Archives

The benefits system: source of support or hindrance to victims of violence?

    Previous VISION research showed how 4% of domestic violence victims lose their job as a result of abuse and that half of unemployed women have experienced intimate partner violence in their lives.

    A report just published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) further confirms high levels of trauma and mental distress among people not in employment and approaching benefits services for support. The report focuses on those in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) aimed at people with an impairment or health condition that affects how much work they do.

    VISION researcher Sally McManus, with colleagues Claire Lapham and Ann Conolly from the National Centre for Social Research, analysed the government’s main mental health study. They found that nearly one in three (30%) ESA recipients screened positive for post-traumatic stress disorder. This was more than twice the rate for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants (12%), and ten times that of employed people (3%). The analyses show that the claimant population experienced high levels of stress, in which self-confidence was low and anxiety high. Compared to those in employment, few ESA claimants owned their home and many faced serious debt arrears.

    Sally presented findings from this study as oral evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee’s Inquiry into Safeguarding Vulnerable Claimants, including domestic violence victims. She drew attention to calls from Women’s Aid for reform they highlight is needed to make the benefits system the lifeline survivors need, rather than a source of re-traumatisation and further harm.

    Women’s Aid recommendations include implementing a named domestic abuse lead in every Jobcentre Plus and ensuring staff receive regular, specialist domestic abuse training, so that work coaches and other frontline staff are better able to recognise claimants experiencing domestic abuse. Specialist domestic abuse services need to be properly funded to support and advocate for survivors in making their claims to DWP. Extending the domestic violence easement to up to a year would also help, alongside exempting those who are moving to or from refuges from repayment of Jobcentre Plus advances.

    The report can be downloaded from the DWP website:

    Claire Lapham, Anne Conolly, Sally McManus (2024): A health, social and economic profile of ESA recipients: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014 DWP ad hoc research report no.79.

    Photograph licensed by Adobe Stock

    Report launch: A transformative justice framework to address adolescent relationship abuse

      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.

      The Violence & Society Centre at City St George’s, UoL, and the UK Prevention Research Partnership VISION consortium are pleased to host Talia’s Churchill report launch on Wednesday 6 November from 4 – 6 pm at City St George’s, UoL, Clerkenwell campus.

      Talia will also be joined by:

      •  Ruth Weir, City St George’s, UoL, Taking a collaborative approach to understanding more about abuse in teenage relationships
      • Christine Barter, University of Central Lancashire, Qualitative findings looking at the nature and impact of IPVA in young people’s relationships
      • Jeff Temple, University of Texas, Dating violence prevention program: implementation and effectiveness

      Seating, drinks and nibbles will be provided.

      To register for the event: Select tickets – Report launch: A transformative justice framework to address adolescent relationship abuse – City St George’s , University of London, Clerkenwell campus (tickettailor.com)

      For questions about the event: violenceandsociety@city.ac.uk

      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.

      Presentations from the 2024 VISION Annual Conference

        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

        Welcome_VISION-Annual-Conference-2024Download

        Keynote Speaker, Dr Claudia Garcia-Moreno – Violence against women: From research to policy and action – 1 download

        Keynote-Speaker-2_Research-to-policy-and-action_2Download

        Symposium 1 – Violence against older people: Challenges in research and policy – 4 downloads (Hourglass, Office for National Statistics, Public Health Wales & VISION)

        Symposium-1_Older-people-and-violence_HourglassDownload
        Symposium-1_Older-people-and-violence_ONSDownload
        Symposium-1_Older-people-and-violence_PHWDownload
        Symposium-1_Older-people-and-violence_VISIONDownload

        Symposium 2 – Learning across statutory review practices: Origins, ambitions and future directions – 1 download

        Symposium-2_Statutory-Review-Practice_AllDownload

        Symposium 3 – Responding to experiences and expressions of interpersonal violence in the workplace – 3 downloads (Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse, and 2 from VISION)

        Symposium-3_Violence-and-the-workplace_VISIONDownload
        Symposium-3_Violence-and-the-workplace_EIDADownload
        Symposium-3_Violence-and-the-workplace_VISION-2Download

        Differentiating risk: The association between relationship type and risk of repeat victimization of domestic abuse

          Much of the literature on domestic abuse focuses on those in intimate partner relationships or ex-partners, however, in the UK the Home Office definition also includes those in familial relationships. The Domestic Abuse, Stalking, and Harassment and Honour-Based Violence Risk Assessment assumes homogeneous risk factors across all relationships.

          This paper, Differentiating risk: The association between relationship type and risk of repeat victimization of domestic abuse, therefore examines the risk factors for repeat victimization of domestic abuse by relationship type between the victim and perpetrator in a UK police force.

          Using police-recorded domestic abuse incident and crime data, a logistic regression model found that the most similar repeat victimization risk profiles for 14,519 victims were amongst partners and ex-partners, with both relationships demonstrating the greatest degree of gender asymmetry, compared with other familial relationships. Physical violence was the strongest predictor of repeat victimization and was a statistically significant predictor for ex-partners, partners, and all familial relationships. Coercive behaviour was also a significant predictor for all relationships apart from partners, but not at the same magnitude as physical abuse.

          Recognizing the difference in risk by relationship type may assist the police in deciding the most appropriate response and interventions to reduce the risk of further harm. 

           For further information please see: https://academic.oup.com/policing/article/doi/10.1093/police/paae024/7641219?login=false

          Or contact Ruth at ruth.weir@city.ac.uk  

          Photo from licensed Adobe Stock library

          Prevalence of physical violence against people in insecure migration status 

            VISION researchers from the Systematic Review working group (Andri Innes, Sophie Carlisle, Hannah Manzur, Elizabeth Cook, Jessica Corsi and Natalia Lewis) have published a systematic review and meta-analysis in PLOS One, estimating prevalence of physical violence against people in insecure migration status. This is the first review of its type, synthesizing global data on violence against migrants in all types of insecure status. 

            The review finds that around 1 in 3 migrants in insecure status experience physical violence. Violence included physical interpersonal, community and state violence. Insecure status was conceptualised encompassing undocumented status, lapsed statuses, asylum seeking and other pending applications, and any status that embeds a form of insecurity by tying status to a particular relationship (such as spousal or employer-employee). Studies were only included in the review if the violence happened while the victim was in insecure status. 

            The VISION team reviewed academic literature published between January 2000 and May 2023, across social and health sciences. The study was global in scope, although data was limited by the English language search.  

            Key Findings 

            More than one in four migrants in insecure status disclosed intimate partner violence specifically. Spousal visas embed a particular risk of violence because the visa status is connected to an intimate partner relationship, creating an important power disparity. Nevertheless, there was no significant difference in prevalence of violence by gender across the dataset. Prevalence also did not differ meaningfully across geographic region, perpetrator, status type or time frame.  

            The most significant findings included that violence exposure is not meaningfully different for people in undocumented status than in other types of insecure status. Physical violence is a concern across all types of insecure migration status types. 

            The findings were limited because of high levels of heterogeneity in the data. It was also difficult to consider intersectional identity characteristics such as age, race or ethnicity, nationality, religion, marital status, socio-economic status, education level or motivation for migration because these were not standardised across included studies. This suggests that further and specified research is needed in this area. 

            The review is open access and is available to read in full here. 

            If you have any comments or feedback for the authors, please contact Andri at alexandria.innes@city.ac.uk  

            Photo from licensed Adobe Stock library

            VISION Policy Series: The impact of intimate partner violence on job loss and time off work in the UK

              Key research findings

              The latest research by VISION colleagues, Vanessa Gash and Niels Blom at City, finds serious negative effects of intimate partner violence and abuse (IPVA) on labour market outcomes, with 3.6% of those who experienced intimate partner violence losing their jobs because of the abuse. Furthermore, 1 in 10 of those who experienced intimate partner violence took a period of leave from work, with 1 in 4 of those who took leave needing to take a month or more off work.

              Based on a large statistically representative sample for England and Wales, this research is one of the first to examine different types of IPVA, with five categories distinguished in the analysis.

              The report examines differences between those who experienced; (1) physical abuse, (2) sexual abuse, (3) stalking, (4) coercive or controlling behaviour, as well as those who were (5) threatened with abuse by a current or former intimate partner. There were strong differences in prevalence of IPVA by sex, with women disproportionately exposed to threats (34% compared to 15% for men) and to sexual violence (7% compared to 3% for men). Additionally, compared to men, women were more likely to report multiple types of violence and abuse.

              Job loss is associated with all five forms of IPVA, and the risks were highest for those who experienced: stalking, sexual violence as well as physical threats by an intimate partner. The research also includes qualitative findings from those with lived experience of IPVA and abuse. Participants noted an ongoing stigmatisation of victims of abuse, which had serious impacts on disclosure. Victim-survivors noted their fear of being declared ‘unfit for work’ and of becoming a ’marked person’ should they disclose their abuse to relevant managers.

              Policy implications

              • Though IPVA was found to have significant effects on victims’ experiences at work, those with lived experience noted a reluctance to disclose IPVA to relevant managers.
              • Employers may therefore want to consider enhanced IPVA and DA support systems for employees in the workplace.
              • While we can expect enhanced support to improve job retention and productivity, we currently lack the appropriate data to directly examine these effects

              For further information please download the full report below and / or contact Dr Vanessa Gash at vanessa.gash.1@city.ac.uk.

              Short-report-Labour-market-consequences-of-IPVADownload

              About the authors

              Dr Vanessa Gash is a Reader in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at City and a member of the UKPRP VISION team based at the Violence & Society Centre.

              Dr Niels Blom is a Research Fellow at the Violence & Society Centre and a member of the UKPRP VISION team.

              Consultation: Is there a need for a VAWG data dashboard?

                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.

                The consultation link is here: Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management

                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.

                This consultation closes Monday 22 April.

                For further information, please contact us at VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk

                Sample-screenshots-of-ONS-VAWG-dashboardDownload

                Working with specialist services’ administrative data

                  VISION researchers Dr Annie Bunce and Dr Estela Capelas Barbosa have been working with administrative data provided by specialist domestic and sexual violence and abuse (DSVA) support services.

                  Whilst the wealth and breadth of the data collected creates exciting opportunities for improving our understanding of patterns in experiences of violence and service use, the process of preparing the data for analysis has its challenges. Such challenges- and potential strategies for overcoming them- are not well documented, creating missed opportunities for improving the utilisation of specialist services’ data.

                  In their new publication, Annie and Estela, along with City, University of London PhD student, Katie Smith, and Dr Sophie Carlisle, a former VISION researcher, reviewed the scope and merits of administrative data generally, and that collected by specialist DSVA services specifically, and the evidence to date for its use by researchers.

                  They found that the extent to which new insights on violence from specialist services’ data can be used to inform policy and practice is limited by three interrelated challenges: different approaches to the measurement of violence and abuse; the issue of disproportionate funding and capacity of services, and the practicalities of multi-agency working.

                  Nonetheless, the authors maintain the unique contribution to knowledge on violence that can be provided by DSVA services’ administrative data, and are hopeful that the paper will encourage further discussion about how to better utilise it. Additional resources, collaboration between multiple agencies, service providers and researchers, and the integration of specialist services’ data with other sources of data on violence are needed to maximise policy impact. Given the benefits individuals and society stand to gain, this is a worthwhile endeavour.

                  For further information please see: Challenges of using specialist domestic and sexual violence and abuse service data to inform policy and practice on violence reduction in the UK in: Journal of Gender-Based Violence – Ahead of print (bristoluniversitypressdigital.com)

                  Or contact Dr Annie Bunce at annie.bunce@city.ac.uk

                  Photo from licensed Adobe Stock library

                  VISION/VASC Webinar Series: IPV and the LGBTQI+ communities

                    This event is in the past.

                    We are pleased to announce the VISION and Violence & Society Centre (VASC) Webinar Series.

                    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.

                    Our first webinar is Tuesday, 20 February 2024, 1300 – 1350. We welcome Dr Steven Maxwell, Research Associate in the School of Social & Environmental Sustainability and Associate in the School of Health and Wellbeing, at the University of Glasgow.

                    Steven will present his research on intimate partner violence within the LGBTQI+ communities. He is a former mental health nurse and completed his PhD in Global Public Health at University College London in 2021. Steven’s PhD explored HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake/adherence among men who have sex with men who engaged in sexualised drug use. His current interest is researching health inequities/social justices across minority and deprived populations, particularly sexual & mental health, and related substance use.   

                    To register for the event in order to receive the Teams invitation and / or if interested in presenting at a future Series, please contact: VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk

                    The VISION/VASC Webinar Series is sponsored by the UK Prevention and Research Partnership consortium, Violence, Health and Society (MR-V049879) and the Violence and Society Centre at City, University of London.

                    Cost effectiveness of primary care training & support programme for secondary prevention of DVA

                      Recent research evaluated the cost-effectiveness of the Identification and Referral to Improve Safety plus (IRIS+) intervention compared with usual care using feasibility data derived from seven UK general practice sites.

                      IRIS+ is a training and support programme for clinicians working in primary care to aid in their identification of those experiencing or perpetrating domestic violence / abuse (DVA).

                      VISION Deputy Director, Dr Estela Capelas Barbosa and Director, Professor Gene Feder, worked with their University of Bristol colleagues to conduct a cost–utility analysis, a form of economic evaluation comparing cost with patient-centred outcome measures, as a means to measure the benefit obtained from the treatment or intervention.

                      The specific cost-utility analysis they conducted assessed the potential cost-effectiveness of IRIS+ which assists primary care staff in identifying, documenting and referring not only women, but also men and children who may have experienced DVA as victims, perpetrators or both.

                      The analysis showed that in practices that adopted the IRIS+ intervention, a savings of £92 per patient occurred. The incremental net monetary benefit was positive (£145) and the IRIS+ intervention was cost-effective in 55% of simulations (when the model is repeated with different assumptions).

                      The research team therefore concluded that the IRIS+ intervention could be cost-effective in the UK from a societal perspective though there are large uncertainties. To resolve these the team will conduct a large trial with further economic analysis.

                      For further information please see: Primary care system-level training and support programme for the secondary prevention of domestic violence and abuse: a cost-effectiveness feasibility model | BMJ Open

                      Or contact Dr Estela Capelas Barbosa at e.capelasbarbosa@bristol.ac.uk

                      Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash