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New partnership between VISION and the Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network

    We are pleased to announce a new, one-year partnership with the Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network (VAMHN).

    VAMHN is a network of individuals and organisations aiming to reduce the prevalence of mental health problems by addressing associated violence and abuse, particularly domestic and sexual violence.

    The interdisciplinary cross-sector network brings together and supports research by experts from a range of disciplines, sectors, and backgrounds – some with lived experience, others with expertise from the work that they do, and survivor researchers with both.

    VAMHN’s work aligns with our own goals of improving measurement of violence and better use of data to prevent and mitigate the harm that violence causes to health and wellbeing.

    VAMHN has done sterling work engaging with survivors of violence in co-producing research and creating a Lived Experience (LE) Advisory Group. They will support VISION as we build and expand on LE engagement across our project.

    For further information on VAMHN, please see: The Violence, Abuse, and Mental Health Network

    Or contact us at VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk

    Illustration by Elnur/Shutterstock.com

    Webinar: Parental and child mental health and intimate partner violence

      This webinar is over. 27 June 2023, 17:00 – 18:30 BST, Zoom

      VISION director, Professor Gene Feder, led the webinar, Interrelationships between parental mental health, intimate partner violence and child mental health – implications for practice, with Dr Shabeer Syed and Dr Claire Powell on behalf of the NIHR Children and Families Policy Research Unit.

      They presented findings from a mixed methods study that seeks to improve responses to families affected by intimate partner violence (IPV) and parents and children’s mental health problems.

      Then, they presented preliminary findings on the relationship between parental IPV and a range of clinically relevant adversity and mental health-related indicators (www.acesinehrs.com) in anonymised health records from parents and children presenting to GPs, A&E and hospital admissions between one year before and five years after birth.

      Their research shows that 1 in 5 (20%) families experienced IPV, although only 1 in 50 (2%) had IPV recorded in the GP record.  Recording of other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) was better, with 1 in 2 (53.4%) families having at least one recorded in the early life course. Compared to families without ACEs, families with ACEs had a higher risk of parental IPV, especially when at least one parent and child had recorded a mental health problem. Gene will discuss the implications of these findings for national guidance on supporting families experiencing IPV and mental health problems, articulating how data already within medical records can help identify those families. 

      For further information please see: Interrelationships between parental mental health, intimate partner violence and child mental health – implications for practice – ACAMH

      Photo by Sebastián León Prado on Unsplash

      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

        Photograph by 88studio / Shutterstock.com

        Mental health and wellbeing data – webinar for researchers

          This webinar focused on quantitative analysis of secondary data, to provide insight into population mental health and its social determinants. It took place on Teams Monday, 6 March 2023, at 14:00-15:30.

          Speakers included VISION researcher Sally McManus, who discussed England’s main mental health survey, the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS). The survey series covers anxiety and depression, alongside items on violence and abuse.

          This webinar formed part of a series organised by Understanding Society, UK Data Service, Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) and the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM). The Data Resource Training Network is a collaboration between a number of ESRC-funded resource centres working together to promote the value and use of social science data.

          Photo credit: Photo by Erol Ahmed on Unsplash