© 2001 Oxford University Press
Intimate Partner and Acquaintance Violence and Victim Blame: Implications for Professionals
The Center for Research on Aggression and Violence (CRAV), Psychology Department, University of Arkansas
Contact author: Patricia Petretic-Jackson, PhD, Psychology Department, 216 Memorial Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701. E-mail: petretic{at}uark.edu.
The present article represents a departure from applied crisis intervention and brief treatment-based papers in that it takes one step back and suggests, following several related literature reviews, that preexisting attitudes must be examined by all prior to intervention. The main point of the present article is that victims, perpetrators, and therapists involved in all forms of intimate partner violence must assess their existing blame distribution attitudes, beliefs, and consequent behaviors in order to ensure proper, empathic, and therapeutically effective treatment. Data are also presented on other professionals' attitudes, such as those of legal, medical, and other allied health professionals in an effort to predict and prevent potentially negative outcomes for clients. Finally, assessment and intervention implications are discussed in light of the reported attitudinal and belief biases apparently present in most professional and lay public samples.
KEY WORDS: attribution, therapists' attitudes, domestic violence blame, victim blame, rape attitudes
