Researchers or practitioners' opinion of the possibilities for creating virtual safe social spaces for violence prevention interventions for young people.

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global concern. Interventions designed to prevent IPV are often participatory in nature, implemented in face-to-face settings and seek to create 'safe social spaces'. We however do not fully understand how safe social spaces can be created in online spaces. Our study sought to understand the possibility of creating safe social spaces online, supportive of participatory interventions, from the perspective of those developing and implementing IPV prevention interventions. We conducted in-depth interviews with a global sample of 20 researchers and practitioners. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic network analysis. We found mixed results about the possibility of creating safe social spaces online. Researchers and practitioners raised issues such as sharing of devices, the difficulties in developing trust and a sense of community online, challenges in having privacy and confidentiality online and difficulty in reading non-verbal cues as some of the key considerations when creating online safe social spaces. Younger researchers and practitioners were more optimistic about creating safe social spaces online. Our results show that the creation of safe social spaces online is complex and requires further investigation.