Barriers to help-seeking : older women's experiences of domestic violence and abuse - Briefing note

The widespread phenomenon of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is acknowledged to be a global issue (WHO, 2013). However, this entrenched social problem is often associated with women of child-bearing age with the absence of older women in DVA research, policy and practice resulting in the construction of older victims/ survivors as a 'hidden group' (Turner et al., 2010). The purpose of this briefing note is to highlight findings from a pilot study which explored older women's experiences of DVA as well as the perspectives of DVA practitioners. The data illustrates the impacts of DVA which operated to instill fear and anxiety into victims which, in turn, maintained women in abusive relationships. Ultimately, the dynamics and impacts of DVA serves as a barrier to help-seeking behaviour for older victims/survivors (Rogers, forthcoming)

The intersection of cisgenderism and hate crime : learning from trans people's narratives

Whilst trans people are gaining recognition and positive attention in some respects, many continue to experience discrimination and social exclusion in everyday life. This paper will illuminate violence outside of the home – in the form of hate crime – and the interplay with transphobia (the irrational dislike of trans people) and cisgenderism (a prejudicial ideology based on notions of gender normativity). To-date, there is a rather limited body of work detailing trans people’s experiences of hate crime, with the tendency to subsume trans people’s narratives under the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) umbrella. This invisibility results in problems with detailing and examining the specificity of trans people’s hate crime experiences. Findings from a qualitative study that explored trans people’s experiences of domestic abuse, using narrative interviewing, will be presented. A total of twenty-four interviews were undertaken with trans people (n = 15) and domestic abuse practitioners (n = 9). Data was examined using a voice-centred relational technique. Whilst trans people were asked about domestic abuse, each participant provided narratives about their experience of abuse in public; with each constituting hate crime. Four narratives have been purposively selected and these are presented here to illuminate the workings of cisgenderism in relation to hate crime. This paper adds new insight and problematizes the entrenched nature of normative and dominant discourses about gender identity and practice

The Iris Project, Manchester Women’s Aid : an independent consultation with older clients

The University of Salford worked in partnership with Manchester Women’s Aid to conduct a consultation of older service users who access DVA intervention via IRIS. This included service users, both female and male, who are over 50 years of age. This provided Manchester Women’s Aid with the opportunity to evaluate and review its service provision in relation to older people. The following areas were addressed through the consultation: Experiences of domestic violence and abuse Impact – including short and long-term health impacts Barriers and enablers Formal and informal sources of support Access to support via IRI

Nurses' recognition of domestic violence and abuse

Most literature and discourse on domestic violence and abuse (DVA) focuses on women but there is a need to be cognisant of the broader population experiencing DVA and the wide-ranging impacts that can affect anybody whatever their identity or background. Mental Health nurses are in a good position to help people who experience DVA but they need to be able to recognise it first. This paper reports on a review which aims to address the question: How can mental health nurses recognise domestic violence and abuse (DVA)? The databases CINAHL, Medline, PsychINFO and ASSIA were searched using key terms related to DVA and nursing and recognition. The term ‘nursing’ was used as the ‘mental health nursing’ search term found only two papers. Limits for the search were English language research only papers from 2002-2017. Fifteen papers were included in the review. Most of the located research focused on health care practitioners in multidisciplinary teams with nursing literature focused on adult health nurses rather than mental health nursing. The findings are presented in the categories: education, training and organisational support, and, screening, inquiry and the therapeutic relationship, with an additional category (given the original aim of the review) ‘mental health settings’. The experience of DVA has significant consequences for mental health yet we found only two research papers focused on mental health settings. We therefore discuss and extrapolate from reviewed literature the implications for practice in the context of mental health nursing

An evaluation of the Change Up programme

This report presents the findings of an evaluation of the Change Up programme

The generalized Lindemann melting coefficient

Lindemann developed the melting temperature theory over 100 years ago, known as the Lindemann criterion. Its main assumption is that melting occurs when the root-mean-square vibration amplitude of ions and atoms in crystals exceeds a critical fraction, η of the inter-atomic spacing in crystals. The Lindemann coefficient η is undefined and scientific papers report different η values for different elements. Here we present previously unobserved data trends pointing to the fact that the Lindemann coefficient could be linked to the periodic groups of the periodic table, having an exact value for each element belonging to a given periodic group. We report 12 distinctive Lindemann coefficient values corresponding to 12 groups of the periodic table containing solid elements with identifiable melting temperature. Using these vales, the recalculation of the melting temperatures indicates a good match to the experimental values for 39 elements, corresponding to 12 out of 15 periodic groups. This newly observed result opens up the possibility of further refining the Lindemann melting criterion by stimulating analytical studies of the Lindemann coefficient in the light of this newly discovered result

Breaking down barriers : exploring the potential for social care practice with trans survivors of domestic abuse

There is increasing recognition that domestic abuse takes place outside of the heteronormative paradigm of social life. This paper presents a discussion of the findings of doctoral research which explores trans people’s experiences of domestic abuse, their social care needs and whether these are met by domestic abuse agencies. This paper foregrounds debate on the intersections of domestic abuse, trans communities and social care provision as this research, and previous studies, suggests that trans survivors do not seek out or benefit from social care intervention. Qualitative data, collected via narrative interviews, was collected during 2012 from participants mainly located in the UK (two participants were based in the US). A total of twenty four interviews were undertaken with trans people (n = 15) and social care practitioners (n = 9). Data was examined using a voice-centred relational technique. Findings reveal that barriers are multiple and complex but work could be undertaken to encourage help-seeking behaviours. Barriers include: expectations of a transphobic response and ‘Othering’ practices; lack of entitlement felt by trans people; lack of knowledge/misunderstandings about trans social care needs; heteronormative bias of existing services; and practitioner attitudes fixed to notions about gender as binary. The paper ends by proposing a framework for practice with trans survivors which incorporates a person-centred, narrative approach

Growing spaces : an evaluation of the mental health recovery programme using mixed methods

Background: Therapeutic horticulture is a nature-based method which includes a range of green activities such as gardening to promote wellbeing. It is believed that therapeutic horticulture provides a person-centred approach that can reduce social isolation for people with mental health problems. Aims: The aim of the project was to evaluate the impact of a mental health recovery programme that used therapeutic horticulture as an intervention to reduce social inclusion and improve engagement for people with mental health problems. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used and data from four semi-structured focus group interviews, 11 exit interviews and 20 recovery star datasets were collected from September 2015 to October 2017. Qualitative data from the interviews were thematically analysed and quantitative data based on a recovery star outcomes tool were analysed using descriptive statistics to demonstrate trends and progression. The findings were then triangulated to provide a rich picture of the impact of the mental health recovery programme. Results: The recovery star data indicated that participants were working towards self-reliance. Qualitative data from the exit interview and semi-structured focus groups found similar results. The triangulated findings highlight that the mental health recovery programme enabled participant integration into the community through providing a space to grow and build self-confidence while re-engaging with society. The results suggest that using therapeutic horticulture as an intervention within the mental health recovery programme can support people with mental health problems to re-engage socially. Nature-based activities could be used within the ‘social prescribing’ movement to encourage partnership working between the NHS and voluntary sector organisations which can complement existing mental health services

An interim evaluation of the Sahara Project

The University of Salford has been commissioned by Manchester Women’s Aid to conduct an interim evaluation following the first two years of the Sahara Project from 1 November 2014 to 1 November 2016. This will provide Manchester Women’s Aid with the opportunity to evaluate and plan for service provision beyond the end point of the three-year funding. This evaluation will also enable Manchester Women’s Aid (MWA) to demonstrate accountability to the Big Lottery providing an evidence-base to be used in future tendering processes. The following questions were addressed by the evaluation: An interim evaluation of the Sahara Project 3 www.salford.ac.uk/shusu • To what extent has the Sahara Project met its intended outcomes? • How effective is the current model (consisting of casework and groupwork) in terms of outcomes from the perspective of stakeholders including: service users; and service providers who refer to the Sahara Project? • What would have happened were service users not able to access the service? Would there have been implications, such as cost or limited alternative service provision? • What impact has the service had on the lives of BME women and children living with or fleeing DVA in the city of Manchester? The BAMER category captures a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities and in addition to the evaluation of existing service provision, MWA has a particular interest in gaining better insight into those groups of women and children from the BAMER umbrella for whom there are more barriers to accessing their services. As a result, a targeted consultation exercise supplemented this evaluation with feedback gained from members of a group identified as harder-to-reach than others in the BAMER category; the Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) community