A Comparative Study of Jewish and Arab Battered Women Presenting in the Emergency Room of a General Hospital

ABSTRACT

Domestic violence has been well documented in the past few years in both social work and medical journals. Our study seeks to determine the comparison between two cultures regarding this important issue. Five domains regarding demographic variables, components of battering, coping skills, social services offered and discharge objectives are discussed.

Our findings suggest that the differences in several areas of battering in the two ethnic groups reflect to a large extent differences in the two cultures. Issues that warrant further research are child abuse and substance abuse in the Arab culture both on individual issues and in relationship to domestic violence.

Key Words:

• Domestic violence
• emergency room
• cultural comparison