Encountering domestic violence victims, perpetrators and witnesses in the multiprofessional fields of health and social care and policing includes various challenges. Each professional group perceives domestic violence from its own perspective, linked to its position in the field, core tasks, institutional practices and organizational structures. In this study, we examine interprofessional collaboration among Finnish social and health care professionals and police officers, focusing on the practices and conceptions concerning domestic violence interventions. The data consists of 16 focus group interviews, involving a total of 67 interviewees from social and health care professions and the police. The results indicate that successful interprofessional collaboration requires comprehensive knowledge and education on domestic violence as a phenomenon, on the tasks and the duties of different professionals, as well as tolerance and flexibility in their joint efforts. However, the emphasis on professional relationships often shifts the focus from the institutional and structural challenges of interprofessional collaboration to individual interactions. Organizational barriers and differences in goals may impede good intentions from being materialized into concrete outcomes. These findings challenge all organizations and professionals working on domestic violence intervention to reconsider their training, practices and organizational arrangements.

This article explores the self-positioning of Indian social workers who work with female survivors of domestic violence (DV). We know from previous research about the experiences of persons who have encountered DV, but more studies on the point of view of the professionals is needed. Relying on positioning theory and discursive analysis as a framework, we analyzed interviews ( N = 18) concerning the practices, emotions, and attitudes of social workers. Positioning theory enables scholars to approach the situation of encountering a survivor as a social event, which consists of the meaning-making activities of social workers. Professionals self-position themselves as one or a combination of the following: (a) a challenger of gendered oppression, (b) an advocator of women’s rights, (c) a facilitator of women’s empowerment, and/or (d) a self-reflector of personal emotions and attitudes. The findings suggest that the event of DV intervention is a discursive and contextually situated moral practice in which the distribution of rights and duties to say and do things is of particular interest. The act of self-positioning is constructed in relation to sociocultural settings. Social workers may take several positions during the meetings with survivors. Positions build our understanding of how social workers in violence-specific units make sense of DV, illustrating how the act of self-positioning may also define to the position of the survivor. Social workers experienced boundaries, and possibilities in responding to DV were explored. The study reveals that barriers should be addressed at a wider level by funders and policy makers to enhance the continuity of work and the implementation of women rights legislation in India.

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