Always begin with a story: memoirs of Mary Lewis

Competing discourses have always figured prominently in policy debates about violence against women and children. Legislation and services to address it have largely been developed from theory and empirical knowledge of domestic violence occurring in intimate relationships. Knowledge from an Indigenous perspective about family violence, embedded in a context of colonisation and involving a broader range of relationships, has been less influential. One of the consequences of this is that when Indigenous communities identify solutions to address family violence holistically, these solutions are difficult to implement. Research with a remote South Australian Aboriginal community, looking for ways to reduce the level of family violence, resulted in new understandings of it. Linking issues of economic deprivation, dispossession and the breaking down of culture, the community devised a holistic community development approach to reduce family violence. This paper identifies the waves of understanding about family violence and argues that community-initiated solutions must be supported by policy and funding options based on an Indigenous understanding of family violence.     

Gender differences in the experience of violence,discrimination, and stress hormone in African Americans: Implications for public health

Violence is more prevalent in African American communities than in other American communities. This has impacts not only on criminal justice interventions but also on the physical and mental health of these communities including their risk for acquiring life-threatening diseases. While many studies have focused on the effects of violence on African American males, we sought to understand the relative gender effects that violence has on African American females. This is of particular interest given the wide array of scientific literature suggesting maternal health has inter-generational health effects. Understanding gender differences associated with exposure to violence, depression, and immune function is an important step in understanding how young women perceive and internalize societal violence directed toward and around them. We analyzed a cohort of 557 young African American adults aged 18–25 years old from the Washington, DC area. We use sociological, epidemiological, mental health, computational biology, and quantitative genetics approaches to build a predictive portrait of the effects of violence on African American health. This study demonstrates that African American males and females experience different constellations of societal violence, that African American women report greater perception of racial and gender bias, and that cortisol, an indicator of stress response, is correlated to perceived discrimination. This work contributes to current understandings of how violence contributes to negative health outcomes and lays the foundation for a predictive model for sociological, health, and behavior risk that young African Americans encounter.     

The role of social support in the psychological well-being of African American girls who experience dating violence victimization

The goals of this study were to test the relationship between dating violence victimization (i.e., verbal, emotional, and physical abuse) and psychological well-being (i.e., depressive symptomatology, self-esteem, and body image) among 522 African American girls, and to determine whether social support acted as a buffer of negative effects (moderator) or as an intervening factor (mediator) in the relationship between dating violence victimization and psychological well-being. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that dating violence victimization was associated with negative psychological outcomes. Although social support did not moderate this relationship, it served as a mediator of the relationship between dating violence victimization and psychological well-being. Dating violence programs for African American girls should consider how to incorporate family, church, and other networks in the community to foster support, and allow adolescent girls to discuss their abusive experiences in a nonblaming environment. If programs are able to buoy girls who experience dating violence, then they may be able to ameliorate the associated negative psychological sequelae.     

The KIND Program for Adolescent Family and Dating Violence

Adolescent relational violence has significant and pervasive impacts for young people's current and future relationships. It is known that there is a cross-over between adolescent family violence and other offending behaviour, meaning there is a need for youth justice systems to recognise and respond to these forms of violence. This paper outlines a pilot intervention, the KIND Program, run in Youth Justice South Australia, and aimed at intervening with adolescent family and dating violence. KIND aims to provide tailored systemic intervention to young people and their support network, reducing violence while increasing connection and strength within relationships. The pilot of KIND ran for seven months in 2017, and had eight families participating in the program. Participation in, feedback from, and impact of the program suggest that participation was worthwhile and useful for young people and their families. The KIND Program would benefit from a more extensive pilot period to explore the outcomes of this form of intervention.     

Responding to Adolescent Violence in the Home – A Community Mental Health Approach

Family violence perpetrated by adults is increasingly understood as a health issue, and we argue that this pertains even more strongly to violence by adolescents. The co-dependence of the parent–child bond, lack of maturity in the adolescent, and often related issues of disability or mental illness make these young people both complex and also vulnerable. This research paper reviews the current literature relating to adolescent violence in the home, identifies known best practice, and evaluates the importance of taking a family-focused, therapeutic approach to adolescent family violence, in place of a punitive one. It describes the use of a co-design workshop to unpack gaps in service provision and develop a potential family focused model of care to address the needs both of young people who use violence, and their families. The findings indicate that an inclusive family approach is a key element in addressing adolescent violence in the home across a spectrum of behaviours and mental health care needs. The use of a coordinated, family-inclusive response through mental health care services is recommended to address the complexity of this issue, as well as to provide support both to adolescents and to their families and carers.     

Aboriginal Women's Perceptions and Experiences of a Family Violence Transitional Accommodation Service

Abstract

This article presents a qualitative study of Aboriginal women's perceptions and experiences of a transitional housing program in South Australia that was established to assist long-term homelessness and family violence. The aim of the study was to explore the experiences and service outcomes for Aboriginal women and their children and to identify both facilitators and barriers to the effective operation of the program. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 13 Aboriginal women and thematic analysis was used to report their collective stories. The women's stories showed individualised, flexible, and open-ended support as well as practical outcomes of stable, safe housing for themselves and their children were particularly valued. The women reported that these features of the program augmented feelings of strengthened confidence and self-efficacy. The authors argue the domestic and family violence sector has the opportunity to learn from the perceptions and experiences of Aboriginal women, particularly allowing time and commitment to working long-term with families.     

Family violence laws: Traditional narratives and the (in)visibility of lesbian relationships and lesbian-parented families

Abstract

Feminist advocacy and activism over the last 40 years broke historic ground in shining a light on “domestic” or “family” violence, traditionally conceptualized as male violence against female intimate partners and their children. This has resulted in a large body of research, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and similar jurisdictions, around the gendered nature of family violence and violence within heterosexual relationships and heterosexual-parented families. As a consequence, the predominant narrative—in political, policy, and advocacy settings—is largely heteronormative. Less research has focused on family violence in non-heterosexual relationships. The data that do exist have employed different methodological approaches and there are limitations on the extent to which they can be compared to the data on violence within heterosexual relationships. However, the existing research does demonstrate that family violence within lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) communities is a significant issue. Even so, the current narrative does not acknowledge this, and predominantly reflects heterosexual norms of intimate relationships and family structures in society. LGBTI relationships are described as “invisible” in policy and practice responses to family violence, due to the failure to acknowledge violence in such communities. This article explores these claims in relation to lesbian relationships in the context of Australian legislative responses to family violence. It considers the extent to which family violence laws in two Australian jurisdictions recognize and frame lesbian identity in intimate relationships and lesbian-parented families. This is considered in light of the emerging conceptualization of family violence in lesbian relationships and lesbian-parented families, as evidenced by the wider scholarly literature on the nature and dynamics of such violence.     

Family Instability and Exposure to Violence in the Early Life Course

Family instability has been linked with a host of outcomes across the early life course. This study extends this literature by connecting instability with violence in the community by examining the associations among family structure, family structure change, and secondary exposure to violence during adolescence across diverse segments of the population. Using longitudinal data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods study, we found that living with a single parent and experiencing family structure changes were associated with secondary exposure to violence. Multiple group models suggest that partner change translated into more exposure for boys than girls. Findings also suggest that family instability may lead to more secondary exposure to violence for African American youth.     

Pathways from family violence exposure to disruptive behavior and suspension in elementary school

Abstract

Suspension is associated with a host of negative outcomes, including future suspension and poor academic engagement. A number of demographic and behavioral factors, such as behaviors and race/ethnicity, have been found to predict a child’s risk of suspension, however factors in the family environment, such as family violence, have not been widely explored within this body of literature. The current study examined whether disruptive behaviors mediated the relationship between family violence exposure and suspension in elementary school using data from the age 8 wave of the LONGSCAN dataset. In this sample, 68% of children had been exposed to some sort of family violence and 6.6% of children had been suspended. The direct pathway from family violence to suspension was significant, as was the indirect pathway through disruptive behaviors, where children exposed to more family violence were more likely to exhibit disruptive behaviors and more likely to be suspended. In this sample, boys and African American students were also more likely to be suspended. These findings support the need for school-based responses that addresses both the impact of violence exposure and racial disparities within discussions of children’s outcomes.     

Adolescent Violence—Strategies,Outcomes and Dilemmas in Working with Young People and their Families

MATTERS is a program of Berry Street, and has been in existence since 1990. The service is funded to address parent/adolescent conflict and the service delivery model has developed over time in a direction which incorporates family therapy and conflict resolution techniques. Many families come to the service seeking assistance for problems regarding violence, and increasingly around a young person's violence to parents and other family members. In some instances, violence has been present over a long period and has become normalised within the family's experience. When working with families who present with problems of adolescent violence, the service aims to find a pathway for the young person/family to confront violent behaviour and move to a different position about the meaning of violence in their lives. This paper describes the team's approach to working with adolescent violence, utilising ideas from narrative family therapy and psychodynamic theory, and incorporating issues of power in society, culture and gender. Outcomes, dilemmas and future directions are also discussed.     

In Circle: A Healthy Relationship,Domestic Violence,and HIV Intervention for African American Couples

While marriage and healthy relationship education has grown, limited interventions have been developed specifically to support the development and flourishing of African American couples. African Americans are also disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS and are more likely to experience lethality and serious injury due to domestic violence compared to Whites. Despite this, African American couples have been resilient and managed to thrive in relationships. Little has been done to capture these strategies, build on cultural strengths, and design an intervention specifically crafted for this population. This article describes an intervention “In Circle” developed, implemented, and evaluated for African American couples to support healthy relationship and healthy marriage education. The intervention is based on an Ancient Egyptian value system and undergirded by three integrated theoretical perspectives. The article also includes implications for practice and research.     

Sibling violence: Understanding experiences,impacts, and the need for nuanced responses

Sibling violence is an under-researched field, and the impact of adolescent family violence (AFV) in particular on siblings is not yet well understood. The Australian study Investigating Adolescent Family Violence in Victoria elicited responses from siblings who had experienced AFV from their brothers or sisters, as well as reflections from parents and practitioners on the difficulties of addressing AFV directed towards siblings. This article explores characteristics of sibling violence identified in this study, impacts of the violence on siblings, parents, and families, and responses to sibling violence in Victoria, Australia. Siblings described experiencing severe physical, psychological, and emotional violence, and beyond this recounted a range of difficulties such as not being believed by the adults in their lives; the violence being dismissed as normal sibling behavior; an inability to access support services without the help of parents or other adults; sadness and distress at the loss of the sibling relationship; and resentment towards parents for their perceived inaction against the violence. Practitioners highlighted the dearth of services and resources available for siblings affected by AFV, and the inadequacies of current Child Protection responses. This research sheds light on the hidden issue of sibling violence and highlights the need for nuanced responses rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.     

The Diverse Fathering Practices of Men Who Perpetrate Domestic Violence

Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from in-depth interviews with 17 Australian fathers who were participating in a men's behaviour change program. The study found that men's fathering varied and posed significant, yet different, risks to women, children, and young people. Variations were particularly evident when analysing narratives of masculinity with perceptions of control over the use of domestic violence. Other aspects of men's identities such as class, culture, and health intersected with gender and contributed to the diversity of harmful fathering practices. This paper spotlights the substantive issue of men's domestic violence and its impact on all aspects of family life, rather than current practices which frequently focus on women and their mothering practices.     

Social Work in the Emergency Department—Implementation of a Domestic and Family Violence Screening Program

Abstract

Women who have experienced domestic and family violence use health services more frequently than women who have not. Early identification and intervention by the health system may reduce health problems associated with domestic and family violence and lead to savings for the health sector. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a new domestic and family violence screening program, which was based on an ecological model and introduced by a social work team in the Emergency Department of a major metropolitan hospital. The evaluation method included an audit of social work case files to assess the effect on referral rates and a survey of Emergency Department staff to obtain perceptions of the impact of the program on the staff and clients. In the 3-month period following the introduction of the program, the rate of referral to social work increased by 213%. Staff agreed that the Emergency Department is an appropriate place to ask about domestic and family violence, under certain conditions. Findings suggest that an ecological social work model provides an approach to screening for domestic and family violence that not only contributes to increased identification and supportive client interventions but may also contribute to more sustainable systemic change.     

Through a Different Lens

Abstract

Violence in the family does not exist in a vacuum. It is situated in a context of language and values that express society's ambivalence toward this phenomenon. This article begins with a discussion of the theoretical dimensions of this ambivalence focusing on violence as a means of social control and on behavioral-genetic theory as a lens through which to view this issue. It suggests that Traditional American Values underlie the social sanctioning of family violence and offers judicial and social policy decisions that support and result from this ideology. It concludes with implications for social work policy practice.     

Strategies for work–family balance in a South African context

ABSTRACT

Finding and maintaining work–family balance has become an increasingly difficult challenge for South African families due to various factors, including economic, political, social and cultural changes that can impact negatively on family well-being. While pathways and strategies for work–family balance have been identified in other contexts, there is little available research on the topic in a South African context. Considering the knowledge that South African social workers have in this regard as a result of their training, qualifications and role in the South African context, South African social workers were selected as participants. The aim of this study was therefore to explore and describe, from the perspective of a group of South African social workers, strategies for work–family balance that can potentially contribute to family well-being in a South African context. A narrative inquiry research design was implemented. Thirteen female social workers between the ages of 23 and 46 who work in different social work contexts across South Africa were recruited by means of purposive and snowball/network sampling. Data were collected by means of written narratives and analysed by thematic analysis. The findings identify the following strategies: Setting clear boundaries, open communication in work and family domains, strengthening personal and professional support systems, planning, time management and prioritising, self-care, reasonable work environment and continuous personal and family assessment. While the findings share similarities with work–family balance strategies identified in other contexts, this study’s significance lies in the fact that it identifies strategies specifically for the South African context and that it does so from the perspective of South African social workers.     

Violence against Wives and Children in Hong Kong

Studies on family violence toward wives and children in Hong Kong, although limited, are consistent with the ecological model that explains this violence as the interaction of a confluence of factors that are at work at different levels. In this paper, four clinical cases are selected to demonstrate the applicability of the model in Hong Kong. The immigration background of the family, low socio-economic status, perceived lack of support, and Chinese values on obedience to authority stand out as contributory factors to violent acts. A multi-faceted and multi-leveled prevention program to achieve zero tolerance of violence is proposed that prescribes caution as to the possible double victimization of individuals and families by the larger social system.     

Violence Against Homeless Women: Safety and Social Policy

Abstract

Over the past 20 years there has been increasing understanding of the gendered nature of homelessness in Australia. Most significantly, this gendering has occurred through the acknowledgement of the links between domestic violence and homelessness and this has played out in Australian social policy through the funding of specialist domestic violence services. However, not all women are assisted by these specialist services—either because they are not homeless due to domestic violence, or because they fall through the gaps in the service system. Homelessness exposes these women to heightened vulnerability to violence. This article considers homeless women's experiences of violence and their implications for homelessness policy. Framed by Australian and Victorian social policy and drawing on a qualitative study of 29 women, all of whom had experienced violence during homelessness, the article argues that greater policy attention needs to be paid to ensuring homeless women's safety.     

Technology as a Weapon in Domestic Violence: Responding to Digital Coercive Control

ABSTRACT

Technology-facilitated domestic violence is an emerging issue for social workers and other service providers. The concept of Digital Coercive Control (DCC) is introduced to highlight the particular nature and impacts of technology-facilitated abuse in the context of domestic violence. While practitioners have become more adept at working with women experiencing DCC, there is still little known about its dynamics and whether this violence requires a change in current service responses. This article explores findings from survey research conducted with 546 Australian domestic violence practitioners about the ways perpetrators use technology as part of their abuse tactics. The findings demonstrate that DV practitioners believe perpetrator use of technology is extensive and has significant impacts on the safety of clients. A major dilemma faced by practitioners is how to promote and facilitate client safety from DCC while still enabling safe use of technology so clients can remain connected to family, friends, and community.

IMPLICATIONS

• The use of digital technology in domestic violence creates a significant practice issue for Australian domestic violence practitioners.

• The development of a practice framework for responding to digital coercive control may assist practitioners to highlight the risks posed by this abuse, while still enabling women and children the freedom to participate in the digital realm.

     

Remaking Self After Domestic Violence: Mongolian and Australian Women's Narratives of Recovery

My feminist, narrative research comprises a cross‐cultural narrative analysis of 11 Mongolian and 11 Australian women's stories of survival, recovery and remaking of self, following intimate partner violence. With a major focus on narrative identity, the research process involved me as researcher, as well as the participants themselves, bearing witness to and reflecting on their stories. While similarities between the Mongolian and Australian stories stood out above differences, there was some evidence that the Mongolian women had moved further away from the violence and its effects than their Australian counterparts. Perhaps the cohesive nature of the Mongolian women's family supports strengthened their narrative identities, enabling their greater resilience.