“Crisis Assessment Model” in Supporting Victims of Domestic Violence

Abstract

In recent times, the counseling sections of many community-based women’s centers are seeing an increasing number of cases involving domestic violence. Counseling victims of domestic violence requires an accurate grasp of the conditions of risk for the victim as well as the victim’s attitudes toward problem-solving. These factors present a formidable challenge to the counselor. However, the general understanding of this challenge and methodology to deal with it are inadequate.

The purpose of this study is to develop a “Crisis Assessment Model” for use in the first stage of counseling victims of domestic violence. A study of previous theories of crisis intervention and an examination of several cases contributed to the formation of three indexes for our “Crisis Assessment Model”: (a) conditions of (physical) violence, (b) the victim’s perception of and feelings toward the violence and (c) the victim’s attitudes toward problem-solving. By adapting three cases to this model, it becomes clear that each of these three indexes is categorized further into three different conditions. This study suggests that this “Crisis Assessment Model” could be an effective tool for counselors helping them to understand the crisis situation of a victim of domestic violence and provide appropriate support for self-motivated problem-solving.