Domestic violence training program among African American Pastors and its effectiveness of promoting domestic violence awareness in the church

The objective of this dissertation was to evaluate if a domestic violence training program would be an effective tool in African American churches among African American Pastors to help put an end to domestic violence. Although the prevalence of domestic violence is highest among the female population, men also suffer domestic abuse, and the church is where victims tend to seek first as a safe haven. This researcher created a domestic violence training program that can be used as an effective tool in giving pastors and other church leader's knowledge and education on domestic violence. Methods: the data in this study was obtained using a sample size of 7 African American pastors that reside in the state of North Carolina and who are also the officiating pastor in an African American church. Each participant completed an interview, which consisted of 10 questions. The data abstracted from the interview questions was analyzed through the utilization of the qualitative software ATLAS.ti along with a coding scheme. The results of the study revealed the following: through the collection of data and analysis, major themes showed that African American pastors are lacking in major areas preventing them from having a better understanding of domestic violence, such as awareness, addressing and training. As a result of the findings that were gathered through the analysis of data, the researcher created an effective domestic violence training program so pastors can effectively address domestic violence when approached with a domestic violence or intimate partner violence issue. The program is effective in both time efficiency and cost for the church. Final conclusion: the domestic violence training program created by the researcher can be an effective tool to educate African American pastors and other church leaders on the issues surrounding domestic violence.