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To establish the annual prevalence of violence perpetrated by male partners in Québec couples, a telephone survey was conducted with 2,120 women. Validated instruments measured physically and sexually violent behaviors as well as controlling behaviors and verbal aggression. Victimization rates were 6.1% for physical violence and 6.8% for sexual violence. Sexual and physical violence were significantly higher in the presence of controlling and humiliating behaviors than they were in the absence of such behaviors. The results confirm the association of individual and social variables with violence in other studies and illustrate the importance of understanding the sociocultural context for the family status variables.

La violence conjugale, longtemps considérée comme un problème privé, est maintenant perçue comme un problème social répandu. Ses effets néfastes sur les femmes, les couples, les enfants et la société sont maintenant mieux connus des différents réseaux d’intervention qui sont dès lors appelés à travailler ensemble afin de développer des approches plus complémentaires basées sur une compréhension commune du problème. Une analyse des mécanismes de concertation intersectorielle mis en place au Québec a été entreprise auprès des intervenants et intervenantes offrant des services en violence conjugale dans différents secteurs du réseau de la santé et des services sociaux (Rondeau et al., 2000). La présente étude est la première qui, à partir d’une démarche qualitative du discours des femmes victimes de violence conjugale et des hommes ayant exercé des comportements violents envers leur conjointe, a permis d’explorer la perception des interventions reçues, de leur cohérence, de leur complémentarité et de leurs effets sur la cessation de la violence et sur le cheminement des individus. Les résultats démontrent, entre autres choses, que les répondants, mais surtout les répondantes, consultent un grand nombre d’intervenants-es qui proviennent d’un nombre aussi grand de ressources. Cependant, la lourdeur de leurs démarches ne vient pas tant du nombre d’organismes fréquentés ou de la trajectoire effectuée à travers ces institutions, mais plutôt d’un manque de coordination intra sectoriel et intersectoriel entre les professionnels-les de ces ressources.Long considered a private matter, domestic violence is now viewed as a widespread social problem. Its harmful consequences on women, couples, children as well as society are now better known by the various networks of professionals summoned to work together in order to develop approaches that are more complementary and that are based on a common understanding of the problem. An analysis has been undertaken of intersectorial consultation mechanisms current in Québec with professionals involved in services concerning domestic violence in various sectors of the health and social services network. The current study—the first to analyse from a qualitative perspective the discourse of women who have been victims of domestic violence and men who have adopted violent behaviours toward their partner — has allowed to explore the perception of interventions received, their coherence, their complementarity and their impact on cessation of violence as well as the individual’s progress. The results show among other things, that participants of the study, men but especially women consult an important number of professionals from a wide range of resources. However, the weight of steps taken does not come as much from the number of organizations or the path through each of these organizations, but rather from the lack of intra/inter/sectorial coordination between professionals within these agencies.La violencia conyugal, por largo tiempo considerada como un problema privado, es actualmente perc...

This article deals with formal and informal resources used by women victims of conjugal violence in their search for help. It explores the type of resources used and their relationship with a number of factors such as the socio-economic characteristics of the women and, the nature and duration of the violence which they have suffered. Prior to reporting on the results of a specific case of formal resources utilization, this article presents a review of the literature on the process of seeking help, then it focuses on the major role played by the social support network. Also, it reviews the major studies dealing with the strategies used by women victims of conjugal violence in obtaining help. Finally, the article reports on the main results of a study conducted in the context of a pilot project to bring help to victims of conjugal violence by the police and the Local Community Services Centers (CLSC) of the Montreal Urban Community. This pilot project started in 1990 has since been extended to the entire territory covered by the Montreal Urban Community. The results of this study show that the majority of the women referred by the police officers did receive help at the CLSC. However, only one third of the women referred did meet with a social practioner following the referral. Also, it was observed that when the period between the referral and the first contact by the social practitioner was short, the women more easily accepted to meet with a worker from the CLSC. A third of the women referred already had a file with the CLSC, which indicated that the violence problem was known in one case out of four. Meeting with a CLSC worker was found to provide a greater diversity in the type of help received

Résumé La violence conjugale est un problème complexe dont l'ampleur et les conséquences sont de mieux en mieux documentées. Parmi les multiples facettes du phénomène, son occurrence pendant la grossesse suscite des inquiétudes particulières. Cet article fait le point sur les écrits scientifiques portant sur cette question. Après avoir traité de la prévalence de la violence conjugale pendant la grossesse, il rend compte des principales études qui ont analysé les facteurs associés à cette violence et de celles qui se sont intéressées à ses conséquences pour la mère et pour le bébé. L'article conclut que les informations actuelles, quoique partielles, sont suffisantes pour justifier le dépistage le plus hâtif possible de la présence de violence conjugale afin de venir en aide aux futures mères de façon appropriée.