Intimate partner abuse: young Australians' attitudes and the effectiveness of a brief educational program
Creators: name: Grant, Celeste
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024

description: This thesis is comprised of two separate studies, the first of which set out to examine the Intimate Partner Abuse behaviour and attitudes of young Australian students. Intimate Partner Abuse (IPA) may be defined as a pattern of deliberate physical, sexual, or psychological abuse within a married, de-facto, dating, or courting relationship (Miller &amp; Bukva, 2001: Victoria Health Promotion Foundation, 2004). Specifically, Study One aimed to explore the IPA attitudes of Australian students and examine the relationships between these attitudes with a view to provide theoretical guidance for understanding how negative IPA attitudes may be maintained. A total of 400 students (male = 99, female = 301) with ages ranging from 15 to 25 years (M = 19.38, SD = 2.04) participated in Study One. Participants completed the Conflict Tactics Scale – Revised (CTS2; Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, &amp; Surgarman, 1996), which measures the number of times respondents have experienced physical and psychological abuse over the previous 12-month period. Attitudinal questionnaires were also completed by participants, including a measure of IPA victim blame and endorsement of IPA myths. Overall, rates of IPA among the present sample were consistent with those reported in overseas samples, with over 85% of women reporting being the victim of psychological abuse in the previous 12-months, and over 30% having been the victim of physical abuse. Lower scores on measures of victim blaming attitudes were associated with more positive attitudes towards women and less endorsement of IPA myths. These findings implicate the importance of addressing attitudes towards women and commonly held IPA myths within IPA prevention programs for young people. <br><br>Study Two evaluated a brief educational program for Australian Technical And Further Education (TAFE) and high school students, which was selected and modified on the basis of a literature review of published program evaluations and the findings of Study One of this thesis. The program, titled Through New Eyes: Exploring the Hidden Dynamics of Domestic Violence (Hunter Women’s Centre, 2003), aimed to inform the IPA attitudes of students and comprised of videos and discussion questions. A quasi-experimental pre-post design was used with a non-randomised experimental and control group. The program was evaluated using a questionnaire measure of participants' attitudes as well as their experience of the program. There were 98 students who consented to participate in Study Two, 48 (male = 26, female = 22) of whom fulfilled all the requirements of participation and were included in the results of the study. Participants’ ages ranged from 14 to 25 years (M = 16.91, SD = 2.12). Several statistically significant desirable changes were observed among participants of the program, however there were similar changes observed among control group participants. Study Two provides some support for the effectiveness of the Through New Eyes program in informing the attitudes of young Australians. However, it is recommended that future research evaluate this program in combination with skill building programs in order to assist students to translate attitudinal changes into behavioural ones. <br>