The Role of Psychoeducation and Professional Social Work Services Within the Romanian Orthodox Church in the Prevention of Domestic Violence

This paper theoretically approaches the role of psychoeducation and professional social work services within the Romanian Orthodox Church in the prevention of domestic violence, as a contemporary social phenomenon. Domestic violence is not a new social problem, as social history demonstrates, but due to its recent worrying frequency, it can be considered a phenomenon that can be thought of as a form of contemporary social pathology, on the one hand, or a social anomaly, as the recrudescence of violent acts currently increases significantly compared to the previous periods in history. The intervention of the Church within the family or society in the prevention of family violence is oriented towards the three dimensions of psychoeducation: the spiritual-pedagogical dimension, the psychological dimension, and the behavioural dimension, which aim to change the perspective on the purpose and existence in life, the reduction of aggressive behaviours and promotion of respectful and nonviolent conduct in interpersonal relationships. The objective of this paper is to analyze the connection between psychoeducation and social work from a socio-spiritual perspective, by taking into account the specificity of this activity within the professionalised social work services provided by the Romanian Orthodox Church, to see if there are systemic differences in the approach to cases of family violence in religiously infused assistential services compared to secular services.