"Understanding Relational Violence from the
Perspective of
Battered Wives in Mexico"
CPN member Professor Ken
Sewell, of the University of North Texas, has been utilizing
constructivist theory and techniques in the study of
post-traumatic stress for a number of years.
The following represents a recent research program he
has undertaken…
Domestic violence
has recently been recognized as broadly problematic in
Mexico.
As an example of this growing interest, the number of
shelters for battered women has gone from one in all of
Mexico to 29 in the past 12
years.
Given
this recent surge of interest and attention, it is necessary
for those trying to help battered women to have access to
up-to-date knowledge about the effects of domestic violence
and effective ways to provide assistance to such women.
However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that
battering (both its occurrence and its amelioration) must be
understood and treated in culturally relevant ways.
This
presents a problem, given that the vast majority of the
existing treatment and research literature has been
generated in Anglo cultural settings, such as the
United States.
Thus, it is imperative that researchers and service
providers begin to cooperate in studying the problem of
domestic violence in
Mexico, in order to provide
guidance to the refinement of interventions designed to
decrease the occurrence and impacts of partner violence.
Despite
the difficulties experienced by women who experience partner
violence, women frequently remain in violent relationships
for many years (Benton,
1986). It has been theorized that
terminating a violent relationship may require progression
through a number of phases/stages (Landenberger, 1989;
Ulrich, 1991), with important parallels to the phases/stages
of changing other difficult patterns (smoking, substance
abuse, etc.). Drawing upon such “stages
of change” theories, Prochaska, DiClemente, and Norcross
(1991) convincingly demonstrate that effective interventions
must be targeted to the particular phase of change-readiness
in which a client presents.
Preliminary studies suggest that the stages of change
conceptualization is applicable to domestic violence (Brown,
1997; Weisz, 2003; Williams, 2000).
Remaining unexplored is how the stages of change interact
with culturally-based notions of marriage, love, anger, and
violence in terms of influencing whether and how a woman
ends or initiates change in a violent partner relationship.
Given the relevance of such cultural phenomena
in Mexico
(Finkler, 1997; Oropesa, 1997), and given the
newly-recognized prevalence of partner violence in
Mexico (United Nations, 1989),
Mexico appears to be an
ideal context for the rapid development
of these important research concepts.
The sample will consist
of approximately 100 women who seek attention in shelters
for battered women in
Mexico
and in family attention centers that address relational
violence. These women will be recruited
and assessed via collaboration with Dr. Mario Zumaya and
Alicia Leal Puerta of Alternativas Pacíficas, A.C. in
Monterey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Dr.
Zumaya is a psychiatrist who oversees psychological
treatment in the shelter and “family attention” center
operated by Alternativas Pacíficas, A.C.
Ms. Puerta is the Executive Director of Alternativas
Pacíficas, A.C. which operates the
Monterey facilities, and she is also the
Executive Director of the Mexican National Shelters Network
which coordinates all 29 domestic violence shelters
throughout
Mexico.
A central research
question of this study asks: How do battered women
conceptualize the place of violence in marriage (societally,
as well as in her own particular relationship)?
There are four hypotheses that follow on this
question.
Hypothesis a: Love and
affection perceived by battered women as being provided to
them by their friends and family will be negatively related
to physical and psychological symptoms of distress.
Hypothesis b: Love and
affection perceived by battered women as being provided to
them by their husbands will be positively related to
physical symptoms of distress.
Hypothesis c: Love and
affection perceived by battered women as being provided to
them by their husbands will be negatively related to the
intention to demand/pursue change in the abusive
relationship.
Hypothesis d: Love and affection perceived by battered women
as being provided to them by their shelter service provider
will be positively related to the intention to the intention
to demand/pursue change in the abusive relationship.
A second central question
to the study asks: How do battered women perceive "love"
(caring, nurturance) to be communicated/manifest (a) in
marriage, (b) with children, family, and friends, and (c) in
the professional “attencion” relationship?
Four hypotheses follow
from this question.
Hypothesis a: Love and
affection perceived by battered women as being provided to
them by their friends and family will be negatively related
to physical and psychological symptoms of distress.
Hypothesis b: Love and
affection percieved by battered women as being provided to
them by their husbands will be positively related to
physical symptoms of distress.
Hypothesis c: Love and
affection percieved by battered women as being provided to
them by their husbands will be negatively related to the
intention to demand/pursue change in the abusive
relationship.
Hypothesis d: Love and
affection percieved by battered women as being provided to
them by their shelter service provider will be positively
related to the intention to demand/pursue change in the
abusive relationship.
One of the key
independent variables of the study includes:
Perception of "love" (caring, nurturance)
communicated/manifest (a) in marriage, (b) with children,
family, and friends, and (c) in the professional “attencion”
relationship; to be assessed by a set of questions
constructed specifically for this study in the form of a
small repertory grid.
Key dependent variables
include Intention to demand/pursue change in the abusive
relationship, Symptoms of psychological/emotional distress,
and Symptoms of physical distress
Ken has an extensive
background in researching and developing interventions for
post-trauma situations and reactions.
This current research represents an extension of his work
into the specific area of domestic violence as a traumatic
stressor. Previous published research of
his includes the following:
Sewell,
K. W. (1996). Constructional risk
factors for a post-traumatic stress response following a
mass murder. Journal of
Constructivist Psychology, 9, 97-107.
Sewell,
K. W. (1997). Posttraumatic stress:
Towards a constructivist model of psychotherapy.
In R.A. Neimeyer & G.J. Neimeyer (Eds), Advances
in personal construct psychology: Volume IV (pp.
207-235).
Greenwich,
CT: JAI Press.
Sewell,
K. W. (2003). An Approach to
Post-Traumatic Stress. In F. Fransella
(Ed.), Handbook of Personal Construct Psychology
(223-231).
London: Wiley.
Sewell,
K. W. (in press). Psychotherapy with
traumatized clients: A constructivist framework for healing.
In D. Winter & L. Viney (Eds.), Advances in
Personal Construct Psychotherapy.
Sewell,
K. W., Cromwell, R. L., Farrell-Higgins, J., Palmer, R.,
Ohlde, C., & Patterson, T. W. (1996).
Hierarchical elaboration in the conceptual structure of
Vietnam
combat veterans. Journal of
Constructivist Psychology, 9, 79-96.
Sewell,
K. W. & Gamino, L. A. (2004).
Reconstructing Sociality After Bereavement.
In J. D. Raskin & S. K. Bridges (Eds.), Studies in
meaning 2: Bridging the personal and social in
constructivist psychology (pp. 221-238).
New York:
Pace University
Press.
Sewell,
K. W. & Williams, A. M. (2001).
Construing stress: A constructivist therapeutic approach to
posttraumatic stress reactions. In R.A.
Neimeyer (Ed.), Meaning reconstruction and the experience
of loss (pp. 293-310). Washington,
DC: American Psychological Association.
Sewell,
K. W. & Williams, A. M. (2002). Broken narratives: Trauma,
metaconstructive gaps, and the audience of psychotherapy.
Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 15,
205-218.
Kenneth Sewell
