Despite a general awareness of the prevalence of harm young people are experiencing in their relationships, there is little data and evidence supporting the prevention of and responses to such harm through the adoption of a survivor centred transformative justice approach.
Talia Kensit, founder and former CEO of Youth Realities, explored adolescent domestic abuse as a Fellow with the Churchill Fellowship, a UK charity which supports individual UK citizens to follow their passion for change, through learning from the world and bringing that knowledge back to the UK.
Her travels and research resulted in Prevention, Intervention and Healing: Addressing Adolescent Relationship Abuse, a framework of best practice upheld by the theory of transformative justice. It is Talia’s recommendation that in order to address the epidemic of harm experienced by young people in their intimate relationships, we must implement polices and practice through prevention, intervention and healing.
All those registering will receive an email by 30 October from the Violence and Society Centre with the room and building number where the launch will be held on our Clerkenwell campus.
The book’s chapters use retrospective case studies to engage with a systems approach to discover new thinking and applications that may best suit the area of domestic abuse and sexual violence (DASV). All the chapters showcase systems approaches in varying ways to ignite new inquiries and conversations about grappling with the greater complexity of problems.
Dr Adisa and Professor Bond, together with their collaborators, will launch the book at a special event at City St. George’s University of London on Tuesday, 26 November at 5.30 pm. They will explain the book and share their inspiration for the themes covered. A panel of speakers will share their collective vision for systems change in tackling DASV in different systems. The event will also feature poetry (spoken word) performances based on lived/living experiences of domestic abuse and as a survivor-centred response to the book’s themes.
Dr Adisa said:
“I am incredibly excited about the launch event. I have been overwhelmed by the positive and heartwarming reaction to the book from those committed to tackling the problem of DASV and those sadly affected by DASV. I have been impressed with the brilliant contributions made by all the authors who are deeply committed to bringing about change. This event is an opportunity to hear from some amazing speakers and forge new encounters and connections, united in our quest to reduce DASV and mitigate its devastating impact on children, families, and communities.”
Professor Sally McManus, Director of the Violence and Society Centre, and Co-Deputy Director, VISION, said:
“Dr Adisa works at the forefront of systems thinking. This new collection – co-curated with Prof Bond – brings a radical new approach to addressing violence and abuse, rooted in diverse real-world examples of challenge and change. The book houses many rich voices, distinct yet drawn together through common themes of complexity and hope.”
Please join Dr Adisa, Professor Bond, and their fellow collaborators at their 26 November book launch at The Pavilion, University Building, City St George’s, from 5:30 – 7 pm. Drinks and nibbles will be provided.
We are pleased to announce our next webinar for the VISION and Violence & Society Centre (VASC) Webinar Series on Tuesday, 1 October 2024, 1300 – 1350.
Joht Chandan, Clinical Professor of Public Health at the University of Birmingham, will present his research on measuring the global burden of morbidity associated with violence against women and children.
Joht has spent considerable time working on designing and delivering a public health approach to abuse and violence. This includes research into finding what works to support survivors of violence, abuse and maltreatment as well as methods to improve surveillance in the context of violence against women and children. For example, his research has shown that survivors of domestic abuse are nearly three times more likely to suffer from mental ill health during their lifetime and have above-average rates of diabetes, heart disease and death.
The purpose of the series is to provide a platform for academia, government and the voluntary and community sector that work to reduce and prevent violence to present their work / research to a wider audience. This is a multidisciplinary platform and we welcome speakers from across a variety of fields such as health, crime, policing, ethnicity, migration, sociology, social work, primary care, front line services, etc. If interested in presenting at a future Series webinar, please contact: VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk
Adolescent domestic abuse (ADA) goes by many names, sometimes referred to as toxic teenage relationships. ADA includes physical, emotional, and/ or sexual abuse that occurs between young people who are, or were, dating. It is often overlooked in research, policy and practice. As a phenomenon, abusive behaviour between adolescents in intimate relationships remains relatively invisible, due in part to the persistent yet unfounded assumption that domestic abuse is something that only occurs between adults.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales finds that women aged 16 to 19 are more likely to experience domestic abuse than older age groups (ONS, 2020), but despite the prevalence, women in this age group are less likely to be referred to support services (SafeLives, 2017).
SafeLives discovered, on average, experiencing abusive behaviour from a partner begins at age 14 or 15, (2017). Further research in Wales found that among those aged 11-16 years old experienced a range of mental health and social impacts associated with experiencing domestic abuse, including teenage pregnancy, self-harm, and violent behaviour (Young et al, 2021).
With this landscape in mind and led by the need from our partners and to ensure intersectoral collaboration, VISION set up a working group with Thames Valley Police, SafeLives, Islington Borough Council, H.O.P.E Training, Respect, Youth Realities and others to investigate ADA via three activities:
ADA rapid systematicreview to synthesise existing research and data on ADA in teenage relationships (January 2024; funded by the City St George’s, UoL, Policy Support Fund).
ADA workshop: ‘Too Soon, Too Late’ organised by VISION with SafeLives Changemakers and young people who experienced abuse in their relationships when they were aged 13 to 16 (March 2024; funded by the City St George’s, UoL, Participatory Research Fund).
ADA conference, an event to bring together practitioners, people with lived experience, police, researchers, and policymakers working in the ADA environment (April 2024; funded by the City St George’s, UoL, HEIF KE Fund).
The report, Summary of the VISION Adolescent Domestic Abuse activities and events in 2024, is available online. It summarises the findings and recommendations of the review, workshop and conference for a roundtable of police, local government, academics, practitioners and specialist services working in the field held in June 2024. It was produced for the working group as an aid to distil the thinking thus far across the three VISION activities.
ADA Rapid Systematic Review
The VISION review investigates ADA by examining the terminology and related terminology used in the literature. The paper focuses on the perpetration and victimisation as it concerns adolescents, especially those under 16 years old, and the factors that act as protective and recovery mechanisms for young people experiencing ADA.
VISION researchers, led by Dr Ruth Weir, conducted a systematic rapid review of 79 papers from databases for peer-reviewed literature.
The team discovered definitional issues, an overemphasis on quantitative studies, and a lack of attention to ADA when it intersects with cultural factors, gender differences, criminalisation, and poor mental health. Many of the studies report on school-based settings, with limited reporting and understanding of the role of neighbourhood factors in acting as protective and recovery mechanisms. Additionally, literature on impacted adolescents and their help-seeking behaviours is sparse. The review revealed that evidence on abuse affecting adolescents in the UK remains patchy.
Highlights from the VISION ADA rapid review: Gaps, limitations & considerations for future research
ADA workshop:Too Soon, Too Late
Dr Polina Obolenskaya and Dr Annie Bunce, VISION Research Fellows, collaborated on a consultation project, “Too soon, too late”, with the SafeLives Changemakers and with young people who experienced abuse in their relationships when they were aged 13 to 16. The main aim of the consultation was to develop a robust, methodological framework for a future adolescent domestic abuse (ADA) research proposal.
Together with SafeLives, a charity working to end domestic violence, they co-developed the material for the online workshop, a focus group, with young people, which took place in March 2024, and was facilitated by the ‘Changemakers’, a group of young people passionate about amplifying the voices of survivors of domestic abuse. They work alongside SafeLives providing a young person’s expertise on the charity’s work, conducting research, and working to influence policy change.
Some of the preliminary themes from the workshop include:
Lack of recognition amongst young people of both domestic abuse (DA) in general, and ADA specifically.
Young people don’t easily identify their own experiences of ADA as DA.
Young people’s understanding of ADA changes over time.
Young people highlighted the wide variation in experiences of ADA and professional responses to it.
Young people can identify clear priorities for future ADA research.
Young people see school as a key point of early intervention, but feel that improvement is needed in terms of better education around healthy relationships and school cultures that encourage open discussion around DA whilst actively challenging attitudes and behaviours conducive to ADA and sexual violence.
Further information can be found in the report available for downloading online.
ADA Conference
The Adolescent Domestic Abuse conference held on 18 April brought together 161 academics, practitioners, and policy makers to share existing research, policy and practice. Dr Ruth Weir, Senior Research Fellow at the Violence & Society Centre and the VISION research project at City, and Katy Barrow Grint, Assistant Chief Constable at Thames Valley Police, welcomed the delegates.
Louise Rolfe, OBE, Metropolitan Police and National Police Chief Council lead for Domestic Abuse was a keynote speaker. Louise spoke about the national context of domestic abuse, highlighting the most harmful abuse that is seen is coercive control and that domestic abuse accounts for more than 30% of violent crime. She also spoke about the role of the media requiring scrutiny and the need for sustainable long-term systemic solutions.
Professor Christine Barter, Co-Director of the Connect Centre for International Research on Interpersonal Violence and Harm, University of Central Lancashire, also gave a keynote. She provided an overview of her 15 years of research exploring the prevalence, subjective impact and risk factors associated with abuse in young people’s relationships in her presentation, Researching abuse within teenage relationships: A critique of a decade’s work and what we could do better. Her mixed-method body of work addressed both victimisation and perpetration for young people aged 13 to 17.
There were panels on Teenage relationships and abuse: What the research says; Sexual violence in teenage relationships; and Specialist services and local government. Presenters included academics sharing their ADA research from Loughborough University and Durham University and specialist domestic violence organisations like SafeLives, Refuge, and Women’s Aid. Islington Borough Council, representing local government, discussed their work on a multi-agency model project to identify, intervene and protect teenagers experience ADA.
Join IKWRO and the UKPRP VISION consortium for an enlightening and impactful event dedicated to raising awareness and understanding of “honour”-based abuse
IKWRO works to safeguard and empower women and girls against ‘honour-based’ abuse across the UK. Their mission is to advance Middle Eastern, North African, and Afghan women’s and girls’ rights, tackle discrimination and violence against women and girls, and empower women and girls to access their rights and entitlements in the UK.
In honour of the International Day of the Girl Child, this in-person event is dedicated to raising awareness and understanding of “honour”-based abuse, which is predominantly suffered by women and girls.
Professionals, students, survivors, and anyone interested in understanding and combating honour-based abuse are welcome. This is an opportunity to learn from experts, connect with others in the field, and contribute to a meaningful dialogue on this important issue.
Event Highlights
Panel Discussions with a Q&A Session: An open forum for attendees to engage with our speakers and ask questions about honour-based abuse and how to tackle it effectively.
Experts in the field will discuss the nuances of honour-based abuse, its identification, and the challenges in differentiating it from domestic violence.
Survivors and advocates will share their personal stories and discuss support systems and empowerment strategies.
Event Details
Date: Friday 18th October 2024
Time: 13:00 to 17:30 with a networking reception afterwards
Location: Northampton Suite, University building, City, University of London
Early-bird tickets are £12; regular price £15. All proceeds go to IKWRO.
A number of free tickets for City, UoL staff and students are available.
The VISION systematic review team, Dr Natalia Lewis, Dr Elizabeth Cook, Dr Jessica Corsi, Dr Sophie Carlisle and Dr Annie Bunce, presented at the London Evidence Syntheses and Research Use Seminars on 17 July 2024. The event was an initiative jointly hosted by the EPPI Centre (at UCL) and the Centre for Evaluation at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
The team presented under the collective theme Producing evidence syntheses on violence and abuse: reflections on the disciplinary variations and practicalities, with the aim of prompting conversation about how systematic review methodologies can be adapted across disciplines. Dr Natalia Lewis (Systematic Review Lead, University of Bristol) introduced the session, describing the emergence of systematic reviews at the top of the ‘hierarchy of evidence’ that is often referenced in evidence-based medicine. Accompanying systematic reviews are a range of reporting standards, tools and guidance stipulating recommended practices for conducting reviews. However, as the team discussed in their presentations, such standardised frameworks and approaches do not provide space for reflection on the process and implications of adapting these methodologies to evidence on violence and abuse.
The seminar included the following presentations:
Dr Elizabeth Cook (City, University of London): Evidence syntheses in a global context: A systematic review of sex/gender disaggregated homicide.
Dr Jessica Corsi (City, University of London): Evidence synthesis on legal records: challenges and adaptations.
Dr Sophie Carlisle (Health Innovation East Midlands): Evidence synthesis in the context of UK domestic and sexual violence services: Involving professional stakeholders.
The presentations are available to view and download below.
Dr Natalia Lewis, Producing evidence syntheses on violence and abuse: reflections on the disciplinary variations and practicalities
Violence against older people is often overlooked. As a society, we often associate violence with young people, gangs, unsafe streets, and ‘knife crime’. However, violence also takes place behind front doors, perpetuated by families and partners, and victims include older people.
Some older people may be particularly vulnerable due to poorer physical health, disability, dependence on others, and financial challenges after retirement. Policy rarely addresses the safety of this population, with even health and social care professionals sometimes assuming that violence does not affect older people. For example, doctors may dismiss injuries or depression as inevitable problems related to old age and miss opportunities to identify victims (1). In addition, older people may be less likely to report violence and abuse because they themselves may not recognise it, do not want to accuse family members, or out of fear (2).
Given victims of violence often remain invisible to health and social services, police, or charities, the most reliable statistics on violence often come from national surveys such as the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) conducted by the Office for National Statistics. However, for a long time the CSEW self-completion – the part of the interview with the most detail on violence and abuse – excluded those aged 60 or more, and only recently extended to include those over 74. Some national surveys specifically focus on older people, but these ask very little about violence and abuse. Additionally, despite people in care homes or other institutional settings experiencing a higher risk of violence, it can be challenging to collect information from them. Therefore, many surveys only interview people in private households, which excludes many higher-risk groups.
We need a better grasp of the extent and nature of violence and abuse in older populations. First, reliable figures can improve the allocation of resources and services targeted at the protection of older people. Second, better statistics can identify the risk factors for experiencing violence in later life and the most vulnerable groups.
In the VISION consortium, we used the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS 2014) to examine violence in people aged 60 and over in England (3). While we found that older people of minoritised ethnic backgrounds are at higher risk of violence (prevalence of 6.0% versus 1.7% in white people in 12 months prior to the survey), more research needs to be done to distinguish the experiences of different ethnic groups. Our research also showed that loneliness and social isolation were strongly related to violence in later life. Older people may experience social isolation due to limiting health issues or economic situations, and perpetrators can exploit this (4). Moreover, isolation of victims is a tool commonly used by perpetrators, especially in cases of domestic abuse (5). Knowing about these and other risk factors can help us better spot and protect potential victims.
Additionally, more needs to be learnt about the consequences of life course exposure to violence for health and well-being in later life. This is still a relatively unexplored area due to limited data and a lack of reporting from older victims and survivors. It is sometimes more difficult to establish the link between violence and health problems because the health impacts are not always immediate but can accumulate or emerge in later life (6). Also, as people develop more illnesses as they age, it is more challenging to distinguish health issues attributable to violence. Therefore we are also using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) to examine temporal relationships between lifetime violence exposure and health in older age.
In an inclusive society, every member should be able to lead a life where they feel safe and respected. We are delighted that the CSEW has removed the upper age limit to data collection on domestic abuse, which is one step towards making older victims and survivors heard. Continuous work on uncovering the ‘hidden’ statistics and examining the effects of intersectional characteristics on violence is crucial in making our society more inclusive, equal, and safe for everyone. For example, one VISION study (7) has demonstrated that the risks of repeated victimisation in domestic relationships had opposite trends for men and women as they aged. We are committed to support the Hourglass Manifesto to end the abuse of older people (8), and are willing to provide decision makers with evidence to enable a safer ageing society.
1. SafeLives U. Safe later lives: Older people and domestic abuse, spotlights report. 2016.
2. Age UK. No Age Limit: the blind spot of older victims and survivors in the Domestic Abuse Bill. 2020.
3. Fadeeva A, Hashemi L, Cooper C, Stewart R, McManus S. Violence against older people and mental health: a probability sample survey of the general population. forthcoming.
4. Tung EL, Hawkley LC, Cagney KA, Peek ME. Social isolation, loneliness, and violence exposure in urban adults. Health Affairs. 2019;38(10):1670-8.
5. Stark E. Coercive control. Violence against women: Current theory and practice in domestic abuse, sexual violence and exploitation. 2013:17-33.
6. Knight L, Hester M. Domestic violence and mental health in older adults. International review of psychiatry. 2016;28(5):464-74.
7. Weir R. Differentiating risk: The association between relationship type and risk of repeat victimization of domestic abuse. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice. 2024;18:paae024.
8. Hourglass. Manifesto A Safer Ageing Society by 2050. 2024.
The presentations from the 3rd VISION annual conference are now available for downloading.
The event was held at Kings College London, Strand campus, on 11 June. The theme was Violence prevention in research and policy: Bridging silos. Keynote speakers, Dr Claudia Garcia-Moreno (World Health Organisation) and Professor Katrin Hohl (City, UoL) considered the changes needed for effective violence prevention from the perspectives of health and justice. Three symposiums highlighted interdisciplinary research from the VISION consortium and partners on:
– Violence against older people: Challenges in research and policy;
– Learning across statutory review practices: Origins, ambitions and future directions; and
– Responding to experiences and expressions of interpersonal violence in the workplace
Approximately 80 academics, central and local government officials, practitioners, and voluntary and community sector organisations attended from a range of health and crime / justice disciplines.
All the slides that could be shared are available below. Please feel free to download.
Photo caption: Symposium 3, ‘Responding to experiences and expressions of interpersonal violence in the workplace’. From left to right: Chair, Dr Olumide Adisa (University of Suffolk) and Panellists Dr Vanessa Gash (City, UoL), Dr Alison Gregory (Alison Gregory Consulting), Catherine Buglass (Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse) and Dr Niels Blom (City, UoL)
Professor Gene Feder, VISION Director – Welcome – 1 download
Symposium 1 – Violence against older people: Challenges in research and policy – 4 downloads (Hourglass, Office for National Statistics, Public Health Wales & VISION)
Symposium 3 – Responding to experiences and expressions of interpersonal violence in the workplace – 3 downloads (Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse, and 2 from VISION)
Researching violence against women and girls (VAWG) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) presents unique challenges, primarily due to various contextual factors that hinder conventional survey methodologies. These challenges include limited funding, political obstacles, and safety concerns for both researchers and participants. Consequently, traditional survey approaches may prove unfeasible or inadequate in capturing the complex realities of VAWG in these settings.
VAWG is a particularly pressing issue in Iran, a Middle Eastern country marked by its patriarchal structure and systematic and pervasive gender discrimination. The patriarchal and legal structure of the country perpetuates gender inequalities and reinforces societal norms that tolerate or even condone violence against women. Yet, understanding the full scope of VAWG in Iran remains hindered by a lack of robust data.
In a recently published study, VISION researchers, Ladan Hashemi and Sally McManus, collaborated with counterparts from Bristol University (Nadia Aghtaie) and Iran (Fateme Babakhani) to explore the effectiveness of social media in recruiting victims of violence in Iran, shedding light on their experiences and the potential of social media as a research tool.
The findings revealed valuable insights into the manifestation and context of VAWG in Iran. Social media recruitment proved to be effective in reaching a diverse sample of victims and provided crucial insights into the dynamics of violence, the identities of perpetrators, and the settings where violence occurs. Victims often reported experiences from more than one type of perpetrator, spanning both public and domestic spheres. While social media recruitment offers broad reach and a safer environment for data collection, it also presents challenges such as sampling biases which affect the generalisability of findings.
In 2022, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) developed a prototype violence against women and girls (VAWG) dashboard. The tool presents statistics and charts on violence against women and girls in England and Wales, drawing on multiple sources. However, due to re-prioritisation at ONS, maintenance of the dashboard was halted and from 1st April 2024 it will no longer be accessible.
The VISION consortium is consulting on whether there is need for a VAWG data dashboard. This consultation is seeking views on:
Whether the dashboard was useful
Who used it and why
If the dashboard was to continue, what aspects should be kept, dropped or added.
Anyone interested in the idea of a VAWG data dashboard is welcome to respond to the survey, particularly if interested in using one in the future.
Answer as many questions as you like. You can provide contact details or complete this anonymously. The findings will be used to draft a report and provide recommendations on whether the dashboard should continue. The report will include a list of the groups and organisations that participated (where details are provided). Individuals will not be named, although quotes may be taken from the text provided. The report may be published, for example on the VISION website.
The ONS VAWG dashboard was available online until 31 March 2024. Therefore, if you would like to participate in this consultation, please view the sample screenshots of the tool below.
