An exploratory study on challenges faced by social workers in dealing with Battered women in Singapore

Background of the Battering situation in Singapore is that it is a trending social issue with an upward trend. Despite the comprehensive efforts through legislations, policies, social service organizations and empowerment campaigns, there seems to be a missing factor in the intervention process as reflected in the high number of cases presented. Singapore aims to achieve high gender equality hence resolving such gender based issues is vital in reaching this goal. Research method employed would be a qualitative research through a semi-structured interview. 7 social workers (6 females and 1 male) from various social service institutions such as family service centres and hospital settings participated as respondents in this interview. The entire interview was conducted online using the Skype platform. Meaningful results gathered from this research would be that battering is a gender biased problem as in most cases where females are victims and males are perpetrators. Resource and facilities are widely present in Singapore but its usage is where the problem lies in. Due to cultural values of vulnerability equating to shame and failure within the community, victims prevent themselves from seeking professional help and aim to contain the situation themselves. In doing so, they are unable to manage it effectively and when it goes beyond control, they seek help and interventions. By this point, the help rendered is less meaningful as it focuses on problem solving rather than prevention. Hence, more advocacy work needs to be done to encourage help-seeking behaviour and normalize the act of being vulnerable within the society.MSc/MAegészségügyi szociális munkaangolnappaliv