Research Questions

How would knowledge and attitudes toward

domestic violence against women differ as a
result of :
1- varying demographic characteristics of
people?
2- being employed or being enrolled in a law,
or a health care related field?
3- receiving previous training in domestic
violence and having previous contact with a
domestic violence case?

Knowledge and Attitudes toward Domestic Violence against Women in North Cyprus

Biran MERTAN, Uur MANER, Fato BAYRAKTAR, enel HSN, Gzde PEHLVAN, Driye ELK, Fatih BAYRAKTAR

Eastern Mediterranean University, Psychological Counseling Guidance and Research Center (EMU-PDRAM), North Cyprus.

Method
Participants
A total of 305 participants were included
in the sample. The student sample
(n=170) was obtained from the Nursing
Department (n=70); Department of
Psychology (n=43) and Department of
Law (n=57) of the two universities in
North Cyprus.

The police sample (n=135) was obtained
from different police stations in different
cities of North Cyprus.

Materials
Demographic Information Form: The
form included questions regarding the
participants demographic characteristics
such as age, gender, nationality and
profession.

Domestic Violence Attitudes Scale
(DVAS): The scale was used to assess
knowledge and attitudes towards domestic
violence against women. The scale had a
good reliability (=.79).

Procedure
The participants were randomly selected
from either a university or a police station.
The scales were administered either in
group settings in a university/job
environment or in a face-to-face situation.
The administration took 30 minutes on
average.








Discussion
The findings indicate that there is a need to
enrich the curricula of Nursing departments
and Law Faculties in North Cyprus with
domestic violence theories and with practices
regarding intervention and prevention for
domestic violence. The results also emphasizes
the value of training police officers in North
Cyprus about domestic violence issues as well
as raising their awareness to gender issues and
human rights.

The results of the study shows that there is an
urgent need to implement social policies, legal
legislation, regulations and social work
regarding domestic violence against women in
North Cyprus in order to increase the
knowledge, awareness and sensitivity of both
current and future professionals in areas
related to domestic violence.

Background
Previous research indicated that domestic violence
against women has reached epidemic proportions in
many societies around the world and no racial,
ethnic or socioeconomic group is immune, (Alhabib,
Nur & Jones, 2010). While the prevalence of
domestic violence against women continues to rise
in the world, research emphasizes the contributing
role of peoples knowledge, attitudes or perceptions
of domestic violence within a society (Fagan, 1989;
Gracia, 2004; Lackey & Williams, 1995). Domestic
violence victims usually first apply to police stations
or hospitals (McMullan, Carlan & Nored, 2010).
Therefore law enforcement and health care
professionals can play a vital role in handling
domestic violence cases.



















References
Alhabib S., Nur U. & Jones S. (2010). Domestic
violence against women: Systematic review of
prevalence studies. Journal of Family Violence,
25: 369-382.
Fagan J. A. (1989). Cessation of family violence:
Deterrence and dissuasion. In Tonry M. &
Ohlin L. (Eds.), Crime and justice: An
annual review of research. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press: 377 425.
Gracia E. (2004). Unreported cases of domestic
violence against women: Towards an
epidemiology of social silence, tolerance and
inhibition. Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health, 58: 536 537.
Lackey C. & Williams K. R. (1995). Social
bonding and the cessation of partner violence
across generations. Journal of Marriage and
the Family, 57: 295 305.
McMullan E. C., Carlan P. E. & Nored L. S.,
(2009). Future Law Enforcement Officers
and Social Workers: Perceptions of Domestic
Violence. [Electronic version] Journal of
Interpersonal Violence: 25: 1367.



Figure 1. Group Means of the Knowledge and Attitudes Scale for Police
Officers and Student Samples.
Results

An independent samples t-test analysis indicated that the
mean score of participants who had no previous training
(M=146.3, SD= 20.5) in domestic violence was significantly
lower on the DVAS than those who reported having previous
training (M=170.5, SD= 12.9), t (278) = 1.72, p < .05.

An independent samples t-test analysis indicated that the
mean score of participants who had more contact (M=171.3,
SD= 14.7) with a domestic violence case was significantly
higher on the DVAS than those who reported having less
contact (M=167.6, SD= 13.2), t (278) = 2.14, p < .05.

A one-way ANOVA analysis indicated a significant
difference between the samples, F (3, 274) = 24.17, p < .001.
Police officers had on average the lowest score on the DVAS
for the entire sample. Among the students from different
disciplines however, Psychology students had, on average the
highest score (M =176.28) whereas Nursing students had on
average the lowest score (M =173.59) (see Figure 1).

A two-way ANOVA was conducted for each demographic
variable such as age, gender and nationality. The analysis did
not reveal any significant main or interaction effects of any of
the demographic variables for the average DVAS score.


Please contact with us for any questions about the study.

Adress: EMU-PDRAM, North Campus, Health Center Building,
Ground Floor.
Tel: (0392) 630 2251, Fax(0392) 630 2475 - (0392) 630 2254
E-mail: counsel.pdram@emu.edu.tr
Web: http://pdram.emu.edu.tr