injury, and even death. It transcends lines of ethnicity, economic status, religious persuasion, sexual orientation, national origin, geographic regions, and age differences, and impacts even the existence of those women who do not experience violence directly (Coley & Beckett, 1988; Goodman, et al., 1993a; Johnson, 1996). The phenomenon of violence against women continues to be trivialised, ignored, or rationalised by individuals, societal institutions, and mental health professionals. This undermines its prevention and intervention efforts (Koss, et al., 1994). However, scholarly, public, and policy attention to this grave societal problem of inordinate magnitude has increased dramatically over the past two decades, and a number of important national policy reports have identified violence against women as a critical economic, criminal justice, and public health issue (Eichler & Patron, et al., 1987; Beijing World Conference on Women, 1995).