Intimate Partner Violence: An Overview of the Existing Teories, Conceptual Frameworks, and Defnitions

Background: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), also known as domestic violence, spousal abuse, and relationship violence, among other names, is becoming a widely recognized social and public health problem. Teory and practice suggest it is vital that the issue be addressed comprehensively in both the healthcare and socio-legal contexts. Te theoretical perspectives underlying inquiries into the nature and etiology of the IPV phenomenon are of fundamental importance in promoting our understanding of how to prevent, reduce, or eliminate the problem. In order to integrate various aspects of knowledge about the phenomenon, it is important to consider and evaluate the approaches to IPV currently prevalent in the feld. Objectives: Te present article aims to provide a critical overview of the existing theories, methodological frameworks, typologies, and defnitions of Intimate Partner Violence. Design: Te present paper reviews the international literature on the conceptual frameworks and defnitions of IPV. First, it draws on the conceptual frameworks of violence; it then reviews relevant theories and defnitions of IPV considered from sociocultural, individual, and integrative perspectives. Te disparities, limitations, and explanatory powers of these theories, as well as their clinical and research applications, are discussed in an attempt to bring more clarity into the current state of understanding in the feld. Results and Conclusions: Our review suggests that there is no universally accepted defnition of IPV, nor a conceptual framework that would encompass the complexity of the phenomenon. Some of the theoretical frameworks for studying IPV appear to provide potential advantages over others, but their empirical viability has yet to be determined. We argue that, due to the complex multifaceted nature of IPV, a narrow theoretical stance might exclude a variety of exploratory factors and limit understanding of the phenomenon