Domestic Violence Sector Research Articles

Features of the functioning of the sectors against domestic violence of the national police of Ukraine under the conditions of marital state (on the example of the work of the Kharkiv region police)

Problem setting. The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the National Police of Ukraine, exercising managerial influence and organizational support for the functioning of bodies and units under martial law, is aware of the need to maintain an appropriate level of police efficiency in all areas of its service activities without exception. Such an approach requires the introduction of the most effective and modern methods of police work, and this fully applies to such a component of its service as the prevention and counteraction to domestic violence. There is every reason to consider the intensification of the functioning of the Domestic Violence Sectors of the NPU as one of the important measures aimed at preventing and combating domestic violence. Purpose of research is to investigate and analyze the place and importance of the Domestic Violence Countermeasure Sectors in ensuring the process of improving the activities of the system of bodies and units of the NPU in the field of preventing and combating domestic violence, increasing the effectiveness of preventive and preventive measures and response measures as the main task of combating domestic violence. Analysis of recent researches and publications. Problematic issues of preventing and combating domestic violence, defining the role and place of the NPU as one of the role and place of the NPU as one of the key actors in this area of social activity have been the subject of research by such scholars as: O. Bandurka, O. Bezpalova, G. Moshak, M. Panov, H. Yarmaki, etc. The main provisions of the publications of these scholars emphasize the importance of the formation of a legal framework for the NPU to prevent and combat domestic violence, analyzing the impact of conflict situations related to domestic violence on the state of law and order in the state, identifying ways to solve problematic issues in this area in the life of society. Articles main body. The article examines issues related to the need for the proper organization of the official activities of units of the National Police of Ukraine, such as Domestic Violence Countermeasure Sectors (DVCS), the correspondence of the tasks and functions of these units, the importance of ensuring the proper level of their preparedness for modern challenges that exist before the NPU in the conditions of martial law . The importance of the presented research material lies in the effort to emphasize the fact that the organization of the work of the DVCS should be considered not as a certain increase in the functions of the NPU, primarily in the field of preventing and countering domestic violence and which will provide an opportunity to improve some statistical indicators, but as an opportunity to increase the efficiency of work the police as a whole in the matter of protection of human rights and freedoms, maintenance of public order and security, combating crime. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The above-mentioned situation requires a responsible attitude towards oneself due to the fact that at the current stage we do not observe a tendency to decrease the number of offenses related to manifestations of domestic violence. The article also considers the factors that determine the need for the cooperation of NPU units, in which the prevention and counteraction of domestic violence is one of the main areas of official activity (district police officers and community police officers, domestic violence counteraction sectors, juvenile prevention units). Attention was drawn to the expediency of expanding the range of subjects engaged in activities in the field of prevention and counteraction of domestic violence and gender-based violence, the need to involve in this work not only preventive activity units of the National Police, but other units that are part of the NPU.

How Do Employees in the Disability and Family and Domestic Violence Sectors Respond to Disclosures of Violence From Women With Disability?

Women with disability experience higher rates of family and domestic violence (FDV) compared to the rest of the population. There is limited research into how workers in FDV and disability organizations respond to violence against women with disability. Using a case study vignette of a woman with disability disclosing FDV, this phenomenological study explored how 10 employees across the disability and FDV sectors respond to disclosures of abuse, the barriers that influenced their response, and suggested ways to improve their practices. The study found that responses were often insufficient to meet the needs of women with disability.

Critical reflections on an interprofessional collaboration to develop domestic violence curriculum in an undergraduate dentistry program

ABSTRACT There is growing recognition of the critical need to incorporate Domestic Violence (DV) curriculum into dentistry degrees. Interprofessional collaboration between Social Work, DV sector and Dentistry developed and delivered the Dentistry and Domestic Violence – Recognise, Respond and Refer (DDV-RRR) program within an undergraduate dentistry degree in Australia. This article presents our critical reflections on the collaboration, development and delivery of this program. Selected questions from Fook’s critical reflection model were utilised to guide the reflection process. Key learnings from this process include acknowledging inherent challenges, power and barriers in collaborative projects; importance of interprofessional collaboration for best practice; and the importance of interpersonal/professional relationships for forming and maintaining interprofessional collaborations. We share the learnings from our critical reflections as an example of how interprofessional collaboration enhances the development and delivery of DV curriculum in one undergraduate dentistry course.

‘You can’t go home because you are at home’: critical reflections on capturing and reflecting the trauma of domestic violence work during COVID-19

Drawing on video data collected between June and September of 2020, this piece reveals the unique challenges presented by COVID-19 frontline domestic abuse workers in the UK and provides critical reflections from the authors in the form of a collective interview. This innovative study uses participant-led data collection (in the form of self-recorded video diaries) and filmed focus groups with CEOs of UK charities, parliamentarians, the police and NHS professionals. The authors produced a film, Lifeline, drawing on the knowledge produced from these focus groups and video-diaries, foregrounding the voices of the women who work in this sector. The conversation presented here unpacks the complexities of representing domestic violence provision both in creative and academic outputs. Furthermore, the conversation reveals the epistemological challenges that come with representing and understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the domestic violence sector.

Locked Down with the Perpetrator: The Hidden Impacts of COVID-19 on Domestic and Family Violence in Australia

Prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic, domestic and family violence (DFV) had been recognised globally as an epidemic in its own right. Further, research has established that during times of crisis and/or after disasters, rates of DFV can escalate. The COVID-19 pandemic has been no exception, with emerging research from around the world confirming that the public health measures and social effects associated with COVID-19 have increased the frequency and severity of DFV in various countries. In contributing to this evolving body of literature, this paper reports on the findings of a national research project that examined the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on DFV in Australia. This nationwide survey of service providers indicates the public health responses to COVID-19 such as lockdowns and travel restrictions, while necessary to stem the pandemic, have had profound effects on increasing women’s risk and vulnerability to domestic violence, while at the same time making it more difficult for women to leave violent relationships and access support. However, this vulnerability is not evenly distributed. The pandemic pushed marginalised voices further underground, with many unable to seek help, locked down with their abuser. Our survey sought to amplify the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities; Indigenous communities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, + (LGBTIQ+) communities; women locked down with school-age children; those already in violent relationships; and those whose first experience of domestic violence coincided with the onset of the pandemic. For logistical and ethical reasons, we could only access their voices through the responses from the domestic violence sector.

The significance of technology as both a resource in enhancing safety, and a means of perpetrating violence: the implications for policy and practice

There is evidence that technological devices such as personal safety alarms and security cameras can be effective in contributing to an increased sense of safety for victims of domestic and family violence, when they are provided as part of a broader programme of support. This article reports on findings from a mixed methods evaluation of a programme trialled in Queensland, Australia. The programme was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services as part of the Keeping Women Safe in Their Home initiative. The trial was comprised of two components: the provision of personal safety alarms and security cameras to victims, and the resourcing of service providers to identify and respond to technology-facilitated abuse experienced by their clients. The findings from the evaluation of the trial contribute to an emerging evidence base on technology as a means to support and increase the safety of victims of violence. The findings also contribute to evidence on the capacity of the sector to respond to the use of technology to harass, monitor and stalk victims. There are benefits to clients and service providers from the innovative use of technology as part of a holistic and flexible domestic and family violence service response to meet the needs of victims, including those who wish to remain in their home. However, service providers in the trial felt less confident in supporting victims of technology-facilitated abuse. The limited uptake of strategies provided to assess and monitor technology-facilitated abuse indicates that support workers in the domestic violence sector would benefit from capacity building in this area. Better data and more research are needed to understand how technology is used to facilitate abuse and how services can implement effective responses to technology-facilitated abuse.

Healing the Healer: Exploring Barriers and Solutions to Supporting Workers in the Domestic Violence Sector

Individuals who work with Domestic Violence (DV) survivors are often exposed to traumatic events that can leave them feeling overwhelmed, distressed, and susceptible to experiences of trauma themselves. The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand the health and wellbeing of staff in the DV sector to build capacity around providing safe and supportive working environments. A focus group was conducted with 40 members of a local domestic violence collective while surveys were completed by 61 professionals within the DV sector. Thematic analysis of focus group discussions and descriptive analysis of survey data highlighted primary barriers to supportive and safe organizational cultures including the work environment, leadership, and supervision. Specifically, supervisors and organizational culture play a significant role in contributing to employee health and wellness. Results suggest the need for increased importance on the role that senior/executive staff must take in protecting their staff from trauma-related harms, including focusing on trauma-informed supervision, structure, self-care, education and training, agency policies and the safety of the work environment. Future research could explore the impact of prioritizing the role of senior and executive staff in creating a safe working environment while informing new policies and strategies for mitigating staff burnout.

Changing Media Coverage of Violence Against Women

This article reports on recent research concerning the use of sources by journalists reporting violence against women (VAW) in Australia. Until recently, VAW has been largely reported in the media by focusing on seemingly isolated events, rather than reporting VAW as a social problem. The international literature and Australian empirical studies show that journalists rely on law enforcement personnel as the expert “voices” that inform debate in the media, with an absence of survivors of violence, advocates, service providers and researchers. We report here on recent research focusing on intensive interviews in two Australian newsrooms, both of which made decisions to campaign for social change on the issue of VAW. We find that in the case of an “old media” newspaper, sourcing practices have not changed. Law enforcement personnel are still key—but changing attitudes within the police force were a key driver of the newsroom’s recognition of the scale and nature of the problem and the decision to launch a campaign. However, in the case of a commercial broadcast current events programme, social media played a key role both in sourcing practices and in spurring journalists to do more reporting on the issue. Social media was also increasingly being used to source subjects for interview, including survivors of domestic violence. We conclude with discussion of the implications of our findings for the domestic violence sector and its media relations, and question whether the media’s recent attention to VAW as a social issue will be sustained.

Neoliberalism and violence: The Big Society and the changing politics of domestic violence in England

Focusing on the domestic violence sector as a case study, this article examines how the Big Society agenda, coming alongside public spending cuts, is affecting the independence and ability of women’s organizations to engage in progressive policy shaping. By situating the analysis of the Big Society agenda within the broader context of international civil society strengthening programmes, the article considers how the processes currently unfolding in England, share certain similarities to what has happened globally wherever neoliberal policies aimed at instrumentalizing civil society for service delivery have been implemented. It contends that the policies of the Big Society agenda, which are aimed at strengthening the ‘capacity’ of civil society, are instead creating a situation where the independence and ability of civil society organizations to engage in progressive policy making is weakened.

Researching collaborative processes in domestic violence perpetrator programs: Benchmarking for situation improvement

SummaryThis article reports on research undertaken in Victoria, Australia with workers from men’s behavior change programs (perpetrator programs) to explore the extent of the collaborative processes established with police, child protection, and other human service organizations. It poses the question: how do regional collaborative arrangements and the pathways to referral reflect the responsiveness of men’s behavior change programs to domestic violence service integration? It builds on a strand of research highlighting the significance of the wider domestic violence intervention system in holding men who use violence accountable.FindingsA research tool was designed around a Practice Matrix to outline different dimensions against which expectations of collaboration could be benchmarked in men’s behavior change programs. It was found that at this early stage within the domestic violence reform process in Victoria that the integration of programs within the wider domestic violence sector was relatively undeveloped. The feedback loops between agencies, which enable reporting on attendance, breaches of intervention orders, changes to the risk assessment, and progress at formal review points were relatively undeveloped. However, the formal engagement within domestic violence regional committees and with police was more developed.ApplicationSocial workers, particularly in the vulnerable children’s area provide referrals to men’s behavior change programs. Active involvement in feedback, risk assessment review, monitoring for change support the accountability and collaborative effort required to strengthen the effectiveness of men’s behavior change and enhance the safety of women and their children.

Inclusive Domestic Violence Standards: Strategies to Improve Interventions for Women With Disabilities?

Women with disabilities experience violence at greater rates than other women, yet their access to domestic violence services is more limited. This limitation is mirrored in domestic violence sector standards, which often fail to include the specific issues for women with disabilities. This article has a dual focus: to outline a set of internationally transferrable standards for inclusive practice with women with disabilities affected by domestic violence; and report on the results of a documentary analysis of domestic violence service standards, codes of practice, and practice guidelines. It draws on the Building the Evidence (BtE) research and advocacy project in Victoria, Australia in which a matrix tool was developed to identify minimum standards to support the inclusion of women with disabilities in existing domestic violence sector standards. This tool is designed to interrogate domestic violence sector standards for their attention to women with disabilities.

Across the Divide: Using Research to Enhance Collaboration Between Mental Health and Domestic Violence Services

Recognition of the deleterious effects of domestic violence on women's mental health has highlighted the potential benefits for women of collaboration between mental health and domestic violence services. Yet the different histories, knowledge bases, and organisational cultures of the mental health and domestic violence sectors present formidable challenges to the development of effective collaborative work. This article draws on a large research enquiry, involving four separate but related studies, which explored aspects of collaboration between these two service sectors. It focuses particularly on data collected in interviews with practitioners from mental health and domestic violence services who were participants in an action research study (one of the four studies), which was aimed at discovering the factors that contributed to enhanced collaboration and the benefits of this for women who experience both domestic violence and mental health issues.

Domestic Violence and Child Protection: Partnerships and Collaboration

The interface between the child protection and domestic violence sectors is often problematic, in that the two sectors operate relatively independently, with little integration. However, it is widely recognised that these sectors need to work more closely to enhance both women's and children's safety. This paper explores the processes needed for the child protection and domestic violence sectors to develop collaborative partnerships that lead to the provision of higher-quality responses to both women and children. Drawing on collaboration theory, a number of barriers to the development of successful partnerships are described, and applied to initiatives that seek to develop integrated approaches between child protection and domestic violence services. It is concluded that there is much scope for the two sectors to work closely together, but that the development of integrated responses involving both child protection and domestic violence services will take a significant commitment, level of determination, and stamina from both parties.

Ethical issues in pro‐social advertising: the Australian 2006 White Ribbon Day campaign

Abstract The Australian White Ribbon Day 2006 campaign was severely criticized by mental health professionals and those working in the family and domestic violence sector because of depictions of suicide and self‐harm in the television advertisement and accompanying promotional materials. The White Ribbon Day (WRD) National Leadership Group (NLG) rejected all requests by concerned groups to not use these campaign materials. They and their apologists claimed that such violent imagery was necessary to attract men's attention and was being misinterpreted as depicting suicide attempts. With preliminary ethics approval we set out to assess reactions to the television advertisement. After 24 interviews, the testing was terminated by the university research ethics officer after two male respondents demonstrated significant distress after viewing the ad. Furthermore, the results by that stage showed that there were perceived messages of suicide in the ad. These results were sent to the WRD NLG with a request to reconsider proceeding with the television advertisement and associated materials. Mental health and domestic violence organizations lodged similar requests. All requests were rejected. The case raises a number of ethical issues for pro‐social organizations when dealing with sensitive issues and using execution techniques that may impact negatively on vulnerable audiences. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.