Domestic violence is an extremely serious and complex issue, therefore further research in the future regarding this topic would be highly recommended. The COVID-19 pandemic is relatively new to our world and with it being a present day phenomena, future research should consider rates of domestic violence after the pandemic has subsided. The pandemic is ongoing, therefore, to further this analysis, we would need to look into cases before, during, AND after the pandemic to see if the results are consistent. Additionally, evaluating the extent to which we could apply our findings from Chicago on a global scale for COVID-19 and domestic violence would be interesting as well. Further research could look at the same study but attributed to other locations around the United States, or globally, to compare and contrast findings, and why we might find differences in different locations.

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This goes alongside looking into additional demographic factors that might be predictors of domestic violence, such as individuals with criminal records, that could help provide further insight into relatable factors to domestic violence. We could consider looking into novel instances of violence and whether this reported case is a first time occurrence or if the individual (either victim or abuser) had previously been involved in a domestic violence case.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced increased stress from isolation into family relationships. The importance of looking into this research was to determine how that influences domestic violence and provide a potential explanation for why, while also not assuming that correlation equals causation. While the pandemic continues to unfold, it is necessary to provide victims with better access to support systems, whether that be through their communities, hotlines services, shelters, etc., and how we can implement those more effectively. The pandemic has halted the ability to prioritize these requirements, therefore informing and creating public awareness for the importance of reporting abuse/violence and creating more intervention programs is vital. However, this should not be the case only due to a pandemic but in all other times as well.

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Harm reduction recommendations include the creation of public wifi/hotspot networks, allowing individuals access to virtual support, communication, and resources regarding domestic violence, as well as medical services by phone. Lastly, due to the correlation between low financial stability and domestic violence, rising unemployment rates (a result of the pandemic), have likely led to increased vulnerability of victims (Evans et al., 2020). Given this, we recommend the provision of stronger financial support to strengthen household financial security.