Public-health conceptions of family abuse

This chapter summarizes health care system research on family violence. It presents theoretical premises that explain why health care professionals and other professionals tend to respond to family violence in certain ways. Using data from a longitudinal study of battered women, the chapter illustrates how family members respond to violence in a normative framework. It concludes with suggestions for how the health care system can be helpful to violent families. In the health care system, in the criminal-justice system, and in the other helping professions are beginning to recognize and own the problem. The chapter deals with the horrible realities, the betrayal inherent in violence by one who is supposed to love, added to the physical and emotional brutality. It offers a potential explanation for the inadequate response to family abuse that we observe among numerous health care professionals.