Crisis Center Workers' Perceptions of Same-Sex IPV

This piece highlights same-sex intimate partner violence from a perspective we haven’t addressed yet; that of the service providers and how they perceive same-sex violence. The study included 120 crisis center staff members who were asked to respond to a domestic violence vignette.

In order to assess their perceptions of same-sex intimate partner violence and how those perceptions compared to those of opposite-sex intimate partner violence situations, the researchers altered the sex of the individuals in the vignette to offer varying scenarios.

It was found that crisis center staff reported that they felt same-sex intimate partner violence scenarios were less serious than opposite-sex violence. Additionally, they reported that same-sex violence situations were less likely to get worse.

What does this tell us about perceptions of violence? Why is this useful to know? How can we better educate crisis center staff on dealing with same-sex intimate partner violence? 

Citation: Brown, Michael J. and Jennifer Groscup. (2009). Perceptions of Same-Sex Domestic Violence Among Crisis Center Staff. Journal of Family Violence, 24, 87-93.