Literature Review on the Impact of Social Media in Reducing Domestic Violence
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Introduction
Domestic violence can be defined as the physical violence that occurs in an intimate relationship within domestic settings (Choudhry & Herring, 2017). It happens when one of the partners tends to dominate over the other via a series of controlling violence and behaviour. However, domestic violence is not limited to the physical form of violence because it can also take other forms such as spiritual, psychological, economic and sexual abuse. According to a recent study conducted by the Australian Bureau of statistics, one out of three women in Australia have had an experience of physical violence at one point in life, about one out of five women have had a sexual abuse experience and one out of five women have had violence experience with their previous or current partner. Such prevalence of domestic violence is quite high despite most Australians acknowledging that domestic violence is a crime.
Domestic violence is has become one of the major social problems in Australia and the world at large leading to poor health, social and economic outcomes for witnesses and victims of such violence. Such form of violence has a significant impact in terms of cost to the nation both directly in indirectly. With the advancement of technology and the ever-increasing rate of use of social media, the government and other agencies can utilize web based platforms to campaign against domestic violence and even increase awareness of the public concerning this evil act. Social media tools have gained popularity among the current generation and establishing campaigns through such platforms to educate the population concerning the issue of domestic violence can reach more audience in Australia and the entire world at large (Subramani, Michalska, Wang, Du, Zhang, & Shakeel, 2019). By reaching more audience, it would mean that the population is more aware about the issue and also its side effects which can in turn help in reducing the cases of domestic violence. The literature review is aimed at addressing the research question “what kind of role does social media campaign play in reducing domestic violence in Australia?” by undertaking a critical analysis of campaigns targeting domestic violence perpetrators and utilization of social media as a behavioural change tool.
Key Words and Databases: Social media campaigns, domestic violence, violence prevention, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Violence against women (VAW), google scholar, IEEE online library
Domestic Violence Campaigns Review Targeting Perpetrators
The circles of violence prevention have grown that should play a significant role in combatting domestic violence (Manikam, 2018). There are a number of reasons why it is important to consider men in order to bring to an end domestic violence especially against women such as men have knowledge concerning masculinity, male motivators are viewed as opinion leaders to their peers by showing respect for women, men are viewed as credible sources of domestic violence and the attitudes of men are usually influenced by their fellow men counterparts (Westmarland, 2017). There has been an ever-growing effort to involve men as well as boys in several capacities that are related to Violence against women prevention through participation in educational programs, social media campaigns, use of activists, gatekeeping and advocates. The rising cases of domestic violence has drawn attention from both Australian non-governmental and governmental organizations in an attempt to address the issue of domestic violence.
According to Manikam (2018), different approaches are being used to as interventions for domestic violence such as health models, social marketing campaigns, and advertising. However, it is visible that the domestic violence intervention’s effectiveness is sparsely evaluated. Also, the assessment done on to evaluate those interventions tend to focus more on attitudes and not behaviour and usually do not address the impact of intervention on victimization or perpetration. Furthermore, the evaluations do not address the change mediators in behaviours, and attitudes among other factors which include the fundamental processes involved by the program towards achieving the change. In addition to that, there are less audience that is reached by such forms of interventions which tends to limit the effectiveness of the intervention. The case is so because, there are few people or a significant number of the targeted audience may miss the advert or be less concerned with the intervention methodology. However, among the identified interventions, social marketing campaigns has emerged as the most effective when compared to other forms of interventions because of their ability to account for evidence in terms of effectiveness. Campaigns behind voluntary behaviour and attitude change related to perpetration of men in violence tend to be more effective. Social marketing campaigns include the use of social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and twitter among other elements that tend to gain the interest of the users concerning the issue.
Review on Whether Social Media Can Help Combat VAW and Girls
According to Oxfam international (2017), there are several steps the can be taken in order to address utilize social media as a tool for combatting domestic violence and especially VAW and girls. The website addresses a brutal murder case of a woman and states the steps and actions that were taken with the aid of social media. Several actions were taken including exposing the violence, fighting for justice on social media, challenging the norms, use of social media influence, social media’s ability to offer beyond-border solidarity and joining the online fight such forms of violence.
Exposing Domestic Violence on social Media
The first step includes exposing the violence on social media. In this step, the use hashtags and other social media mechanisms for informing the public such as the use of YouTube ads and Facebook pages to expose such actions can play a significant role in creating awareness concerning the subject (Buoncompagni, 2018). Putting together the issue under one thread overwhelmingly clears that VAW and girl should not be subjected to isolation in the society. The second step concerns fighting for justice on social media using strategically designed tags show their discontentment of the issue. Such tags can be helpful in informing the public because everyone can be able to express their own opinion and for the uninformed population can read through the comments and learn the current trends concerning the subject (Oxfam International Blogs, 2017).
Challenging Discriminative Social Norms on Social Media
Challenging the societal norms that tend to lean towards promoting domestic violence against women is another social media action identified by the Oxfam international group. In order to challenge discriminative societal norms, the recent evidence reveals that communicative campaigns by themselves are usually not efficient and effective but their effectiveness can be significantly boosted by adopting a combination with other modes of interventions. The limitations of the study conducted by Oxfam international is that it focuses more on violence against girls and women yet the whole domestic violence (DV) problem concerns both genders and also it does not provide the evidence on how and whether adopting a combination of communication campaigns and the social media campaign would work. As a result, in addressing the DV issue using a combination of both social media and communication campaigns need to be tracked in order to understand how the combination impacts the society through tracking changes over a longer period of time.
Use of Social Media to Influence
Social media is one key forum that can be combined with other communication campaigns to provide deliberations and debate at scale. Another step is the use of social media influence using key influencers such as politicians, sports-people, and celebrities among others to challenge against the violence. Tagging such people can have a significant influence on the perception of the people who commit such forms of violence and even those who may be intending to commit domestic violence. According to a research conducted in Lebanon, results showed that using narrative exemplars and celebrity spokesperson in anti-domestic violence online campaigns can have a significant impact in creating awareness and such interventions can be more beneficial to the less informed people in the society (El-Khoury & Shafer 2016). The celebrity presence tends to elicit more positive behaviour and attitude compared to when a non-celebrity is used in the campaign against domestic violence.
Promoting Cross-Border Solidarity
The use of social media can be of significant benefit in promoting cross-border solidarity. The case is so because, it allows for participants from different areas around the world to engage in such deliberations and debate (Oxfam international, 2017). Through exposure of domestic violence on social media together, the participants from all round the globe can agree together and say the ‘enough is enough’ and in doing so, the public is aware of what the current world is fighting against. As a result, the public is informed concerning the issue and can implement actions that are designed to reduce the occurrence of domestic violence which has emerged as a global problem. For instance, they can take responsibility of reporting or educating anyone they find committing domestic violence and informing them on the impact of such actions.
The Oxfam international concluded that there is need to follow the identified steps in response to domestic violence as well as violence against women on social media campaigns. Furthermore, it asserts that the people can join social media campaigns against domestic violence to demonstrate their frustrations about the subject and also awaken the responsible bodies to act in response to domestic violence. Joining the social media fight against such deeds can help in creating more awareness concerning the subject as well as inform the less informed people on the side effects of their actions. However, the research is limited to only the online actions that people can take in reducing the cases of domestic violence. In addition to that, the research does not put into consideration evaluation measures that should be put in place to monitor the validity and effectiveness of the social media campaigns. In order to implement an effective approach towards reducing and preventing the spread of domestic violence, it is important to put in to considerations different stakeholders that will be involved in the process and enhance collaboration between parties as it will improve the outcome (Papadakaki, Musteata, Vasilaki & Chliaoutakis, 2016). Furthermore, monitoring is key to ensure evaluate the effectiveness of social media campaigns.
Review on the Use of Social Media Campaigns Aim at Promoting Bystander’s Intention to Intervene in Domestic Violence Situations.
Most domestic violence cases occur in the presence of a bystander. However, a significant number of bystanders do not intervene in such cases with a belief that they should not be concerned with other people’s family issues. As a result, domestic violence victims suffer a big blow such as health complications while bystanders watch them without offering any help. Therefore, there is need to educate the public concerning such cases just in case they come across domestic violence, they can intervene which will in turn reduce the side effects of the violence and even reduce such cases because some of them can be prevented through this approach.
In an article titled ‘#WhyITold: A Pilot Test of Twitter Messages Aimed at Promoting Bystander Intervention against Domestic Violence,’ a case study was conducted to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of twitter messaging in persuading and informing the bystanders concerning the importance of intervening on behalf of the victims of domestic violence. The study adopted the Fishbein’s integrative model (2000) of predicting behaviour as a framework for guiding the experiment. The outcome of the study revealed injunctive norms as the best approach to predict the intention of the participant to intervene in case of a domestic violence situation (Wong & Bostwick, 2017). Furthermore, the research revealed that educating and highlighting the warning signs of domestic violence produces the strongest impact on the intention of the participant to intervene in case of a domestic violence situation primarily through injunctive norms perception. Another finding from the research was that, social media campaigns can work effectively through distribution of campaign messages that are aimed at triggering the bystanders to intervene in case of a domestic violence situation.
Based on the findings of the above research, there is need to promote awareness of bystanders on the importance of intervening in case of a domestic violence cases. The social media can emphasize on such campaigns by structuring the message leaning on the moral obligation of the bystanders against Domestic Violence situations which is not only illegal but also unethical. Expressing intervention on domestic violence as a moral obligation of the bystander will in turn build the courage and the will of the bystander to intervene in case he or she encounters a domestic violence scenario. In doing so, the general public will be aware of their obligation in case they come across domestic violence.
However, the above research was limited because the participants’ exposure to the tweets was not based on their day to day social media interactions. As a result, there is need to adopt longitudinal designs in order to track any changes in intervention behaviour of people during domestic violence cases over a longer period of time may be weeks or months in order to determine the real impact of social media campaigns designed to promote bystanders’ intervention. In doing so, the actual impact can be tracked and if they are found valid or having a significant impact, then more awareness campaigns can be done on social media in order to enhance implementation of more preventive measures against domestic violence.
Using social media campaigns and narratives can have a significant impact on the attitude of an individual towards the campaign which can be highly attributed to the empathetic feeling (Muralidharan & Kim, 2019). The feeling is brought about by how the message in the campaign is conveyed and how well it is expressed to bring out the appeal about the side effects of domestic violence. In order to capture the feelings of the viewers, it is important to present the entire social media campaign in a clear and emotional way to reveal the reality of surrounding the issue. In doing so, the bystanders will have the empathetic feeling when they encounter the scenario and can easily intervene and help the parties engaging in the violence to pursue better ways of solving their differences. This will in turn reduce the number of cases of domestic violence as described by Muralidharan and Kim.
Review on Social Media Campaign Principles to Enhance Domestic Violence Prevention and Reduction
It is important to consider several principles that would be followed in the development and implementation of social media campaigns against domestic violence to enhance their success (Liou, 2013). Some of those principles include putting the support and safety of the domestic violence victims first. Before efforts are made towards preventing domestic violence, it is important to develop a deep understanding concerning the functional and existing systems that are available in Australia and how the social media campaigns can work in coordination and collaboration with the existing system towards combating the pandemic.
Commitment to Human Rights, Gender Justice and Freedom from Violence for All
Liou identified gender justice commitment, freedom and human rights against violence for all as another principle to consider when developing social media campaigns against domestic violence. When using social media campaigns, it is important to reveal to the target audience that the campaign is designed and is intended to operate as per the requirement of the country’s law. In doing so, the audience will be informed that freedom from domestic violence is a right for everyone and it is within the law. Furthermore, showing commitment on the issue including legal concerns can have a significant impact how the public perceives the campaigns and will likely to take the issue seriously.
Innovation and Evidence
Another principle is innovation and evidence. Despite domestic violence prevention being at its nascent stages, there exist a well-established evidence concerning what actually works in stopping the domestic violence before it commences. Such evidence can be of significant help in designing social media campaigns so as to scale up and drive more effective policies, research methodologies, communication strategies, and programmes designed to improve the current domestic violence situation. With such evidence also, the party involved in conducting the social media campaigns can design a more innovative social media campaigns that are likely to be more effective in changing the current DV situation.
Safety and Ethic in Social Media Campaigns
Another principle identified by Liou is concerned with safety and ethics in social media campaigns. When addressing the issue of domestic violence in social media campaigns, communications, research and programming should be done in consideration of highest degree of safety and ethical standards. Such standards provide a clear articulation to the team of actors involved and play an integral role in the achievement of the overall goals of prevention against domestic violence. Adopting such a principle will aid in achieving the goals of the preventing the occurrence of domestic violence because those standards depict the intensity of the subject and how which the public should take it.
Long-term Vision
Long-term mission and vision is another principle identified by Liou that social media campaigns should take into consideration for them to succeed in reducing and preventing domestic violence. With the ever increasing rate of domestic violence, it is important to adopt interventions with long-term vision concerning the subject. The case is so because prevention against domestic violence and building a society that is peaceful and just is a long-term project. Therefore, it is important to establish social media campaigns with long-term vision and not only a short tem period. The case is so because, achievement of a sustainable impact is not able to be accounted for in just a single project cycle or a single research finding. Instead, there is need to deepen the capacity by doing rigorous work in domestic violence prevention, coordinating and collaborating across diverse stakeholders and sectors and enforcing long-term commitment of actors to help in the establishment of a sustainable foundation that will drive efforts of domestic violence prevention forward (Harris, Polans, Mazeika & Sherman, 2016). Therefore, for social media campaigns to succeed in eliminating or preventing the issue of domestic violence, there exist a need to enforce long-term vision and establish strategies that will be adopted towards achieving its goals.
Adopting the above stated principles can aid in improving the outcome of social media campaigns against domestic violence. However, the principles are only limited to the presentation of the social media campaign and do not address the need for involvement of multiple sectors in the fight against domestic violence. Furthermore, the study does not address the aspect of enforcing those principles in campaigns against domestic violence. Any principles need to be enforced in order to be applied better. Being a sensitive subject, domestic violence needs to be addressed with caution and all the campaigns against it, should be significantly enforced in order to achieve better positive outcomes. Therefore, in designing the social media campaigns, there is need to address the need for enforcement because the people may end up ignoring such campaigns thus rendering the entire campaign ineffective. Enforcing the principles is highly likely to change the way people perceives the campaigns and may start taking them with more weight. In doing so, it will influence their behaviour towards domestic violence because of the emphasis given to the subject on the social media campaign.
Theoretical Frameworks Used to Design an Interactive Domestic Violence Prevention Tool.
There are many models and theories for social media marketing but with few formal agreements on which models are for what problems in the society and in what situations is most appropriate to apply a particular model (Manikam, 2018). However, additional research show that most mitigation and prevention programs are likely to achieve better and stronger results if the content of the framework is theory-based (Manikam & Russell-Bennett, 2016). There are several theories that are mostly used in campaigns concerning behaviour change such as social learning theories, stages of change model, bystander intervention, reasoned action theory, social norms theory, and reinforcement theory among others. Therefore, it is important to understand which theory works best in reducing and preventing domestic violence in the society.
Understanding the main reasons behind the occurrence of domestic violence is key because such knowledge will guide towards selecting the appropriate framework that will be adopted in the social media campaigns against domestic violence. Domestic violence is perpetuated by norms or attitudes such as traditions that advocate for masculinity, the belief that men are the key wage earners while women are ‘house wife,’ and other non-traditional issues such as drug abuse among others. The peer pressure on men to conform to such masculinity notions can lead to domestic violence against women which can be motivated by different factors such as intimidation, aggression, physical violence, and verbal abuse with the intention of gaining control and dominance over the other partner. Another motivation for men to commit domestic violence can be committing impulsive actions as a way of responding to anger and frustration emotions but without an actual expectation of attaining a particular objective. In this case, research has found out that applying the stage of change theory tends to achieve more positive outcomes in compared to when other models are adopted (Manikam, 2018). Therefore, it is important to critically analyse the theoretical models and understand the situation in order to incorporate the best model when conducting social media campaigns against domestic violence.
The social learning theory, reasoned action theory, planned behaviour theory and health belief theory have emerged as some of the commonly used social media campaigns’ theoretical frameworks. Such models are applied in reduction and prevention of domestic violence based on the expected outcome. Since this literature is focused on reducing domestic violence in Australia, it is also a preventive measure against potential perpetrators of domestic violence. The Commitment, Belonging and appeal framework is one of the effective frameworks that can be adopted in reducing the Domestic Violence cases. The case is so because, the framework was designed to foster online health behaviour modification (Manikam & Russell-Bennett, 2016). The above stated theoretical framework is a combines both stages of change and health belief models where social identity, social connection, self-efficacy as well as health behaviour changes supersede. Those determinants do match with the goal of the social media campaigns which is educating the public concerning the components of building a respectful relationship which include being considerate of others, trust and communication.
Summary and Conclusion
The domestic violence pervasiveness continues to escalate despite nations implementing various mitigation and prevention measures. Due to the bold nature of the subject, it cannot be addressed successfully by engaging one party but instead, it can be addressed better if a combination of sectors is collaborating in combatting the social problem. Social media campaign is one approach being used to educate and inform the public against domestic violence as a preventive measure towards the increasing trend in the cases of domestic violence. Studies show that men are the major perpetrators of domestic violence in the society and in order reduce domestic violence, the social media campaigns and other forms of campaigns should focus more on men. There are several ways that can be used in reducing domestic violence such as social media campaigns, advertising and health models.
There are several ways in which social media campaigns can be used in reducing the cases of domestic violence including, exposing the violence, fighting for justice on social media, challenging the discriminative social norms, using the social media to influence others to change their discriminative attitudes among others. Furthermore, social media campaigns can be used as a tool for creating the awareness of the bystanders to intervene in case of occurrence of a domestic violence. This will aid in reducing the occurrence of avoidable domestic violence because they can be contained during the nascent stages or even before the lead to serious implications. Social media campaigns towards reducing domestic violence can be more successful if several principles are taken into consideration including innovation and evidence, commitment to human rights, gender justice and freedom from violence, safety and ethics and setting up long term goals and vision because of the nature of the long-term nature of problem. When designing a social media campaign or any other interactive tool for that matter that is aimed at reducing or preventing the number of domestic violence cases, it is important to put into consideration the appropriate theoretical model that would result to better positive outcomes on the subject. The case is so because there, exist different theories such as social learning, stages of change, and health belief model among others. In order to choose the best framework, it is important to understand the causes of domestic violence.
References
Choudhry, S., & Herring, J. (2017). Righting domestic violence. In Marital Rights (pp. 71-96). Routledge.
El-Khoury, J. R., & Shafer, A. (2016). Narrative exemplars and the celebrity spokesperson in Lebanese anti-domestic violence public service announcements. Journal of health communication, 21(8), 935-943.
Harris, H. M., Polans, D. S., Mazeika, D., & Sherman, L. W. (2016). Retrieving administrative data to assess long-term outcomes: a case study of the 23-year follow-up of the Milwaukee domestic violence experiment. Journal of experimental criminology, 12(4), 599-608.
Liou, C. (2013). Using Social Media for the Prevention of Violence Against Women: Lessons Learned from Social Media Communication Campaigns to Prevent Violence Against Women in India, China, and Viet Nam. Partners for Prevention.
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