Résumé 

Domestic violence and child maltreatment are constructed as two distinct social problems, but research has shown that in many families these problems are seen together (Appel & Holden, 1998; Rumm et al., 2000). However, little information is currently available concerning the way in which each group of workers concerned perceives this co-occurrence of the two problems. This article presents the results of a qualitative study which describes psychosocial workers’ (N=30) perceptions of co-occurring situations of domestic violence and child maltreatment. Social representation theory is used as a framework. Data, collected by semi-structured interviews, were analysed according to content analysis method (Creswell, 1998; Mayer & Deslauriers, 2000) method. The results bring forward many components of workers’ perceptions of co-occurring domestic violence and child maltreatment: the nature of these situations, the assigning of responsibility for co-occurring problems, the evolution of co-occurring problems in relationship to each other, the typologies of co-occurrence, the consequences of this problem for each family’s member, the attraction process which keeps these families together despite the violence, and solutions envisaged by the workers in responding to this problem.

Mots-clés 

Co-occurrence, domestic violence, child maltreatment, psychosocial workers, perceptions