Public Opinion on Domestic Violence

This bachelor thesis describes the issue of domestic violence. Domestic violence is considered as one of the biggest and most hidden forms of violence in our society. Perhaps it can be found all around us and it is not related to women only but also men and also cases of domestic violence against children and seniors are increasing. The aim of the study was to determine the views and attitudes of the public about domestic violence, because the opinion about this increasingly important issue and the informed society has an impact on early detection and follow-up of the cases of domestic violence. The theoretical part of this bachelor thesis summarizes the basic information as what the domestic violence is, what are its signs, forms, dynamics, prejudices and myths. Vulnerable people, violent people and causes and prevention of domestic violence are briefly outlined here. At the end of the theoretical part assistance for victims of domestic violence is listed by the helping institutions and organizations and a review of current legislation of the Czech Republic, which is related to the topic. In the research part of the bachelor thesis there are two hypotheses set on the target. Hypothesis no. 1 "The public perceive domestic violence as a private matter in which you can not interfere," and hypothesis no. 2 "The public is not informed about the ways how to help victims of domestic violence". The survey for the purpose of this thesis was made out of using a quantitative research and was made in January 2014. For the data collection public survey was used in the selected location, which is Vltavotýnsko. The survey was conducted by questionnairy. The sample was 400 respondents who were approached randomly. The only criterion for completing the questionnaire was adulthood reaching. 337 of 400 distributed questionnaires were returned, which is more than 80 percent return. The questionnaire in the thesis was compiled on the basis of the scientific literature and it contains the basic information that the public should know about domestic violence. Questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part examined the respondents' awareness about domestic violence and the second part the awareness of the respondents about the help to the victims of domestic violence. Answers to questions were summarized in tables and graphs with a spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel first. Subsequently, due to the fact that the vast majority of data acquired through questionnaires were categorical, adequate statistical evaluation methods were chosen. Statistical analysis of the results of the survey was conducted in SPSS. The research showed that the public in Vltavotýnsko is relatively well informed about what is domestic violence, and only a small percentage of respondents perceive domestic violence as a private matter. Thus, the hypothesis no. 1 "The public perceive domestic violence as a private matter in which you can not interfere," has not been confirmed. Conversely, the public is not sufficiently informed about the ways how to help victims of domestic violence, who to turn to for help when they become victims of domestic violence by themselves or when they are asked for help, and it means that the hypothesis of no. 2 "The public is not informed about the ways how to help victims of domestic violence" has been confirmed. Furthermore, the survey results showed that the education of the respondents, their age, the place where they live and whether they are men or women has some impact on awareness, attitudes and opinions of the respondents. This thesis can be used as an informational or educational material for the general public and thus to contribute to its greater awareness about domestic violence and the resulting research data can be served to raise the awareness of the institutions that provide assistance to victims of domestic violence