This course examines intimate partner violence or domestic violence from its historical roots to the present. In accordance with an historical and contextual approach, we examine theories that explain and describe the phenomenon, research that attempts to define it, as well as social policies , social movements, and intervention from a social work perspective. Intimate partner violence *IPV) also known as domestic violence, cuts across racial, ethnic, and class boundaries and impedes victim's well-being and social participation. IPV includes many physical assault, sexual assault, emotional, verbal, and economic abuse and coercive control.