Transforming Domestic Violence Representation

The dominant theories used in the law to explain domestic violence, namely, the Power and Control Wheel and the Cycle of Violence, provide only limited insight into intimate partner abuse. Both theories focus exclusively on the abusive partner\u27 wrongful actions, consistent with recent decades\u27 concentration on criminalization, but fail to educate about the survivor\u27s needs and efforts to end violence. The Stages of Change Model, conversely, reveals that domestic abuse survivors seek an end to relationship violence through a five-stage cyclical sequence and identifies the survivor\u27s needs and actions at each stage. This critical information should inform the representation of abuse survivors; however, this model remains unknown in the legal profession, and this article is the first scholarship to apply this model to lawyering. This article evaluates the contributions and shortcomings of the dominant models. It examines how the Stages of Change Model fills a significant void and how insights from the Stages of Change Model can transform the representation of abuse survivors. Domestic violence representation presents unique challenges to lawyers as they struggle with limited conceptions of their role, assumptions about abuse victims and how they should respond to violence, and feelings of fear and frustration when clients return to abusive partners. The Stages of Change Model can concretely illuminate the general client-centered model of legal representation and suggest multiple lawyering lessons for representing domestic violence survivors. The Stages of Change Model is widely accepted in the field of psychology, has been validated by numerous social science studies, and has the potential to achieve more client centered legal representation with greater safety outcomes. As I explore the enormous implications this model has for client representation in domestic violence law, I draw on my experience teaching domestic violence clinics and the transformation my students report when they learn and apply this model

Anthropomorphized chatbots in mental health applications

The number of people suffering from mental health disorders is steadily rising as a result of growing social and economic inequality, ongoing political conflict, and, not least, the COVID 19 pandemic. The rapid progress of artificial intelligence, and within it chatbots, presents an opportunity to address these deficiencies by reducing treatment barriers and providing economic benefits to service providers and consumers. To assure the effectiveness of chatbots in psychological health applications, they have to be accepted by users. A chatbot’s acceptance in mental health interventions is influenced by the benefits of intelligent machines, their expectation of nonjudgmental and unbiased support, and the effect of stigma on trust and belief in healthcare. Based on these insights, the experimental study examines whether users of psychological health apps more readily accept chatbots as opposed to physical health apps. Furthermore, the humanization of chatbots is a proven tool to enhance the quality of interaction with users. Thus, this dissertation additionally aims to investigate if a humanized chatbot entity affects their acceptance in the context of mental health apps. The results suggest that chatbots are more widely accepted in mental health applications compared to physical health applications. Moreover, the findings lead to the recommendation to implement humanized entities in chatbots within mental health applications. The results provide a rationale for conducting additional research to investigate the subject in greater depth. Due to the continuous development of AI, the utilization of chatbots in mental health care should be investigated continuously.O número de pessoas que sofrem de perturbações de saúde mental está a aumentar constantemente devido à desigualdade social e económica, conflitos políticos e da pandemia de COVID-19. O rápido progresso da inteligência artificial representa uma oportunidade para resolver estas perturbações, reduzindo os obstáculos ao tratamento e proporcionando benefícios económicos aos prestadores de serviços e aos pacientes. Para garantir a eficácia dos chatbots nas aplicações de saúde mental, estes têm de ser aceites pelos utilizadores. Esta aceitação nas intervenções de saúde mental é influenciada pelos benefícios das máquinas inteligentes, pela sua expectativa de apoio imparcial e sem juízos de valor e pelo efeito do estigma na confiança e na crença nos cuidados de saúde. Com base nestes conhecimentos, o estudo experimental examina se os chatbots são mais facilmente aceites pelos utilizadores de aplicações de saúde psicológica do que aplicações de saúde física. Além disso, a humanização dos chatbots é uma ferramenta comprovada para melhorar a qualidade da interacção com os utilizadores. Assim, esta dissertação tem como objetivo investigar se uma entidade chatbot humanizada afeta a sua aceitação no contexto de aplicações de saúde mental. Os resultados sugerem que os chatbots são melhor aceites em aplicações de saúde mental do que em aplicações de saúde física. Além disso, os resultados levam à recomendação da implementação de entidades humanizadas em chatbots dentro de aplicações de saúde mental. Devido ao desenvolvimento contínuo da IA, a utilização de chatbots nos cuidados de saúde mental deve ser investigada numa base contínua

Transforming Domestic Violence Representation

The dominant theories used in the law to explain domestic violence, namely, the Power and Control Wheel and the Cycle of Violence, provide only limited insight into intimate partner abuse. Both theories focus exclusively on the abusive partner\u27 wrongful actions, consistent with recent decades\u27 concentration on criminalization, but fail to educate about the survivor\u27s needs and efforts to end violence. The Stages of Change Model, conversely, reveals that domestic abuse survivors seek an end to relationship violence through a five-stage cyclical sequence and identifies the survivor\u27s needs and actions at each stage. This critical information should inform the representation of abuse survivors; however, this model remains unknown in the legal profession, and this article is the first scholarship to apply this model to lawyering. This article evaluates the contributions and shortcomings of the dominant models. It examines how the Stages of Change Model fills a significant void and how insights from the Stages of Change Model can transform the representation of abuse survivors. Domestic violence representation presents unique challenges to lawyers as they struggle with limited conceptions of their role, assumptions about abuse victims and how they should respond to violence, and feelings of fear and frustration when clients return to abusive partners. The Stages of Change Model can concretely illuminate the general client-centered model of legal representation and suggest multiple lawyering lessons for representing domestic violence survivors. The Stages of Change Model is widely accepted in the field of psychology, has been validated by numerous social science studies, and has the potential to achieve more client centered legal representation with greater safety outcomes. As I explore the enormous implications this model has for client representation in domestic violence law, I draw on my experience teaching domestic violence clinics and the transformation my students report when they learn and apply this model

Freedom From Violence: Using the Stages of Change Model to Realize the Promise of Civil Protection Orders

This Article is the first legal scholarship to analyze domestic violence civil protection orders and response systems using the Stages of Change Model from the field of psychology. The Stages of Change Model, which describes how domestic violence survivors end relationship violence, includes five stages: (1) pre-contemplation; (2) contemplation; (3) preparation; (4) action; and (5) maintenance. According to the model, ending intimate partner violence is an iterative and complex process, and survivors typically revisit earlier stages as they progress toward maintaining freedom from violence. The model has been validated by numerous studies and is widely accepted in the psychology community. As a result, it is a powerful tool for evaluating the legal treatment of domestic violence. A heightened focus on the civil protection order remedy is warranted because of its potential to increase the domestic violence survivor\u27s safety and autonomy, unlike recent mandatory criminal policies that give control over arrest and prosecution decisions to the state without regard to a survivor\u27s belief about how the action will affect her safety. The civil protection order is also the remedy that survivors most often choose to address the violence. An exploration of the individual stages in the Stages of Change Model, however, reveals deficiencies in the protection order remedy and suggests procedural rule reforms, substantive law changes, and improvements to legal and advocacy interventions. For example, while current procedural rules and judicial practices penalize petitioners for seeking the court\u27s assistance multiple times, I propose rule changes that would allow petitioners to access the legal system designed to protect them. The Article also offers economic and safety justifications for advocacy support across the stages in response to the current system\u27s failure to address survivors\u27 safety planning needs in the preparation stage and the emotional and tangible resources they need to sustain an end to violence in the maintenance stage. Among other legal reforms, I identify substantive law changes necessary to the maintenance stage, such as making monetary relief statutorily available in protection orders to enable low-income or economically dependent survivors to end violent relationships. The advancements inspired by using the lens of the Stages of Change Model would enable civil protection orders to better respond to survivors\u27 actual experiences and needs and encourage survivors\u27 progression through the stages to achieve freedom from violence