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Domestic violence is a universal social concern, and its implication on children’s mental health is a global health predicament. Although the aftereffect of domestic violence on the mental health of women is well researched, mental health disorders of children in terms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder (CD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), general anxiety disorder (GAD), separation anxiety disorder (AD) and mood disorder (MD) on account of domestic violence is rarely investigated. Hence, the purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of exposure to domestic violence on children’s mental health.

To examine the correlation between domestic violence and mental health among children, in a survey of public primary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria, the authors employed 664 pupils with simple random techniques. The Multidimensional Domestic Violence Scale assessed the participants’ exposure to domestic violence. The Child & Youth Mental Health General Screening Questionnaire was used to examine respondents’ mental health.

The results revealed a high incidence of domestic violence among children. It also showed a substantial correlation between domestic violence and the mental health of primary school pupils. Children living with domestic violence experience significantly increased rates of ADHD, ODD, AD, GAD and MD as forms of mental health disorders.

Given the unpleasantness of this social issue affecting the well-being of children globally, it is imperative to engage in intervention and prevention packages that will assist the victims, perpetrators, parents, teachers, schools and other stakeholders. Introducing counselling services into the primary school curriculum will assist victims and those at risk develop self-confidence that will enable them to report their violators. Although counselors do not diagnose, early detection of victims would assist in early intervention where counselors can use different techniques and approaches to help such victims to resolve all forms of cognitive distortions that can lead to mental health disorders. Counselling services can help in providing referral opportunities to victims or “at risk children,” rehabilitation and follow-up services for victims of domestic violence.

Government organizations should also reintroduce health-care services where clinical psychologists will be available in primary schools to provide psychological services to meet the needs of the victims.

Conclusively, the study presents evidence that children who witness domestic violence face a significant risk of developing mental health disorders. The findings highlight the potential harm that domestic violence can inflict on children’s mental well-being. Mental health conditions such as ADHD, CD, ODD, GAD, AD and MD are commonly observed in these children. It recommends establishing early intervention programs for children witnessing domestic violence in schools and communities and programs to detect and address mental health issues promptly.

Background: Family violence (FV) is a significant problem that has a bidirectional link with mental health functioning. This research aimed to investigate family violence screening and response practices in a Victorian public adult mental health service, NorthWestern Mental Health, from the consumer perspective.

Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional, electronic consumer survey was created, utilising the Royal Melbourne Hospital Patient Survey FV screening and response tool. Data were collected over a two-month time period, via iPad. Clinicians invited all consumers (age range 18 to 64 years) attending the service to participate on data collection days, unless any of the exclusion criteria were present: a) clinical interaction occurring in a non-confidential environment; b) acute distress/crisis; c) clinician concerns about affecting rapport; and d) cognitive impairment, known disability or diminished capacity preventing them from reading or understanding the survey questions. Categorical and Likert type survey responses were explored descriptively. All variables collected in the survey were provided, specifically the percentage of responses in each category for each question. Free-text responses were analysed using qualitative description of the text-box response content.

Results: 35 consumers participated. 47% reported being screened for at least one family violence issue on at least one occasion. 26% reported disclosing FV concerns. All those disclosing felt mildly or very supported by the clinician’s response, and two-thirds received assistance they found helpful. 9% reported wanting to disclose FV concerns but not feeling comfortable to do so. Consumers indicated that FV should be spoken about more, that receiving assistance is helpful, but that responses varied in quality depending on the discipline of the clinician.

Conclusion: FV screening rates were found to be suboptimal as unmet needs were identified. Further training and services changes are required to improve screening rates, increase client comfort to disclosure, and optimise the clinical response to disclosures.

Family violence is a significant social and public health problem. In 2015 a Royal Commission into Family Violence was established in Victoria, Australia, following a number of family violence deaths that received a high coverage in the media. The commission findings were released in 2016. These emphasised the significant physical and psychological harm that is caused by family violence, and that this has wide ranging community impacts. Among the Commission's 227 recommendations a number pertained specifically to improving the response of the healthcare system, with a whole-of-hospital model for responding to family violence recommend-ed for all public hospitals.

Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) received a state government grant as part of the SHRFV project. RMH was formally partnered with Tweddle Child and Family Health Service and Dental Health Services Victoria, and also worked with associated service NorthWestern Mental Health, as part of the project. This document outlines the RMH Family Violence Training Framework, a whole-of-hospital transformation change project designed to implement Recommendation 95 from the Royal Commission. All funded services were encouraged to adapt the SHRFV project model to suit the local environment of their health service. This document outlines the RMH approach. RMH specifically focused on using an evidence based research and evaluation framework with a focus on in-depth training, underpinned by a clinical champions network.

This paper aims to seek to and understand how civil conflict and international claims inform one another. Does the existence of ongoing civil and international conflicts affect how a government addresses an international claim? The paper builds on existing literature that link international and domestic conflict. However, it suggests that the logic behind civil conflicts may be different from that for international ones as states decide how to deal with any one claim.

The paper posits that states faced with domestic conflicts and additional international claims are more likely to seek to resolve an international claim than those without similar conflicts. It develops a series of hypotheses about the likelihood of claim escalation and peaceful settlement attempts and proceed to test them quantitatively using the Issue Correlates of War data combined with the uppsala conflict data program/peace research institute oslo Armed Conflict Data.

On the one hand, the paper finds support for the argument regarding the difficulty states are faced with when seeking to resolve multiple international claims. On the other hand, it finds that the presence of civil conflicts incentivizes states to resolve international claims either by force or peacefully, suggesting internal violence can both lead to diversionary behavior and attempts at conflict resolution.

The findings have important implications for work considering the complexity of domestic and international conflict linkages.

While many studies of claim militarization and peaceful attempts focus on dyadic and international characteristics, this paper creates a more nuanced understanding of the complexities of this foreign policy decision process.

The study aimed to listen to refugee survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and/or torture and explore what justice meant to them in exile. This study argues that what the survivors who participated in this research wanted was “viable justice”. The research was funded by the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust.

Using a survivor-focussed justice lens combined with a trauma-informed approach, narrative interviews were held with 41 women and 20 men refugee survivors living in refugee settlements in Northern Uganda. The researchers also conducted semi-structured interviews with 37 key informants including refugee welfare councils, the UN, civil society, non-government and government organisations. Thematic analysis of the data resulted in the following themes being identified: no hope of formal justice for atrocities that occurred in South Sudan; insecurity; lack of confidence in transitional justice processes in Ugandan refugee settlements; abuse and loss of freedom in refugee settlements; and lack of access to health and justice services in refugee settlements.

This study argues that what the survivors who participated in this research wanted was “viable justice”. That is justice that is survivor-centred and includes elements of traditional and transitional justice, underpinned by social justice. By including the voices of both men and women survivors of SGBV and/or torture and getting the views of service providers and other stakeholders, this paper offers an alternative form of justice to the internationally accepted types of justice, which offer little relevance or restitution to refugees, particularly where the crime has been committed in a different country and where there is little chance that perpetrators will be prosecuted in a formal court of law.

The research findings are based on a small sample of South Sudanese refugees living in three refugee settlements in Northern Uganda. Thus, wider conclusions should not be drawn. However, the research does suggest that a “viable justice” approach should be implemented that is gender and culturally sensitive and which could also be trialled in different refugee contexts.

Improvements in refugee survivors’ dignity, resilience and recovery are dependent upon the active engagement of refugees themselves using a “survivor-focussed approach” which combines formal and community-based health services with traditional and transitional justice responses.

The provision of a “viable justice approach” ensures those who have experienced SGBV and/or torture, and their families, feel validated. It will assist them to use their internal, cultural and traditional resilience and agency in the process of recovery.

The research findings are original in that data was collected from men and women survivors of SGBV and/or torture and service providers. The empirical evidence supports this study’s recommendation for an approach that combines both formal and survivor-focussed approaches towards health and viable justice services to meet the needs of refugees living in refugee settlements. This is a response that listens to and responds to the needs of refugee survivors in a way that continues to build their resilience and agency and restores their dignity.

This research aimed to assess the leadership role of principals in the implementation of peace education in selected secondary schools in the Western Cape, South Africa.

This study employed qualitative research approach to assess the leadership role of principals in the implementation of peace education in selected secondary schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. Data were gathered from a small sample of six principals from six selected secondary schools which were engaged in the implementation of a peace education programme, and data were analysed using thematic content analyses.

Findings of the study suggest that principals possess a low level of understanding or awareness of their leadership role in the implementation of peace education. The study pointed out the constraints such as time constraints and learners' negative attitudes and social influences hinder the effective implementation of peace education in selected secondary schools.

First, the data were self-reported and therefore subject to social desirability bias; participants may have provided socially desirable responses rather than their true belief or experiences. Thus, participants may have overstated their role in and commitment to the peace education programme.

Studies that aim to explore alternative approaches to combat violence, such as peace education, are still limited in South Africa. Hence, this paper served to close that gap by contributing to the growing body of research on the leadership role of the principal in the implementation of peace education in the school and exploring barriers hampering its effective implementation.

Domestic violence is a global social and public health problem for which several awareness campaigns have been conducted. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the impact of these campaigns on the population and the process of perception of the messages. In this context, this study aims to analyze the attitudes of individuals toward domestic violence campaigns.

Conducted in Brazil, this research adopted a quantitative approach, using a questionnaire survey with a convenience sample. The conceptual model incorporated three dimensions, namely, the perceived efficacy of the subjects regarding the campaigns, the adopted behavior as a consequence of exposure to the messages and finally, the word of mouth, the recommendation of conduct advised in the campaigns to family and friends. These dimensions were translated into a set of items that integrated the data collection instrument. In the questionnaire, it was intended that the interviewees answered the questions having in mind the campaigns addressed to the Brazilian population with the purpose of prevention for domestic violence, recently released in Brazil.

In a first descriptive analysis, all dimensions obtained positive values. The conceptual model was analyzed, and the hypotheses under study were tested using the partial least squares method. As for convergent and discriminant validity, it was found that each dimension presented adequate internal consistency and, simultaneously, was distinct from the others. The structural model explained 69.2% of the variance of “word of mouth” and 28.5% of the variance of “adopted behavior.” H1 was confirmed, showing a positive influence between perceived efficacy and adopted behavior. H2 was also accepted, and a positive impact of adopted behavior and the intention to recommend to others (word of mouth) was verified.

As a practical contribution, this research allows outlining recommendations for social marketing and communication professionals responsible for awareness campaigns. The results can alert professionals responsible for these campaigns to give visibility to the campaign itself, broadcasting it through mass media, if possible, but also through digital media, such as social networks. In terms of message content, the campaigns should seek behavioral change, leading, on the one hand, the recipients to adopt new behaviors and, on the other hand, to recommend these same behaviors to family and friends, thus multiplying the effect and effectiveness of the campaign.

This study makes an academic contribution, as it directly explores the impact of domestic violence prevention campaigns on the population and can be adapted to campaigns for other social causes. In addition, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies on domestic violence campaigns in Brazil, one of the main countries affected by this problem. As a practical contribution, this research allows outlining recommendations for social marketing and communication professionals responsible for awareness campaigns.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of how collaboration agreements function and their benefits for the environments where they are implemented. The goal of these initiatives is to bring together in partnerships the actors concerned by domestic violence and coordinate their actions to ensure the safety of persons at risk of intrafamilial homicides through an effective collaboration structure.

The synthesis data originates from four research projects research work with the partners of four studied agreements: A-GIR (Arrimage-Groupe d’Intervention Rapide [Rapid Intervention Unit]) in Laval, Alerte-Lanaudière [Lanaudière Alert] in the Lanaudière region, P.H.A.R.E. (Prévention des homicides intrafamiliaux par des Actions Rapides et Engagées [Domestic Homicide Prevention through Rapid and Committed Action]) in South Western Montérégie and the Rabaska Protocol in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

Overall, the interveners agree on the positive impacts resulting from the relationships between the partners, the development of a common expertise and the collective responsibility acting to prevent intrafamilial homicides, while highlighting the challenges met and the essential conditions for the success of these collaboration initiatives.

Findings are drawn from participants in a particular locale – i.e. French–Canada, and may not entirely apply to other regions and cultures. Additional research should be conducted with similar methodology in other regions of Canada and elsewhere.

The findings should help in the further development of best practices for IPH prevention and therefore protect potential victims from lethal assaults of domestic violence.

Few studies have been conducted on how stakeholders involved in IPH prevention actually work together in collaborative efforts, and none, as far as we know, specifically on drawing up formal agreements.

Non-fatal strangulation (NFS) is a dangerous form of domestic violence. We need to understand and address the challenges of prosecuting offences of NFS to help ensure the safety of women and children. This policy brief draws on an examination of prosecution case files involving NFS. It identifies the key challenges and makes recommendations for responding to them.

The purpose of this paper is to examine peace as a paradigm for promoting peace culture.

The paper amalgamates paradigmatic concepts, insights and analytical writing while building on existing literature.

The findings of this research suggest that the paradigm of peace can be used as a model to promote peace culture and harmony in the 21st century, which is characterized by “hyper” and “super” diversity. Diversity is everywhere, including schools, workplaces and marketplaces. Diversity is very complex and encompasses nearly every element of human life. Diversity should not only be based on the race, culture, ethnicity, religion or gender of an individual. Diversity should be based on the uniqueness of an individual. The fact that we live in a diverse world does not mean that we cannot coexist harmoniously. This paper explores the paradigm of peace research by focusing on how it enhances peace culture to thrive amidst diversity. This study also illustrates that peace and conflict studies cannot be restricted to the resolution of war, violence and conflict. It can likewise aid us in addressing cultural, racial, religious and ethnic concerns. In addition, this research demonstrates that encouraging positive peace (and discouraging negative peace) can be used as a deterrent against violence, including war and conflict. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates the significance of personal peace and some other types of peace. It demonstrates that inner peace combined with external peace yields personal peace. Therefore, an individual may not be able to enjoy the holistic values of personal peace without inner and external peace. Also, this research indicates that encouraging a daily culture of peace can assist us in becoming quotidian agents of peace.

Most publications focused on peace and conflict but made no connection between peace and culture. In addition, the majority of publications did not discuss peace as a paradigm that can aid in promoting a culture of peace and nonviolence. In addition, most papers did not link peace culture with diversity. Moreover, the majority of studies did not connect peace with the environment. This study addresses these gaps by introducing peace as a paradigm for fostering a culture of peace amidst diversity in the 21st century. This paper introduces peace as a paradigm for promoting nonviolence, peace culture and harmony. This study also emphasizes the need for environmental peace, thereby increasing awareness of the problems that affect the planet. This study also includes a discussion of positive and negative peace, as well as other definitions and viewpoints of peace. It also underlines the importance of establishing positive peace. This paper can be used as an introductory pathway to understanding the intriguing aspect of peace that fosters a peace culture if practiced adequately and why a peace culture is important in a world of diversity.