Keywords

The link, domestic violence, animal abuse

Abstract

In the past few decades there has been research dedicated to understanding the roles that animals play within violent households. The American Humane Association (2010) has developed what they termed The Link. This concept examines how forms of violence, including domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, and animal abuse, are often intertwined. This qualitative study was facilitated using focus groups and interviews of animal service officers in Orange County, Florida to evaluate the relationship and training provided from a local domestic violence shelter. There were a total of 22 Orange County Animal Services employees who participated in four different focus group sessions, and two interviews with officers who had previously made referrals to Harbor House of Central Florida, the local domestic violence shelter. Results show that animal service officers view themselves as often being the first responders to a situation and, hence, an agent to help all victims, including both animals and humans. Participants indicated that their relationship with Harbor House of Central Florida has been weak and that many were unfamiliar with the referral program known as INVEST. They provided recommendations to strengthen their relationship with Harbor House of Central Florida that included trainings, support, and cross-reporting efforts that they felt were needed

Notes

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu

Graduation Date

2012

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Jasinski, Jana

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Sociology

Degree Program

Applied Sociology; Domestic Violence

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004404

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004404

Language

English

Release Date

August 2012

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences, Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

Share

COinS