Bias in Social Work Intervention with Battered Women

A total of 149 social workers from 21 social service agencies responded to questions regarding a client after reading one of six possible case vignettes. The results indicate that social workers stereotype clients who have been battered. In addition, social workers are less likely to consider relocation as an option to protect the victim who is married to her attacker. Also, surprisingly, male-social workers focus on violence related concerns as targets for intervention more than do female social workers.