A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATORY STUDY TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONS WORKING ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MITIGATION IN KERALA, INDIA

Abstract

Background: Domestic violence is a predominant gender-based violence that should be considered with ample importance yet lamentably gone unrecognized and unreported. Domestic violence cases in India have particularly increased in the past years. 31.1% of married Indian women between the age of 15-49 experienced spousal violence. There are five major organizations working against domestic violence which mainly focus on providing shelter, income-generating programs, and legal assistance in Wayanad, Kerala, India. Now that it is evident domestic violence is prevailing and there are organizations working for it, this study primarily aim at evaluating the impact of these organizations by assessing the attitude of people towards domestic violence, challenges faced by the service providers to access the common people and by evaluating the flaws of these organizations from the perspective of common people. Methodology: With purposive sampling, a total of 20 participants were selected for the study and conducted in-depth interviews. 10 among them were common people and the remaining 10 were institutional heads which gave a dynamic pool of data. In addition to that, focus group discussions and participant observation were regulated. The data was then analyzed using the thematic analysis method by deriving codes through inductive approach during transcription. Results: The data showed that majority of the participants were ignorant/reluctant towards situations of domestic violence. A few of them were aware of the seriousness of the issue. Gaining the trust of people to make the organizations approachable to them is the biggest challenge faced by the service providers. People were corrupted with false information about the organizations and its working. Discussion: Existence of intervention is not just enough for tackling any public health problem. Making it readily available whenever needed, to people is equally important. Behavioral changes are vital for the successful impact of these organizations. The data collected can be used to come up with novel interventions that can increase the awareness of people about the services they have around them.