Intervening in domestic violence: interprofessional collaboration among social and health care professionals and the police

Arab Women at the Police Station in Israel: Cultural Crisis and Empowerment

In the collectivist Arab society, seeking police intervention violates a cultural norm. This qualitative study was based on in-depth interviews with 12 Muslim Arab abused women, who sought help at police stations where police officers and social workers cooperate. Interviews analysis revealed a conflict between the women's desire to stop the violence and the implications of violating cultural norms. Interviewees' emotions ranging from a positive sense of empowerment to negative feelings derived from insensitive, alienating conduct. The encounters with social workers empowered the women in facing social pressures. The discussion focuses on the meaning of integrating the police and welfare services in a collectivist-patriarchal community in a society with a dominant individualist orientation.

Professional Representations of Collaboration in the Response to Intimate Partner Violence

Purpose

Due to the complexity of intimate partner violence (IPV) and the many actors involved in its social and legal responses, there is a broad consensus that collaboration is essential if IPV is to be overcome. Few studies, however, have provided details as to how these collaborations occur. Rather, research on collaboration in IPV has typically focused on a series of factors facilitating and hindering it. However, these factors are rarely articulated in a systemic, comprehensive, and integrated way.

Method

To gain a better understanding of the socio-judicial response to IPV, we conducted a case study in an administrative region in the Province of Quebec, Canada. We conducted individual interviews with 37 key informants who work with people experiencing IPV. The data were subjected to deductive thematic coding as well as to intra- and inter-role matrices that cross-referenced the themes.

Result

According to our findings, interagency referrals and information sharing were the most common collaborative practices reported by participants which leading us to characterize the region studied in this article as poorly integrated. Factors facilitating and hindering collaboration are discussed in relation to previous studies.

Conclusion

Recommendations for cross-sectoral training, organizational policy development, and opportunities to leverage the expertise of specialized actors in IPV response systems are made.

Types of Economic Abuse in Postseparation Lives of Women Experiencing IPV: A Qualitative Study from Finland

There is growing interest in economic abuse as a form of violence against women, but the research has largely addressed cohabiting couples thus far, with few detailed explorations of women's experiences of economic abuse in postseparation life. Using interviews with 11 women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), this study investigates the types of economic abuse in the lives of these women. Inductive thematic analysis revealed four types of postseparation economic abuse (PSEA): economic sabotage, withholding resources, financial harassment, and stealing. These results help better understand and recognize the different forms of PSEA. Recommendations are provided for incorporating PSEA as a central component of IPV research, practice, and policy.

Conceptualising the separation from an abusive partner as a multifactorial, non-linear, dynamic process: A parallel with Newton’s laws of motion

The present study focused on the dynamics and factors underpinning domestic abuse (DA) survivors’ decisions to end the abusive relationship. The experiences and opinions of 12 female DA survivors and 18 support workers were examined through in-depth, one-to-one, semi-structured interviews. Hybrid thematic analysis was conducted to retrieve semantic themes and explore relationships among the themes identified and the differences in survivors’ and professionals’ narratives of the separation process. The findings highlighted that separation decisions derived from the joint action of two sets of factors, the “promoters” and the “accelerators.” Whilst the “promoters” are factors leading to the separation from the abuser over time, the “accelerators” bear a stronger and more direct connection with survivors’ decision to end the abusive relationship. Despite their differences, both these factors acted as propelling forces, leading survivors to actively pursue the separation from the perpetrator. To portray the dynamic links among these factors, we propose a conceptualisation drawn from Newton’s laws of motion. Our findings also highlighted important differences in the views of survivors and support workers, as the former conceived themselves as proactive in ending the abuse, whereas the latter described the leaving process as mainly led by authorities and services supporting survivors. This study has potential implications for research, policy and clinical practice, as it suggests that far from being a linear sequence of multiple stages, leaving an abusive relationship results from a complex interplay of factors that facilitate (“promoters”) or drastically accelerate (“accelerators”) the separation process. We argue that future research should aim at improving our current understanding of the subjective and situational factors that can act as “accelerators” or “promoters” for women’s leaving decisions. Moreover, clinicians and policymakers should invest in creating interventions that aid victims to recognise and leverage promoters and accelerators, thus increasing their readiness to end the abuse.

Participatory practice guideline development at the intersections of domestic and family violence, mental distress and/or parental substance use

Purpose

It is well established that the service system has a poor history of responding holistically to address the needs of children and families living with co-occurring complexities such as domestic violence, parental mental health and/or substance use. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to primarily describe the developmental process used to create guidelines to inform practice at the intersections of domestic violence, mental health and alcohol and other drug services, ensuring that the tactics of coercive control are visible in contexts of complexity.

Design/methodology/approach

The guidelines were developed through undertaking a literature review, followed by a practice-led research approach with practitioners from 33 organisations across three Australian states, Safe & Together consultants and researchers. Communities of practice composed of practitioners providing interventions to children and families were central to the approach. Data that informed the development of the guidelines included a literature review, ethnographic notes, qualitative interviews, quantitative surveys and reflections.

Findings

Practice-led research engaged practitioners in the development of guidelines to promote an integrated response to working with families experiencing domestic violence, substance use and mental health issues. The integrated approach drew from the Safe & Together model, emphasising partnering with women survivors, pivoting to the perpetrator, focusing on children’s safety and well-being, promoting worker safety, collaborating across agencies and influencing organisational change. The process demonstrated the usefulness of this integrated approach, using practitioner-based examples.

Originality/value

Successful iterative processes to develop the guidelines were undertaken to support cultural change towards holistic and collaborative work across multiple sectors and organisations.

The surfacing portion of the Iceberg of the Domestic Violence Phenomenon-data from the Israeli National Trauma Registry

Background

Domestic violence against women, which is an ancient phenomenon, is still thriving worldwide. The burden of domestic violence that is non-fatal on scene and its consequences in Israel are unknown. The purpose of this study was to provide evidence-based data regarding domestic violence-related hospitalizations among women in Israel.

Methods

The study is a retrospective cohort study of hospitalized patients included in the Israeli National Trauma Registry between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2020. All women aged 14 and older, hospitalized due to a violence-related injury in one of the six-level I Trauma Centers or one of the 15 regional Trauma Centers in Israel were included (n = 676).

Results

Domestic violence contributes to moderate, severe, and critical injuries in a quarter of abused hospitalized women. Among these women, 20% underwent surgery, and in-hospital mortality was recorded for 2% of the patients. For most cases (53%), the spouse or ex-spouse caused the injury. The family relationship with the perpetrator was distributed differently between the population groups. The proportion of brothers who attacked sisters was greatest among Arabs (14.4%), while the phenomenon of attacking a mother was infrequent in the Arab sub-group. In contrast, among Jewish women, the proportion of those injured by a son was high, especially among the group of Jewish immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) (17%) and other countries (26%). In a multivariable logistic regression model with at least moderate injury as a dependent variable, in comparison to Israeli Arabs, Jews had a higher odds for sustaining at least moderate injuries, while the odds of Jewish immigrants not from FSU or Ethiopia were the highest (OR = 4.5, 95% CI 2.0–9.9). The annual hospitalization risk was 1.3/100,000 and 5.8/100,000, respectively for Jews and Arabs in 2020, almost fivefold higher among Arab women in comparison to Jewish women (RR = 4.6, 95% CI 2.9–7.3).

Conclusions

Domestic violence prevention should pay special attention to populations at risk, such as Arab women and new immigrants, as those women are especially vulnerable and often without sufficient family support and lack of economic resources to exit the trap of domestic violence. The collaboration between social and health services, the police, and the local authorities is crucial.