Journal of Social and Political
Sciences
ISSN 2615-3718 (Online)
ISSN 2621-5675 (Print)
Published: 20 April 2018
The Effectiveness of a Domestic Violence Prevention Program in Japanese Agricultural University
Tomoko Suga
Rakuno Gakuen Universit, Japan
Download Full-Text Pdf
10.31014/aior.1991.01.02.11
Abstract
In Japan, the Gender Equality Bureau, which is part of the Cabinet Office, conducted a survey in 2018 on the state of harm suffered by domestic violence (DV) victims regarding crimes perpetrated by a current or former spouse. In this survey, 31.3% of women and 19.9% of men experienced serious violence at the hands of a current or former at least once. In addition, 21.4% of women and 11.5% of men encountered serious violence from dating partners at least once. Although both men and women are subject to DV, the literature does not include studies on the effects of DV prevention education among Japanese university students. Thus, it is necessary to offer DV prevention classes to university students, irrespective of gender. The participants consisted of 353 Japanese university students majoring in agriculture. They took part in our DV prevention program, we examined its effects using a questionnaire, which we administered before, directly after, and six months following the class. In the preliminary questionnaire, 21.5% of university students had heard some story on DV damage from people close to them. On a positive note, 51.3% had taken a class on DV previously, and 10.9% had learned about DV from reading books. Following the class, the students became more aware of DV and retained their knowledge even after six months, as indicated by three statements out of the questionnaire’s seven items: 3) Violence from a woman to a man is not DV, 6) Even someone close to you could suffer from DV, 7) DV perpetrators sometimes apologize after acting violent, but it is common for them to use violence again. The conclusion is that it is important to offer DV prevention classes at universities.
References
Boujarian, N., Ningal, M.T., & Ssekamanya, S.A. (2016). Domestic Violence Subjected to Legal and Cultural Pressure. International Journal of Education and Psychological Research, 5(1), 38-43.
Department of Justice of the United States. (2015). What Is Domestic Violence? https://www.justice.gov/ovw//domestic-violence#dv
Foshee, V.A., Bauman, K.E., Ennett, S.T. Suchindran, C., Benefield, T. and Linder, G.F. (2005). Assessing the effects of the dating violence prevention program “Safe Dates” using random coefficient regression modeling. Prevention Science, 6, 245-258. https://doi:10.1007/s11121-005-0007-0
Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office. (2002). Act on the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims. Elimination of all forms of violence against woman, 1-18. http://www.gender.go.jp
Izmirli, G.O., Sonmez, Y., & Sezik, M. (2014). Prediction of domestic violence against married women in southwestern Turkey. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.127, 288-292.
Joppa, M.C., Rizzo, C.J., Nieves, A.V., & Brown, L.K. (2015). Pilot Investigation of the Katie Brown Educational Program: A school-Community Partnership. Journal of School Health. 86(4), 288-297.
Kaufman, J. & Zigler, E. (1987). Do abused children become abusive parents? American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57, 186-192.
Miller, E., McCauley H., Virata, M.C., Decker, M., Tancredi, D. and Moideen, F. (2010) Coaching boys into men: Preliminary success of a sexual violence prevention program. Journal of Adolescent Health, 48, S85-S86. https://doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.11.179
Shorey, R.C., Cornesslius, T.L., & Strauss, C. (2015). Stalking in College Student Dating Relationships: A Descriptive Investigation, Journal of Family Violence. DOI 10.1007/s10896-015-9717-7
Suga, T. (2017). Results of Dating Violence Prevention Education for Japanese High School Boys. Open Journal of Social Science, 5, 173-185. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2017.512013
Suga, T. (2018). Japanese Educators’ Knowledge of DV. Open Journal of Social Science, 6,14-26.
https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2018.62002
Taylor, B.G., Stein, N. and Burden F.F. (2010). Exploring gender differences in dating violence/harassment prevention programming in middle schools. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 6, 419-445. https://doi:10.1007/s11292-010-9103-7
Uzuegbunam, A.O. (2013). Women in Domestic Violence in Nigeria: Gender Perspectives. Open Journal of Philosophy. 3, (1A), 185-191. https://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpp.2013.31A031
World Health Organization. (2013) Responding to Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence against Women.
WHO Clinical and Policy Guidelines, 1-55. http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/violence/
Wolfe, D.A., Crooks, C., Jaffe, P., Chiodo, D., Hughes, R. and Ellis, E. (2009). A school-based program to prevent adolescent dating violence: A cluster randomized trial. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 163, 692-699. https://doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.69