PEOPLE WHO USE VIOLENCE (NPRF 24.08)
Promising practices in violence prevention for community health and wellbeing practitioners
2.5 years
Community health and wellbeing practitioners are regularly supporting people who have experienced violence, are using, or at risk of using violence, and their families. This makes them a key site of potential intervention for preventing violence and keeping victims and survivors, including children, safe.
Practitioners working in community health settings need the tools to know how and when to safely initiate a conversation about using domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV). While multiple tools exist, there is an urgent need to assess their effectiveness and identify the supportive factors that enable them to work.
This project will focus on practical resources of the In Safe Hands resources, including the Cooktown Ten (C-10), a problem structuring approach which addresses many drivers of violence.
Research aims
In collaboration with practitioners and people with lived experience of DFSV, the project aims to assess the effectiveness, accessibility, and cultural relevance of the In Safe Hands resources designed to prevent DFSV across various settings.
Methods
This project employs a qualitative and participatory action research approach, co-designed with local practitioners and key stakeholders, to support a diverse range of individuals affected by DFSV, including victim-survivors, children, young people, migrants, refugees, and people with disability.
Following this approach, the project will:
- Initiate Trial 1 in Wondoan-Taroom and the Gympie Aboriginal Medical Service communities, focusing on anticipatory prevention of family and intimate partner violence.
- Conduct Trial 2 in the Broome and Kimberley region, Western Australia, targeting the prevention of inflicted head trauma in infancy.
- Implement Trial 3 at a community health centre in Dandenong, Melbourne, aimed at preventing family and intimate partner violence among migrants and refugees
- After engagement at each site, apply the Inclusive systemic evaluation for gender equality, environments and marginalized voices (ISE4GEM) evaluation method to collect and analyse findings, with an emphasis on gender equality, environmental factors, and the inclusion of marginalised voices.
Significance
The findings from this project will be used to support the ongoing trauma-informed, community-led development of resources and expand the evidence for a skill-streaming style approach to violence prevention.
This project will directly impact practitioners in a variety of settings including community-based practices, Aboriginal-controlled services, schools, hospitals and GP clinics, and community-based services.
This will empower and build the capability, confidence, and skills of practitioners to better understand and prevent violence, at a level of practice that is effective, feasible and prevents harm to self and others.
Researchers
Project lead
Adjunct Associate Professor Dr Anne Stephens, CEO, Violence Prevention Australia (VPA) and The Cairns Institute, James Cook University
Research team
Professor Hurriyet Babacan, Professorial Research Fellow, Rural Economies Centre of Excellence, Regional Economic and Policy Development, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University
Adjunct Professor Dr William Liley, Director, Co-founder, Violence Prevention Australia (VPA) and The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Queensland Country Practice
Dr Silke Meyer, Professor, School of Health Sciences and Social Work, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith Centre for Mental Health
Research partners
Dr Samara McNeil, GPO Registrar, Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service (BRAMS)
Dr Dalal Smiley, CEO, Wellsprings for Women
Ms Sandra Maudier, Gender Equality Practitioner, Wellsprings for Women
Budget
$204,686 (excluding GST)
This project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.