Transdisciplinary and practitioner engaged approaches to contemporary issues in violence and victimization
Welcome to issue 14.1 of the Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research. This issue presents a special focus on addressing contemporary issues in violence and victimization utilizing transdisciplinary and practitioner engaged approaches. Although researchers have examined a diverse set of issues related to violence and victimization, they often work within their own isolated disciplines, limiting the capacity to identify and evaluate comprehensive and effective prevention and intervention programs for this complex social problem. The articles in this issue, therefore, reflect a combination of empirical and theoretical work and case studies that draw on transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary working groups and scholars.
To better understand the complexity of violence and victimization and, as a result, create innovative responses that transcend any one discipline, we need to draw on scholarship from a transdisciplinary approach that merges health, social welfare, social and behavior sciences and social justice perspectives. The key to transdisciplinary research is strong collaborative relationships between and among scholars from diverse disciplinary fields, all committed to examining complex issues with goal of making changes to policy and practice. As scholars begin to work across disciplinary boundaries, they are able to bring a greater understanding to complex social problems. The current issue of the Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research offers a range of transdisciplinary and practitioner engaged approaches to contemporary issues in violence and victimization. We hope this series of articles will encourage other scholars to engage in transdisciplinary research to move the needle on what is known about these important and timely issues in violence and victimization. The papers included in this special issue include scholarship examining prevention initiatives and interventions that include at their core, strong community partnerships and practitioner engagement.
In the first manuscript, “Nurse-led long-term support groups for Latina Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence” the authors explore the development of a Nurse-led Long-term Support Group for Latina women survivors of intimate partner violence. This paper contributes to both works on interdisciplinary theory development and the ways in which we may better measure the empowerment and healing processes among Latina survivors. Drawing on diverse practitioner perspectives, the paper’s key conclusion is that nurses, nurse practitioners and other professionals need to partner with community service agencies to provide interventions that both support and empower Latina survivors.
The authors of “Hospital-based violence intervention: Strategies for cultivating internal support, community partnership, and strengthening practitioner engagement” examine the importance of reaching out to victims in diverse health care settings, and in particular, emergency departments to provide wrap-around services focused on reducing revictimization while also offering support. This work highlights the importance of interdisciplinary approaches that focus on the creation of meaningful community partnerships with healthcare practitioners.
The authors of “Proactive and reactive responses to pregnancies resulting from sexual exploitation and abuse: An ecological model based on Haitian survivors’ experiences” provided a comprehensive examination of the experiences of Haitian mothers of peacekeeper-fathered children within an ecological framework that includes prevention and response strategies at the micro, meso and macro levels. This type of cross-level work is key to building an interdisciplinary framework for addressing the needs of victims of sexual exploitation.
In the paper “The role of sexting and related behaviors to victimization via nonconsensual pornography: An exploratory analysis of university students” the authors draw on a college sample to examine the complexity of nonconsensual pornography and nonconsensual distribution of intimate images and sexual extortion. The paper provides important implications for how interdisciplinary work shapes both social and public policy, but also legal scholarship. Transdisciplinary work in this area will provide further understanding of the interpersonal dynamics of and institutional responses to nonconsensual pornography. This includes the development of new and innovative policy and legal efforts to protect victims and hold perpetrators accountable.
The manuscript entitled “Men’s participation in antiviolence activism: Frequency and relationships with demographic characteristics and history of sexual harassment perpetration” draws in diverse theoretical perspectives to explore the way in which men’s multiple identities and social positionalities intersect with their willingness and opportunities to become involved in antiviolence activism. The authors note that this approach to individual behavioral action may inform efforts to reach and mobilize broader circles of men in antiviolence activism. This has important implications in shifting the social landscape with respect to violence against women.
Finally, the authors of “Negotiating violence in family law mediation” explores how mediation in divorce cases in which intimate partner violence requires professionals with skills to not only identify the presence of violence but acknowledge the role of power imbalances, coercive control and continued risk for violence for these dissolutions. This interdisciplinary scholarship highlights the importance of diverse legal and social science approaches for legal practice and training.
