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New VISION Policy Briefing Series on ethnicity inequalities and violence

In collaboration with Imkaan, the UK’s only national feminist umbrella organisation dedicated to addressing violence against Black and minoritsed women and girls, VISION Research Fellow, Dr Hannah Manzur, wrote two policies on the intersectionality of ethnicity, sex, gender, and violence focussing first on access to specialist services and second, through a systems theory approach.

The first policy briefing, Ethnic Inequalities in Violence Series: Specialist Services, is based on VISION research on ethnic inequalities, gendered violence, and specialist services. The research team finds critical inequalities in Black and minoritised women’s access to support and emphasises the need for a sustainably funded ‘By and For’ Sector.

The second policy briefing, Ethnic Inequalities in Violence Series: Systems Response, also uses VISION research on ethnic inequalities but looks at violence risks, harms, and service responses from a systems theory approach. This briefing identifies compounding disadvantages, intersecting inequalities, and critical gaps and disparities in victim-survivors’ services access and treatment.

 

Supporting Specialist Services for Black and Minoritised Women Victims of Violence: Access, Impact, & Resources

Specialist services provide life-saving support to people experiencing domestic and sexual violence, including trauma-informed and VAWG-sensitive care, counselling, legal and medical support, safety planning, advocacy, and crisis interventions delivered by trained caseworkers and practitioners. Led by Black and minoritised women, specialist ‘By and For’ services[1] are particularly important in offering essential holistic, wrap-around support, including intersectional advocacy, tailored to the specific needs and experiences of Black and minoritised women victim-survivors. Despite this, specialist services, particularly the ‘By and For’ sector, are constrained by chronic underfunding, limited inclusion and recognition of their expertise, and increased demand for services in an increasingly hostile political landscape for Black and minoritised communities and victim-survivors of violence.

Key Recommendations

  1. Funding: adequate, secured, and sustainable funding for specialist services with increased and ring-fenced ‘By and For’ funding.
  2. Recognition: formally recognise ‘By and For’ services as a distinct and essential model of VAWG prevention.
  3. No Recourse for Public Funds (NRPF): urgently repeal the NRPF condition.
  4. Data: introduce a data firewall for migrant victims, improve national ethnicity data, fund specialist services’ data-infrastucture projects, and engage ‘By and For’ expertise.
  5. Accessibility: evaluate national accessibility to specialist services, especially ‘By and For’ closures and reductions.
  6. Training: statutory services training in service provision tailored to Black and minoritised women victims.
  7. Collaboration: investment in collaborative partnerships, training, and referral protocols, led by ‘By and For’ expertise.

 

Ethnic Inequalities in Violence: Addressing Compounding Disadvantage and Institutional Engagement through a Systems Response to Violence

From data to policy to services, the systems designed to address the complex needs of violence victim-survivors of violence often fall short. Disjointed services, difficult pathways to support, and critical gaps in service provision create a complex system which victim-survivors, particularly those experiencing domestic and sexual violence, are expected to navigate to access support. For Black and minoritised victim-survivors of domestic and sexual violence, violence  causes and contexts, risks, harms, and support needs are shaped by both intersecting inequalities and compounding disadvantages. The combination of existing social disadvantages, under-funded and non-specialist public and specialist services, and disjointed and complex systems[2] requires urgently addressing from an intersectional and systems-based response to violence prevention and victim support.

Key Recommendations

  1. Systems-level responses: Targeted interventions and support provision must be integrated into a systems-level approach through cross-sectoral and multi-agency collaboration. Include funded advisory roles for specialist ‘By and For’ services representatives as systems leaders, not only referal partners.
  2. Build data and evidence linkages and expand cross-sectoral comparative research.
  3. Remove cross-sectoral barriers to support, including repealing the NRPF, introducing data-sharing firewalls, and enhance statutory duties.
  4. Invest in comparative and intersectional research which integrates multiple social contexts and axes of inequality.
  • [2] VISION’s systems theory approach was led by Dr Olumide Adisa. See for example: Adisa 2024, 2025.

 

To download the briefings:

To cite the Specialist Services briefing: Manzur, H. 2026. Supporting Specialist Services for Black and Minoritised Women Victims of Violence: A VISION Research and Policy Briefing in collaboration with Imkaan. London: VISION, Imkaan. https://doi.org/10.25383/city.33524527

To cite the Systems Response briefing: Manzur, H. 2026. Ethnic Inequalities in Violence: Addressing Compounding Disadvantage and Institutional Engagement through a Systems Response to Violence. A VISION Research & Policy Briefing in collaboration with Imkaan. London: VISION, Imkaan. https://doi.org/10.25383/city.33527260

For further information: contact Hannah at hannah.manzur.4@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Domestic Violence and Abuse-Related Suicide: Evidence from Six Years of Irish Coronial Data

Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) and suicide are both major public health concerns, yet the relationship between them is less well understood. For people experiencing DVA, understanding their connection is key if support services and interventions are to respond effectively.

A new study, Domestic Violence and Abuse-Related Suicide: Evidence from Six Years of Irish Coronial Data, co-authored by Gemma Cox, Sarah Dangar, Katerina Kavalidou, and VISION researcher, Lizzie Cook, contributes new evidence to this emerging area of research. The study is the first in Ireland to examine the intersection between DVA and suicide using six years of national coronial data from the Irish Probable Suicide Deaths Study (IPSDS).

Using a mixed-methods approach, the study draws on coronial records of suicides to investigate the prevalence, circumstances, and characteristics where a link to DVA had been document. A total of 3622 cases of suicide were screened for evidence of DVA; of thse, 15 DVA-related suicides were identified, all of which were female. A series of composite narratives are used to highlight the complex interaction of factors shaping DVA and suicide.

The study highlights the importance of recognising DVA within wider suicide prevention efforts. However, it also raises important questions about how experiences of DVA are identified and recorded within coronial systems that investigates these deaths.

This paper will be of interest to researchers, clinicians, mental health professionals, domestic abuse practitioners, suicide prevention specialists, policymakers, coroners, voluntary and communtiy sector organisations, and others working across health, social care, and justic sectors.

To download the article in the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine: Domestic violence and abuse-related suicide: evidence from six years of Irish coronial data

To cite: Cox G, Cook E, Dangar S, Kavalidou K. Domestic violence and abuse-related suicide: evidence from six years of Irish coronial data. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine. Published online 2026:1-8. doi:10.1017/ipm.2026.10220

For further information: contact Lizzie at elizabeth.cook@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Upcoming event: Gaps in measuring and responding to childhood adversity

 

 

Domestic abuse and other adversities experienced by children and young people: What’s missing in measurement and service response?

This event is in the past

Free webinar, Tuesday 15 September 2026, 12:00 – 14:00

To register: Gaps in measuring and responding to childhood adversity

There is widespread recognition that adversities experienced by children and young people are damaging to their health and wellbeing, with negative impact through their life course.  Those adversities, including domestic abuse and child maltreatment, are often invisible to NHS service providers, a necessary condition for responding to the needs of those children and young people. 

VISION (a UK Prevention Research Partnership-funded consortium) and CPRU (the NIHR Child and Families Policy Research Unit) have conducted multi-disciplinary research improving the measurement of child adversities and their impact on mental health, enhancing the use of general practice data to identify families experiencing adversity, identify the gaps and effective practice in responding to the needs of children and young people experiencing domestic abuse or maltreatment, particularly their mental health.  

The webinar will be co-chaired by Professors Gene Feder (VISION, University of Bristol) & Ruth Gilbert (CPRU, University College London) with presentations from the following researchers with ample time for discussion of their findings in relation to practice and policy: 

  • Dr Ladan Hashemi (VISION, City St George’s UoL) – Adverse childhood experiences and childhood outcomes: cumulative exposure, and mitigating factors: from epidemiology to informing services
  • Dr Shabeer Syed (CPRU, University College London) – From firstborn to family: identifying ACEs in general practice data and the case for whole-family support
  • Dr Claire Powell (CPRU, University College London) – Invisibility of domestic abuse in child and adolescent mental health services: how can it be made visible and addressed?
  • Dr Ruth Weir (VISION, City St George’s UoL) – Teenage relationship abuse: Recognition and response in collaboration with young people

Co-organisers:

             

 

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Upcoming event – Improving police responses to domestic abuse with AI

 

 

Exploring opportunities to improve police responses to domestic abuse with Artificial Intelligence: Aligning with the NPCC’s Digital Strategy

This event is in the past

Online, Wednesday 2 September 2026, 4 – 5 pm

To register: Exploring opportunities webinar

Presenters: Dr Les Humphreys, University of Lancashire and Dr Darren Cook, City St George’s University of London

Efforts to develop intelligence led policing are ongoing and will continue apace in line with the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Digital Strategy for 2025-2030. To implement this strategy, Police chiefs are calling for huge investment from the government to increase science and technology capabilities. This strategy has the potential to make significant improvements to police responses to domestic abuse, in part by better utilising the masses of unstructured (i.e., textual) data routinely collected by the police but rarely analysed. Effective implementation of the digital strategy requires understanding police analysts’ current abilities to meet the proposed demands, and an appreciation of what developments are needed and feasible.

To address these questions, we conducted a survey of police analysts, asking questions reflecting their current knowledge of modern AI tools, as well as their capacity and attitude towards potential upskilling. We received responses from 159 analysts (81% of whom were from UK police forces). We present results from the survey. Highlighting the potential benefits of improved data analytic capabilities within policing, we present examples of how AI and related technologies can be used to address core data analysis problems related to domestic abuse. We conclude by discussing the implications that our research has for ensuring police analysts are well positioned to effectively use the large amounts of text data they hold for better responses to domestic abuse.

For any queries, contact connectcentre@lancashire.ac.uk

Co-organisers:

                        

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Measuring outcomes of safe accommodation: A rapid evidence review

Safe accommodation refers to safe, time limited accommodation for anyone escaping domestic abuse. It includes a range of settings such as refuge accommodation, specialist and dispersed accommodation, sanctuary schemes, and move-on or second-stage housing. In the short-term, support in safe accommodation provides immediate safety for victim-survivors fleeing domestic abuse, and, in the longer-term the aim is for victim survivors to be free from abuse and rebuild their lives.

The most recent national estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that 3.8 million people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in year ending March 2025: 2.2 million females and 1.5 million males. The demand for safe accommodation for those experiencing domestic abuse persistently outweighs supply. Also, there is a shortage of safe accommodation and barriers to access for marginalised groups such as those with no recourse to public funds, or complex mental health and/or substance use need and/or disability access.

While existing evidence provides insight into demand and provision in the context of supported safe accommodation, it does not capture the outcomes experienced by survivors who access safe accommodation. Previous studies have highlighted the diversity and inconsistency of outcomes used to evaluate the impact of domestic abuse services on adults and children, and the need for a shared outcomes framework to develop a coherent national picture of what works.

In response, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) commissioned a study to assess the feasibility of establishing a shared outcomes framework for support delivered in safe accommodation. The first stage of the research was a rapid evidence review to synthesise outcomes measured to assess the impact of support for victim-survivors and their children provided in the context of safe accommodation, conducted by Dr Annie Bunce (City St George’s, University of London), Dr Katie Smith and Dr Estela Capelas Barbosa (University of Bristol).

The review constitutes a targeted update and extension of a recently published scoping review of outcomes used to measure the effectiveness of domestic abuse support services conducted by VISION researchers (Carlisle et al., 2024), which identified 426 outcome measures across 80 studies. The current rapid evidence review was restricted to forms of supported safe accommodation, the original searches were updated to include studies published from June 2022 onwards, and barriers to and facilitators of implementing a shared outcomes framework were also reviewed. Seven academic databases were searched alongside three grey literature databases and 164 organisational websites. To be included, papers were required to be UK specific, published in English and focused on interventions delivered within safe accommodation. For the outcomes element of the review, papers were only included if they reported empirically measured outcomes (i.e., outcomes based on data collected and analysed by the authors, rather than purely theoretical, proposed, or assumed outcomes). 

Across the 17 reports meeting the inclusion criteria, outcomes clustered around three core domains: safety, wellbeing, and empowerment, which map broadly onto the Domestic Violence and Abuse Core Outcomes Set. Safety outcomes were the most frequently reported, followed by mental health and psychological wellbeing, while empowerment outcomes such as independence and confidence appeared less consistently. Service-level indicators such as length of stay and move-on destinations were also widely reported but fall outside existing frameworks.

This finding that outcomes measured in the context of safe accommodation broadly cluster around three core domains of safety, wellbeing and empowerment indicates some convergence in how impact is conceptualised. However, outcomes are measured inconsistently across services, with considerable variation in what is captured and how. Furthermore, significant barriers remain to implementing a shared outcomes framework. Developing a consistent approach to outcome measurement could strengthen accountability and support learning across areas.

Recommendations

  1. Frameworks should allow for the capture of relational and subjective aspects of recovery not easily measured through conventional quantitative indicators.
  2. Any national framework must be supported by appropriate data systems, training and analytical capacity to avoid placing additional burden on frontline staff and further disadvantaging smaller (particularly by-and-for) organisations and victim-survivors from marginalised communities.
  3. Future research should focus on further development and validation of measurement tools suitable in the context of safe accommodation, with particular attention to the relevance/meaningfulness of outcomes for victim-survivors themselves. Coordination between research teams is needed to avoid duplication and ensure data collection is harmonised between stakeholders.

To download the rapid evidence review: Measuring Outcomes of Safe Accommodation: A Rapid Evidence Review 

To download the main research report: Domestic_Abuse_Safe_Accommodation_Main_Research_Report.pdf

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The Domestic Homicide Review Dataset: A new resource for policy, practice & research

The UKPRP VISION research consortium is pleased to develop and release the Domestic Homicide Review dataset (DHRD) for England and Wales. VISION Research Fellow Darren Cook and VISION Co-Investigator Lizzie Cook (both at City St George’s University of London) compiled structured data derived from publicly available reports from the UK Home Office Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) Library for England and Wales.

The dataset includes linked document-level, incident-level, victim-level, and perpetrator-level records. The release includes four CSV files, alongside a README, codebook, changelog, licence, citation metadata file, and a ZIP archive containing the full release. The dataset is intended to support research on domestic homicide, victimisation, perpetration, vulnerability, mental health, and related criminological and social policy topics.

The initial release includes information on 647 DHR documents made available by the Home Office between December 2022 and March 2026. The dataset is derived from Home Office data, including tagging and filtering categories exposed through the Home Office website. It is not based on manual coding of the full report texts, therefore, users should interpret missing values and untagged characteristics cautiously.

To download the dataset: The Domestic Homicide Review Dataset (DHRD) for England and Wales

To cite: Cook, D., & Cook, E. (2026). The Domestic Homicide Review Dataset (DHRD) for England and Wales (1.0.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21648010

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Violence is a risk factor for adverse clinical outcomes in severe mental illness

A longitudinal study investigating the experiences of violence suffered by those with severe mental illness (SMI) was recently published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. VISION researchers Vishal Bhavsar, Angus Roberts, and Robert Stewart worked with lead author Ava Mason and others and found that people with SMI and who experienced violence are more likely to need future emergency and inpatient mental care.

The aim of their research was to understand whether violence recorded early in someone’s contact with mental health services could help predict these later outcomes. Anonymised electronic mental health records from approximately 6,000 adults who received care from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust between 2007 and 2022 were investigated.

By applying Natural Language Processing (NLP) to records of those diagnosed with schizophrenia or related disorders, or bipolar disorder or mania, the researchers were able to determine whether any current or previous physical, domestic or sexual violence had been recorded in the first three months after someone first came into contact with services.

Results showed that people living with SMI who had violence recorded in their mental health records early in their care were at increased risk of crisis service use, hospital admission and detention under the Mental Health Act in the years that followed. This highlights the importance of identifying and responding to experiences of violence as part of routine mental health care.

In conclusion, experiences of violence, to the extent to which patients report their experiences and these are recorded, are risk factors for worse outcomes in severe mental illness, only partly accounted for by clinical status around the time of presentation. More systematic ascertainment and recording of victimisation needs to be considered if interventions are to be appropriately targeted.

To download the article: An investigation of recorded physical, domestic and sexual victimisation as risk factors for adverse clinical outcomes in severe mental illness: longitudinal study

To cite: Mason AJC, Bhavsar V, Roberts A, et al. An investigation of recorded physical, domestic and sexual victimisation as risk factors for adverse clinical outcomes in severe mental illness: longitudinal study. The British Journal of Psychiatry. Published online 2026:1-8. doi:10.1192/bjp.2026.10648

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Using Natural Language Processing in Domestic Homicide Reviews

Since 2011, there has been a statutory requirement in England and Wales to conduct a Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) into any domestic abuse-related death: a multi-agency review into the death of a person aged 16 or over that appears to have resulted from violence, abuse or neglect from an intimate partner, family member or household member.

However, analyses of large numbers of DHRs are rare. One of the core challenges is the time and effort required to analyse narrative text within reports. Doing so manually is both time-consuming and resource-intensive and is a primary reason why researchers typically focus on only a portion of the available data. Natural Language Processing (NLP)—a sub-branch of artificial intelligence that enables computers to interpret and process natural language—provides a viable and scalable alternative by offsetting much of the heavy data processing to a computer.

In this study protocol, developed by VISION Research Fellow Dr Darren Cook and VISION Co-Investigator Dr Elizabeth Cook (both at City St George’s University of London) with Sumanta Roy and Rani Selvarajah of Imkaan, and VISION Co-Investigator Professor Ravi Thiara (University of Warwick), they outline a study to assess the feasibility of applying NLP to DHRs.

The VISION and Imkaan team outline a collaborative approach which balances the speed and scale of automation with the embedded knowledge and expertise of practitioners. This approach helps to ensure that outputs of NLP are sensitive and transparent about the biases common within datasets on violence and abuse.

Based on initial consultations, the team have identified a series of priority research questions for investigation. In addition, they outline details of an ongoing collaboration with one partner, Imkaan. The protocol describes the data access, and retrieval and analysis stages before summarising how feasibility will be evaluated. The protocol concludes by arguing that working with practitioners who hold deep contextual knowledge about the social realities of violence and abuse, including language, risks, and experiences, means that tools can be developed that are accountable to communities and appropriately applied to real-world problems.

To download the protocol: A collaborative approach to applying Natural Language Processing (NLP) to Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs): A study protocol

To cite: Cook D, Cook EA, Roy S, Thiara R, Selvarajah R (2026) A collaborative approach to applying Natural Language Processing (NLP) to Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs): A study protocol. PLoS One 21(5): e0348948. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0348948

For further information: Please contact Lizzie at elizabeth.cook@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Commissioning Pathways for Domestic Homicide / Abuse-Related Death Reviews: Are All Deaths Counted?

Domestic homicide reviews (being renamed domestic abuse-related death reviews) have been undertaken in England and Wales since 2011. However, relatively little is known about the commissioning process for these reviews, including where notifications come from, if the types of cases being referred are changing, and the outcomes. Knowledge is also limited about who is involved in these decisions and who is informed when a decision is made.

For this project, Dr James Rowlands (University of Durham), VISION Co-Investigator Dr Elizabeth Cook (City St George’s University of London) and research consultant Dr Althea Cribb, used data requested from the partnership bodies responsible for commissioning domestic homicide / abuse-related death reviews about notifications and decision-making between January 2017 and December 2024. Their findings highlight the changing profile of cases, variability in decision-making, and gaps in communication and oversight.

To download the paper: Commissioning Pathways for Domestic Homicide / Abuse-Related Death Reviews: Are All Deaths Counted?

To cite: Rowlands, J., Cook, E., & Cribb, A. (2026, May 11). Commissioning Pathways for Domestic Homicide / Abuse-Related Death Reviews: Are All Deaths Counted?. https://doi.org/10.15128/r1kp78gg500

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VISION Policy Briefing: The role of health services in identifying and responding to teenage relationship abuse

 

 

Introduction

Teenage relationship abuse (TRA) is a growing public health concern that the current statutory framework is ill-equipped to address. Under-16s fall outside the legal definition of domestic abuse entirely, creating significant gaps in identification, referral and intervention at precisely the age when abuse most commonly begins. A Youth Endowment Fund survey of 11,000 teenagers aged 13 to 17 found that 39% of those who had been in a relationship had experienced emotional or physical abuse, yet no coherent professional or legal framework exists to respond.

This VISION Policy Briefing draws on findings from three place-based practitioner roundtables exploring TRA and conducted in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Northumbria in 2025. As the first in a series of sector-specific policy briefs it sets out what the health sector is currently unable to do, where the opportunities lie, and what commissioners, NHS trusts and public health leads need to do differently. 

Key recommendations

  1. NHS commissioners to include TRA identification and referral in domestic abuse commissioning frameworks, explicitly covering under-16s
  2. Integration of TRA content into existing safeguarding and domestic abuse training frameworks for all health professionals working with young people, including GPs, school nurses, emergency services staff, sexual health clinicians and mental health practitioners – with outcome measurement built in
  3. Clear referral pathways from health settings into specialist TRA support to be established in every area, regardless of the young person’s age
  4. Health and Wellbeing Boards to include TRA as a public health priority in Joint Strategic Needs Assessments
  5. School health teams to be resourced and trained to deliver TRA/DA content as part of PSHE, building on the school nurse model in Oxford and aligned with the Mental Health Support Team roll out
  6. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to develop protocols for identifying TRA among young people presenting with mental health difficulties
  7. Extend operating hours for young people’s services

To download the VISION Policy Briefing: The role of health services in identifying and  responding to teenage relationship abuse

To cite: Weir, Ruth; Barrow-Grint, Katy (2026). VISION Policy Brief: Teenage Relationship Abuse and Health. City, University of London. Report. https://doi.org/10.25383/city.32292564.v1

For further information: Ruth at ruth.weir@citystgeorges.ac.uk