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Mental health service use in perpetrators of partner violence

Perpetration of partner violence is more common in people with recent mental health service use compared to the general household population of England.

Research conducted by Dr Vishal Bhavsar, Kings College London (KCL); VISION Co-Investigator Professor Louise M. Howard, KCL; VISION Deputy Director Sally McManus, City, University of London; and Dr Katherine Saunders, KCL, has demonstrated this correlation is not affected by criminal justice involvement or by social demographics(e.g. class, education), but seems to be explained by greater exposure to childhood adversities and exposure to partner violence.

The researchers think this work highlights an important potential role for health services in responding to perpetrators of domestic abuse, especially services which provide care for people with mental health conditions. Effective strengthening of the healthcare system’s response to perpetrators of domestic abuse has the potential to reduce violence.

For further information please see: Intimate partner violence perpetration and mental health service use in England: analysis of nationally representative survey data | BJPsych Open | Cambridge Core

Or contact Dr Vishal Bhavsar at vishal.2.bhavsar@kcl.ac.uk

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Remote GP contact limits domestic violence care

General Practice has a central role in identifying and supporting those affected by DVA. Pandemic associated changes in UK primary care included remote initial contacts with primary care and predominantly remote consulting.

This paper explores general practice’s adaptation to DVA care during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that the disruption caused by pandemic restrictions revealed how team dynamics and interactions before, during and after clinical consultations contribute to identifying and supporting patients experiencing DVA. Remote assessment complicates access to and delivery of DVA care.

This has implications for all primary and secondary care settings, within the NHS and internationally, which are vital to consider in both practice and policy.

For further information please see: General practice wide adaptations to support patients affected by DVA during the COVID-19 pandemic: a rapid qualitative study | BMC Primary Care | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)

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Use of text mining to study Intimate Partner Violence

Computational text mining methods are proposed as a useful methodological innovation in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) research. Text mining can offer researchers access to existing or new datasets, sourced from social media or from IPV-related organisations, that would be too large to analyse manually. This article aims to give an overview of current work applying text mining methodologies in the study of IPV, as a starting point for researchers wanting to use such methods in their own work.

A systematic review was conducted to PRISMA guidelines, searching 8 databases and identifying 22 unique studies to include in the review.

The studies cover a wide range of methodologies and outcomes. Supervised and unsupervised approaches are represented, including rule-based classification (n = 3), traditional Machine Learning (n = 8), Deep Learning (n = 6) and topic modelling (n = 4) methods. Datasets are mostly sourced from social media (n = 15), with other data being sourced from police forces (n = 3), health or social care providers (n = 3), or litigation texts (n = 1). Only a few studies commented on the ethics of computational IPV research.

Text mining methodologies offer promising data collection and analysis techniques for IPV research. However, future work in this space must consider the ethical implications of computational approaches.

For further information please see: A Systematic Literature Review of the Use of Computational Text Analysis Methods in Intimate Partner Violence Research | SpringerLink or contact Lilly Neubauer at j.neubauer@cs.ucl.ac.uk or Dr Leonie Tanczer at l.tanczer@ucl.ac.uk

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Reducing the impact of parental intimate partner violence

A fifth of children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children experienced parental intimate partner violence in early childhood. This analysis sought to identify which positive experiences might reduce the chances that such children would go on to develop depressive symptoms in adolescence.

VISION Interim Director, Professor Gene Feder, collaborated with Bristol University colleagues. They found that exposure to parental intimate partner violence in early childhood was associated with more depressive symptoms at age 18.

Most positive experiences were linked with lower levels of depressive symptoms regardless of parental intimate partner violence exposure. However, among those exposed to parental intimate partner violence, this association was found only for relationships with peers, school enjoyment, neighbourhood safety and cohesion on depressive symptoms.

Interventions aiming to nurture positive relationships with peers, school experiences and neighbourhood safety and cohesion have the potential to improve adolescent depression, including among those exposed to parental intimate partner violence.

For further information please see: Factors mitigating the harmful effects of intimate partner violence on adolescents’ depressive symptoms: a longitudinal birth cohort study — University of Bristol or contact Gene at gene.feder@bristol.ac.uk

Accounting for Inequalities

In this research, Dr Alexandria Innes, Senior Lecturer in International Politics and Co-Investigator within the VISION research grant, draws on a case study of gender-based violence and subsequent responses to argue that Ontological Security Studies – a sub-paradigm of International Relations that focuses on a sociology of security based on identity and social environments – have thus far failed to fully account for intersectional inequalities within social narratives of security. 

She argues that the state is incapable of providing lived experiences of security for all residents, because of inherent inequalities that underlie national identity, affecting services people have access to and the level of support they might receive from state-based agencies such as the police and social services. It is only in attending to those inequalities among the population that we can attend to the biases at the heart of the state.

Through the case study of the murder of Sarah Everard and the responses, the value and necessity of an intersectional approach to security is made clear: trauma responses that are positioned as transgressive by the patriarchal and White supremacist dominating account are used to undermine the credibility of alternative narratives of security. The state adopts a technique of dividing identity and constructing normatively oppressed identities as transgressive to consolidate the state narrative of security.

For further information please see: Accounting for inequalities: divided selves and divided states in International Relations – Alexandria Innes, 2023 (sagepub.com) or contact Andri at alexandria.innes@city.ac.uk

Intimate partner violence: Asking the right questions?

VISION Interim Director Gene Feder collaborated with Valeria Skafida from the University of Edinburgh and Christine Barter from the University of Central Lancashire to undertake a critical analysis of UK longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional population surveys which asked about experiences of intimate partner violence and abuse (IPVA).

Seven relevant UK representative population-based surveys which asked about IPVA among adults and/or young people (16–17 years old) were identified. They critically engaged with the questionnaires to analyse the strengths and limitations of existing UK data on IPVA.

Several limitations in UK surveys were identified. Many questions still showed a bias, partly historical, towards collecting more data about physical abuse. Few surveys asked about financial abuse, abuse post-separation or through child contact, or through technologies, though improvements were under way.

Surveys still sought to count incidents of abuse, instead of enquiring about the impact of abusive behaviours on victims. Ethnicity and other demographic variables were not always adequately captured (or accessible to data users), making it difficult to explore aspects of inequality. Potentially useful comparisons within the UK were difficult to undertake given the increasingly divergent questionnaires used in different UK nations.

They discussed how future iterations of existing surveys or new surveys can improve with regards to how questions about IPVA are asked. Given that surveys across geographical contexts often suffer similar weaknesses, their findings are relevant for IPVA survey methodology beyond the UK context.

For further information please see: Asking the Right Questions? A Critical Overview of Longitudinal Survey Data on Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse Among Adults and Young People in the UK | SpringerLink

Intimate partner violence: Factor in chronic health problems

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is increasingly recognised as a contributing factor for long-term health problems; however, few studies have assessed these health outcomes using consistent and comprehensive IPV measures or representative population-based samples. Health implications of IPV against men is also relatively underexplored. Given the gendered differences in IPV exposure patterns, exploration of gender patterns in men’ and women’s IPV exposure and health outcomes is needed.

We used data from the 2019 New Zealand Family Violence Study, a cross-sectional population-based study of ~2,800 ever-partnered women and men which was conducted across 3 regions of New Zealand.

We found that women’s exposure to any lifetime IPV, as well as specific IPV types (physical, sexual, psychological, controlling behaviors, and economic abuse), was associated with increased likelihood of reporting adverse health outcomes (poor general health, recent pain or discomfort, recent health care consultation, any diagnosed physical and mental health condition). Furthermore, a cumulative pattern was observed that is women who experienced multiple IPV types were more likely to report poorer health outcomes.

Regarding men exposure to IPV, we found that while men’s exposure to IPV was associated with increased likelihood of reporting 4 of the 7 assessed poor health outcomes, specific IPV types were inconsistently associated with poor health outcomes. Experience of a higher number of IPV types among men did not show a clear stepwise association with number of health outcomes. These findings indicate that IPV against men, unlike women, does not consistently contribute to their poor health outcomes at the population level.

In sum, our findings warrant gender-appropriate clinical approaches when IPV is identified. Specifically, health care systems need to be mobilized to address IPV as a priority health issue among women. However, these findings do not warrant routine inquiry for IPV against men in clinical settings, although appropriate care is needed if IPV against men is identified.

For further information please see: Association Between Men’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Self-reported Health Outcomes in New Zealand | Global Health | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network and Association Between Women’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Self-reported Health Outcomes in New Zealand | Intimate Partner Violence | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network

Or contact Dr Ladan Hashemi at ladan.hashemi@city.ac.uk

Domestic violence fatality reviews: Thinking methodologically and ethically

Domestic Violence Fatality Review (DVFR) systems collect data on different aspects of gender, violence, and abuse required to form an evidence base for prevention. However, to date, there has been limited dialogue between practitioners and researchers about the ‘doing’ of DVFRs.

As DVFR systems vary by jurisdiction, we draw upon a case study of Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) in England and Wales. Applying the Research Integrity Framework developed by the four Women’s Aid Federations in the UK, this article examines both the practice of DHR and how it is utilised as data in research. Informed by our situated perspectives as researchers and/or practitioners working in the field, our analysis demonstrates how undertaking DHR as a practitioner parallels collecting, accessing, and analysing data from DHRs as a researcher. Guiding principles are identified to help practitioners and researchers navigate the parallel challenges they confront and, critically, inform dialogue between practice and research.

To increase transparency and confidence, we argue that more attention should be afforded to the methodological and ethical issues inherent in both the practice of DHRs, and their utilisation as a source of data in research.

For further information please see: Parallels in Practice: Applying Principles of Research Integrity and Ethics in Domestic Violence Fatality Review (DVFR) | SpringerLink

Relationship quality and family formation in Europe

The increase in cohabitation and nonmarital childbearing across Europe has raised questions about who still marries either before or after having a child. Although prior studies have addressed the sequence of marriage and childbearing, few have examined the role of relationship quality in these transitions. Here we employ a cross-national perspective to study the association between relationship quality and marriage and/or first birth within cohabitation. Using the Generations and Gender Survey and UK Household Longitudinal Study, we study seven European countries (Austria, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and UK).

We employ competing risk hazard models to follow respondents as they 1) transition from cohabitation into marriage or conception (or separation); 2) transition to marriage (or separation) after having a birth within cohabitation.

Results show that cohabitors with higher relationship quality are more marriage prone than those in lower quality relationships in Austria, France, Hungary, and the UK, but not in the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Instead, higher relationship quality is associated with higher conception risks in cohabitation in Sweden. After childbearing, we find a positive association between relationship quality and marriage among cohabiting parents in the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. These results suggest that marriage is still important for couples with higher quality relationships; however, in countries where cohabitation is widespread, the timing of marriage may have shifted to after childbearing.

For further information please see: Relationship quality and family formation in Europe – ScienceDirect

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