ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of what constitutes violence against women and an explanation of the terminology and language. A health social worker can expect to work with women and their children who have experienced family violence, even if the worker is not working in a specialist family violence service and even if women do not directly disclose violence to the worker. Violence against women is a generic term that refers to the violence that women experience largely because of their sex and gender. In 1979 the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Mental health concerns include depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating disorders. Socio-ecological systems theory is commonly employed in public health approaches to prevention and is a theory very familiar to social workers. Feminist theory and practice approaches have been frequently employed in the fields of violence against women.
