January Is National Stalking Awareness Month - Would You Know Stalking If You Saw It?

“Joe seemed like a nice guy. I met him through one of those online dating sites.  I made a mistake and finally gave him my personal email.  Then the emails came fast and furious. It was ‘too much too soon’ so I backed away.   

Now he won’t leave me alone.  I asked for no further contact – but he sent me flowers to my workplace – and I never told him where I work.  I am getting concerned.  My co-workers think I am being silly…but I am not so sure.  What do I do?”

Would you know stalking if you saw it? Would you know it if it was happening to you?

January is National Stalking Awareness Month. Did you know:

·         One in 6 women (16.2%) and 1  in 19 men (5.2%) in the United States have experienced stalking victimization at some point during their lifetime in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed.

·         Two-thirds (66.2%) of female victims of stalking were stalked by a current or former intimate partner; men were primarily stalked by an intimate partner or an acquaintance, 41.4% and 40.0%, respectively.

·         Repeatedly receiving unwanted telephone calls, voice, or text messages was the most commonly experienced stalking tactic for both female and male victims of stalking (78.8% for women and 75.9% for men).

·         More than half of female victims and more than one-third of male victims of stalking indicated that they were stalked before the age of 25; about 1 in 5 female victims and 1 in 14 male victims experienced stalking between the ages of 11 and 17.

(CDC NISVS Survey, released December 2011)

The National Stalking Awareness Month website has been updated with 2012 materials - including posters, public service announcements, buttons, website banners, and more.

There are also examples of how you can raise awareness about stalking, sample status updates for a variety of social networking sites, and a quiz to check your knowledge on stalking. (I even missed some of the quiz questions!)

Go to www.stalkingawarenessmonth.org to learn more.

For the Presidential Proclamation of National Stalking Awareness Month, click here.

What to do if you are the victim of a stalker

·         If you feel you are in immediate danger, call 9-1-1.

·         Trust your instincts. If you sense you are in danger, you probably are.

·         Tell the stalker "no" only once. Repeatedly saying "no" reinforces the stalking by keeping the stalker engaged. Do not confront or try to bargain with a stalker.

·         Get an answering machine and leave it on your old phone line. Get another unlisted number for your family and friends. Have a friend monitor the answering machine if it is difficult for you. If you close off an avenue to a stalker they will find another which may be worse.

·         Develop a safety plan. Safety plans can includes such things as changing your routes to work, arranging for others to accompany you in public, temporarily staying with friends, planning what you can say if you run into the stalker, keeping an emergency phone nearby.

·         Try to secure your accounts so your stalker cannot access information about you. Change your passwords frequently. Contact the utility companies and set up a password for your account. Block your address at Department of Motor Vehicles. Check with the Secretary of State's office to see if you are eligible for a confidential address.

·         Document everything even if you don't go to the police. Photograph injuries and damages. Ask witnesses to write down what they saw. Keep a log of dates, times, places, and witnesses.

·         Tell others that you are being stalked so that neighbors and co-workers will be alerted not to divulge information and will inform you when he/she is around.

Seek help. Document everything. Take it seriously.

CDC Releases NISVS Findings

  

"On average, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States. Over the course of a year, that equals more than 12 million women and men. Those numbers only tell part of the story – more than 1 million women reported being raped, and over 6 million women and men were a victim of stalking."

On December 14, the Division for Violence Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented the initial findings from the National Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS). 

NISVS is an on­going, nationally representative survey that assesses experiences of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence among adult women and men in the United States. It measures lifetime victimization for these types of violence as well as victimization in the 12 months prior to the survey.

The survey goes beyond counting acts of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence by assessing the range of violence experienced by victims and the impact of that victimization. The report also includes the first ever simultaneous national and state-level prevalence estimates of these forms of violence for all states.  

The findings show that, on average, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States.  Over the course of a year, that equals more than 12 million women and men. Those numbers only tell part of the story – more than 1 million women reported being raped, and over 6 million women and men were a victim of stalking.

These findings emphasize that sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence are widespread and a major public health problem in the United States. The report underscores the heavy toll of this violence, particularly on women; the immediate impacts of victimization; and the lifelong health consequences of these forms of violence.  For example:

·         Nearly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men have been raped in their lifetime.

·         Approximately 80% of female victims were raped before the age of 25, and almost half before the age of 18. About 35% of women who were raped as minors were also raped as adults compared to 14% of women without an early rape history.

·         1 in 4 women have been the victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner while 1 in 7 men experienced severe violence by an intimate partner.

·         81% of women who experienced  rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner reported significant short and long term impacts related to the IPV experienced such as fear, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and injury, while 35% of men reported such impacts from the IPV experienced.

·         Women who experienced rape or stalking by any perpetrator or physical violence by an intimate partner were more likely than women who did not experience these forms of violence to report asthma, diabetes, and irritable bowel syndrome, as well as other health consequences. 

The full report and more resources are available here.

Domestic Violence and the Workplace: Protecting Your Employees and Your Bottom Line in Six Steps

By Kim Wells, Executive Director, Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence

What do your employees bring through the door when they walk into work?  

In a national survey of full-time employed adults by the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (CAEPV) 21% indicated they were victims of domestic violence – and 64% percent indicated their ability to work was significantly impacted.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), intimate partner violence victims lose a total of nearly 8.0 million days of paid work a year—the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs—and nearly 5.6 million days of household productivity as a result of the violence. The CDC also reports that the cost of domestic violence to the US economy is more than $8.3 billion. This cost includes medical care, mental health services and lost productivity (e.g., time away from work).  

So – what can employers do to proactively keep their workplaces productive and safe? 

Step 1: Develop a domestic violence and the workplace policy and program

·         Involve relevant stakeholders such as senior management, human resources, security, legal, communications, media relations, employee assistance programs (EAPs), medical, health or safety programs. This group becomes the “multi-disciplinary domestic violence response team” which is key to the process.

·        Ensure EAP providers are trained in domestic violence identification and response, and are able to appropriately refer to domestic violence services.

·        Seek expertise externally from domestic violence specialists.

·         Ensure that senior management sign off on this process and champion the outcomes.

Step 2: Develop a policy addressing domestic violence containing:

·        A clear definition of domestic violence, with examples/case histories of how this affects the workplace. Include a statement that domestic violence is unacceptable at home and in the workplace.  

·        A clear statement that no violence or threats of violence should take place on workplace grounds or while an employee is on duty or acting in the interests of the employer. Include potential consequences of such actions. (Perpetrators of domestic violence may use workplace resources such as telephone, fax or email to threaten, harass or abuse their current or former partners. In addition to being a misuse of organizational resources, this behavior may be in breach of a current protection order or constitute a criminal offence, such as stalking.)

·         A clear statement of the employer's commitment to addressing domestic violence as a workplace issue and examples of workplace accommodations and assistance available.

·         A clear indication of where and how staff can access assistance regarding domestic violence and the workplace.

Step 3: Develop procedures for implementing the program, ensuring they include:

·         Details of the first point of contact for employees needing support.

·         The role of key personnel in liaison with domestic violence specialists.

·        The security measures, plans and procedures provided in the workplace to protect against domestic violence.

·         An assurance of an employee’s right to confidentiality and support when they disclose domestic violence.

·        Guidance about how managers and employees should handle disclosures of domestic violence.

Step 4: Distribute the policy

·         Produce a compact, easy to read version of the policy and provide to all staff.

·         Include the policy on the workplace intranet and orientation materials.

·        Ensure that operating units within the workplace vital to the success of the program are fully engaged and prepared before the policy and procedures are widely shared (two examples would be security and human resources.)

Step 5: Provide training

·        Train managers to recognize signs of violence for potential victims and perpetrators. Local domestic violence service providers often can assist with this training at little or no cost.  

·         Because managers must be careful to address concerns in the context of employment (unless the employee self-discloses), managers should understand how to respond—to appropriately address changes in behavior that is affecting performance.  

·       Train managers to refer—how to access internal and external resources for an employee.  Managers should not give personal advice or counseling- this type of help should be left to the experts.

·        Employee education should include a basic understanding of domestic violence, possible warning signs, and how to respond sensitively and confidentially to an abused co-worker. As in the case of managers, co-workers are not counselors, but facilitators in helping co-workers seeking assistance.

Step 6: Build awareness through workplace communication

·        Display public education materials about domestic violence in accessible areas such as lunch rooms, restrooms, and on the organization’s website.

·         Provide details of where victims and abusers can get help locally or an anonymous help line.

·        Organize regular awareness training and education in all levels of the organization about domestic violence.

·        Incorporate information about awareness of domestic violence into employee orientation programs, handbooks, and intranet-based human resources information.  For best effect, educational and awareness programs on domestic violence should be intertwined with other complimentary programs. Employee wellness fairs, workplace safety programs, town hall meetings, and family issues seminars are effective venues for sharing information about domestic violence.

State and municipal laws vary greatly with reference to domestic violence and workplace issues (unemployment insurance, non-discrimination laws, etc). Employers should work directly with their legal departments to develop policies and programs.

Employers who take on the challenge of addressing intimate partner violence as a workplace issue are true leaders. They are choosing enlightened self-interest in an effort to save lives—and change society.

You can find more information on these steps – including a sample policy -- at www.caepv.org in our Take Action/Starting a Workplace Program Section.

CDC Releases Surveillance for Violent Deaths - What Can We Learn?

A new CDC report — Surveillance for Violent Deaths — National Violent Death Reporting System, 16 States, 2007 — summarizes data on 15,882 fatal incidents involving 16,319 deaths in 16 NVDRS states for 2007.

The majority (56.6%) of deaths were suicides, followed by homicides and deaths involving legal intervention (28.0%), deaths of undetermined intent (14.7%), and unintentional firearm deaths (0.7%). NVDRS provides a comprehensive picture of violent death by combining once fragmented pieces of information from:

• death certificates
• coroner/medical examiner report
• toxicology results
• law enforcement reports, and
• other reports related to each death.

While all of the information in the report is important, of special note are the following pieces of information for those addressing domestic violence as a workplace issue:

Intimate-Partner Homicide

• The 16 NVDRS states included in this report collected data concerning 562 incidents comprising 612 deaths of intimate-partner--related homicides that occurred during 2007.

• Of 612 homicide victims, 394 (64.4%) were female.

• Of 580 suspects, 451 (77.8%) were male.

• The highest percentages of victims and suspects (26.1% and 23.5%, respectively) were persons aged 35-44 years.

• The highest percentage (37.8%) of victims were married at the time of death.

Homicide Followed by Suicide

• The 16 NVDRS states included in this report collected data concerning 172 violent incidents that occurred during 2007 in which a homicide was followed by the suicide of the suspect.

• Of 240 homicide decedents, 174 (72.5%) were female.

• 160 (93.0%) suspects (suicide decedents) were male.

• The highest percentages of both homicide and suicide decedents were aged 35-54 years (31.7% and 49.4%, respectively).

• The majority of homicide decedents and suspects (34.7% and 32.4%, respectively) were married at the time of death (not necessarily to each other).

• 75.4% of the homicides occurred in a house or apartment and 2.1% each in a street/highway or commercial/retail area.

• Firearms were the most common (approximately 80%) method used by suspects both in committing the homicide and in subsequently killing themselves.

• Although 8.3% of persons who killed themselves following a homicide had a current depressed mood, only 3.6% were receiving mental-health treatment at the time of the fatal incident.

• Intimate-partner-relationship problems preceded homicide followed by suicide in 81.0% of suspected suicides.

• Of suspects who killed themselves, 91.1% had had a personal crisis within the preceding 2 weeks.

• Previous criminal legal problems were noted in 19.1% of suspected suicides and noncriminal problems in 3.0%; physical health or financial problems were contributing circumstances in 6.6% and 4.2% of suspected suicides, respectively; 6.0% of suicide decedents had disclosed their intent to kill themselves; and 1.8% had a history of suicide attempts.

So what does this tell us? Here is some of what we see:

When we look at homicides and domestic violence, victims are most likely female, perpetrators are most likely male, victims and suspects are in the age range of 35-44 years of age, and are more likely to be married.

In homicide-suicide, victims are overwhelmingly female, perpetrators/suicide decedents are overwhelmingly male, firearms are most likely to be used and intimate partner violence is overwhelmingly involved, the parties are most likely married, and the perpetrator/suicide decedent has experienced a personal crisis in the past two weeks. 

For a workplace this means some important things about assessing the risk for our employees involved in intimate partner violence. While these factors are not necessarily predictive, they are instructive.  They show us we should overwhelmingly understand that risk factors should be taken seriously and workplace safety assessments are important.  And not necessarily because there are a high percentage of these cases that take place at work (commercial or retail area was 2.1%)...but because when our employees' situations fal in line with these indicators, are employees are potentially in more danger.  And this is the case whether our employee is the potential victim, the potential perpetrator or the potential perpetrator/suicide decedent. 

For resources to assist you with your workplace program to keep employees safe, visit http://www.caepv.org/.  

NOTE:  While many argue that women are as violent as men in domestic violence relationships, this CDC information on violent deaths clearly indicates that when it comes to domestic violence and homicide and homicide-suicide, women are the majority of the victims (64% in cases of homicide and 72.5% in cases of homicide-suicide).

CDC Finds 24% of Women and 11% of Men Are Domestic Violence Victims in US

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has just released new information finding that one in four women (23.9%) and one in nine men (11.5%) in the US suffers physical or emotional violence at the hands of an intimate partner. This harms their long-term health, the CDC reports.

The new data come from the largest-ever US survey of intimate-partner violence -- a range of behaviors that includes physical violence, sexual violence, unwanted sex, emotional abuse, threats, and stalking. Perpetrators include spouses, ex-spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, and dates. CDC researchers asked adult participants in the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey if they would answer questions about intimate-partner violence. More than 70,000 Americans participated. (That is a LOT of people in a survey -- a really, really great scientific survey may have 5,000 people in it, so 70,000 means this is really an excellent representative sample).

Here are the results:

- 23.6% of women and 11.5% of men reported at least one lifetime episode of intimate-partner violence.
- In households with incomes under $15,000 per year, 35.5% of women and 20.7% of men suffered violence from an intimate partner.
- 43% of women and 26% of men in multiracial non-Hispanic households suffered partner violence.
- 39% of women and 18.6% of men in American Indian/Alaska Native households suffered partner violence.
- 26.8% of women and 15.5% of men in white non-Hispanic households suffered partner violence.
- 29.2% of women and 23.3% of men in black non-Hispanic households suffered partner violence.
- 20.5% of women and 15.5% of men in Hispanic households suffered partner violence.

"The majority of those who report violence -- and the burden is predominantly on women-- reported multiple forms. They experienced threats and attempts and assaults and unwanted sex," said Michele Black, PhD, an epidemiologist at the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

The CDC is also concerned about something else -- the link between domestic violence and long term health problems. The study found a number of outcomes related to intimate-partner violence, including current disability and activity limitations, asthma, stroke, arthritis, and, in women, heart disease.

The study author was quick to point out that survey data do not show whether partner violence caused these health problems. But they note that previous studies have found high stress levels in people with abusive spouses -- and that high stress levels are linked to chronic health problems. Stress isn't the only health issue for victims of domestic violence. A perpetrator limiting access to healthcare may also be an issue. Or an abused person may feel depressed or disempowered, making it hard for them to get to the help they need or to adhere to medications.

Because of the link to health problems, the CDC recommends that doctors ask patients about intimate-partner violence. That may be harder to do than it would seem.

That is a lot like the workplace -- it is hard to address domestic violence as a possible reason for changes in employee performance/behavior or to think of domestic violence as a workplace safety issue because we are not sure about the resources and are afraid to ask the question. But as the CDC report indicates related to healthcare, "Those asked about intimate-partner violence do respond very well to being asked."

For resources and help at the workplace go to http://www.caepv.org/.

The CDC's ultimate goal is to prevent intimate-partner violence in the first place. I agree!

The CDC report appears in the Feb. 8 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.