Professional competences of employees in the facilities offering protection and support to victims of domestic violence

Abstract

The key resource on which the efficiency of the system offering protection and support to victims of domestic violence depends is related to the number of professionals who deal with this phenomenon at work and to the training offered to them. Qualifications and competences of professionals who are directly engaged in cases of domestic violence are the key to success in prevention of violence and legal prosecution of perpetrators, as well as in providing direct support to victims of violence. For that reason, the research focuses on the respective segments of public systems that deal with domestic violence. Through an analysis of the basic elements of competences of employees in public systems, this paper gives an overview of the state of human resources from the aspect of possessing expertise and professional knowledge, experience, and abilities. With regard to this, the sample of 283 respondents employed in the police, social work centres, health centres, and primary schools in six municipalities in the northern part of Republic of Srpska offers a conclusion that the existing resources are not sufficiently developed and directed towards the area of domestic violence. In addition, the results obtained show that there is no practice of professional training introduced for dealing with the field of domestic violence at work, with the self-perception of employees in public institutions not related to objective indicators of their abilities and skills they possess. In terms of practical agency, the focus is mainly on minimal actions arising from the implementation of the most necessary legal procedures, while the interest expressed by professionals employed in public institutions opens space for their professional development in this direction and ensuring greater functionality of the system in terms of offering protection and support to victims of domestic violence.