Trauma, violence and abuse 2(3) 2001 : 203-214

This article states that theories describing domestic violence towards women are predominately Eurocentric and may not be as relevant for violence in Pacific People's families. Invariably, strategies responding to domestic violence are also based on values that are reflective of their cultural origin. This is reflected in the Duluth power and control where which is a model that has been adopted widely as a tractable strategy for understanding male aggression. There are some clear gaps in this model if an attempt is made to apply it to the situation of Samoan women. This article is a critique of the Duluth model, and explores the requirements for social workers working with Samoan women, considering the service, legal, and educational aspects of prevention and intervention. This article argues that there is a need for further research to be done to ascertain the nature of domestic violence for Samoan women in New Zealand.