Neurological Injury as an Outcome of Gender-Based Violence: A Human Rights Violation

Overview: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) which includes Nonfatal Strangulation, secondary to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is now thought to affect 17 million women nationwide and exceeds the number of TBIs experienced by military personnel and athletes combined. This type of crime is a human rights violation that robs an individual of selfhood and the right to live a healthy life without health and mental health difficulties. These two complex public health issues need to be addressed in the classroom and community agencies.
Proposal text: Neurological Injury as an Outcome of Gender-based Violence: A Human Rights Violation
Kathleen Monahan, D.S.W., L.C.S.W.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) which includes Nonfatal Strangulation, secondary to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is now thought to affect 17 million women nationwide and exceeds the number of TBIs experienced by military personnel and athletes combined. This type of crime is a human rights violation that robs an individual of selfhood and the right to live a healthy life without health and mental health difficulties. TBI as an outcome of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is generally not assessed in medical settings and is unrecognized and untreated in the community. The most severe consequence of partner-inflicted violence is femicide. Acute and long-term cognitive, mental health, and physical difficulties have been noted. The odds for this injury increase dramatically for marginalized populations such as Black and indigenous women. Domestic violence agencies across the country employ social workers as clinicians and case managers, yet education regarding this human rights violation and subsequent negative sequelae is not routinely taught in our schools of social work.
Learning objectives:
Identify the difficulties experienced by women who receive Traumatic Brain Injury as an outcome of Intimate Partner Violence.
Describe the ways in which social work faculty can incorporate in their practice and trauma courses the tools necessary to identify and assess TBI post-IPV.
Explain the intersectionality of IPV and TBI; and, how these two complex public health issues can be addressed in the classroom or in a community agency.
Explain how training domestic violence agency staff regarding TBI as an IPV outcome can improve client health and well-being and is vital to move the social work field forward to a more justice-based response regarding gender-based violence, a human rights violation.
Target audience: Social work faculty and social work students. Additionally, social workers in community agencies that address domestic violence, families, and crime victims.
Key words: Intimate Partner Violence, Traumatic Brain Injury, gender-based violence, human rights violations.
Topic Area: Violence Against Women