Until death do they part: preventing intimate partner homicide\ud

Just under one quarter of all homicide victims in England and Wales were killed by an intimate partner in the year 2008/9, according to Home Office statistics. In the aftermath of such fatalities, where the offender was clearly well known to the victim, questions are often raised about whether the attack could have been foreseen and whether services had failed the victim in not preventing the sometimes seemingly inevitable event. This article considers how psychological theory and research can lend itself to the prevention of serious and fatal intimate partner violence and looks at the current state of practice in this domain

Development and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Non‐Violent and Violent Offending Behavior Scale (NVOBS)

both male and female participants in general (non‐forensic) samples. Potential items were selected from existing measures. A sample of 653 British university students completed all items, and their responses were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and validated with confirmatory factor analysis. There were five separate factors (general violence, drug‐related offenses, partner violence, theft, and criminal damage), which were confirmed with acceptable fit indices. The five‐factor model applied to both males and females. Each subscale demonstrated good internal consistency, with alphas for each factor ranging from moderate to good. This new measure is a potentially valuable research tool for investigating people’s involvement in violent and non‐violent offending. The importance of examining the psychometric properties of scales, and confirming the category groupings using CFA of the items is outlined

Physical Aggression and Controlling Behaviours Within Relationships

This thesis investigated the proposition by Johnson (1995; 1999) that there are distinct patterns of physical aggression within relationships, characterised as common couple violence and intimate terrorism. To investigate Johnson's theory, a stratified sample containing students (n=1 13), women from a domestic violence refuge (n=43), and male prisoners (n=108). Participants completed measures of physical aggression, escalation of physical aggression, controlling behaviour, fear of injuries, and actual injuries. Results of chapters 3 and 5 provided broad support for the view that there are distinct patterns of aggressive relationships corresponding to those identified by Johnson (1995; 1999). Chapter 4 found however, that the use of physical aggression was predicted by instrumental beliefs for both intimate terrorism and common couple violence, and analysis at the individual level (chapter 6) did not support the distinction between controlling and non-controlling partner aggression, but instead indicated that the use of physical aggression was associated with controlling behaviours in all relationship categories. To investigate Johnson's (1999) classification procedure in a non-stratified sample, a second sample was collected which consisted of 399 men and 951 women. In chapters 8 and 9 analysis was conducted separately for victim and perpetrator reports. Results were broadly supportive of Johnson's categories (though not the earlier findings regarding sex composition of the categories), but not the controlling noncontrolling dichotomy. Chapter 11 sought to investigate the ultimate aim of such behaviour and found that both men and women use more control when the woman was fecund, and more control and physical aggression when an individual had lower mate-value. The findings of this thesis are discussed in relation to sampling strategies, the control and physical aggression relationship and the effect of reporting2 bias. The conclusions from this thesis are that Johnson's dichotomy may not represent a qualitative difference, but instead may be one of quantity

Effective support for victims of sexual violence: A systematic review of reviews

In response to the growing body of research on the effectiveness of support for sexual violence victims, numerous reviews have been conducted to synthesise the treatment outcome literature. However, these reviews have also become unmanageable in number and vary in scope or quality, which would make it difficult to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of a specific type of support or intervention. Conducting a ‘review of reviews’ is the next logical step as a way to condense and identify pertinent findings from a large pool of empirical studies. This report brings together reviews of treatment outcomes for child and adult victims of sexual violence. For child victims, trauma-focused CBT in combination with supportive and psychodynamic therapies can reduce depression and sexualised behaviour, and enhance self-esteem. Longer treatments are likely to yield larger improvements in symptoms. For adult victims, cognitive-behavioural and EMDR treatments have the largest treatment effects, while supportive therapies are contraindicated. Treatments should be symptom-specific, with functional assessment a likely effective tool to identify difficulties associated with presenting problem

‘I put my “police head” on’: Coping strategies for working with sexual offending material

This paper explores the coping strategies of UK Police staff who are exposed to sexual offence material (SOM). Eleven Police staff completed a questionnaire then took part in semi-structured interviews. Themes were identified using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). This paper explores the theme ‘Coping strategies for working directly with material’, focusing on the most common strategies employed: ‘Detachment’, ‘Avoidance’, and ‘Process-driven’ approaches. Links between coping and different features of SOM are examined, including victim characteristics and audio content. The impact of organisational factors which make coping strategies more or less effective are also explored, along with potential sources of support

Investigating Violence and Control Dyadically in a Help-Seeking Sample from Mozambique

A sample of 1442 women attending a Forensic Healthcare Service provided information on their own and their partners' use of controlling behaviors, partner violence, and sexual abuse, as well as their own experiences of childhood abuse. Using Johnson's typology, the relationships were categorized as Nonviolent, Intimate Terrorism, or Situational Couple Violence. Findings suggest that help-seeking women's experiences of intimate violence may be diverse, with their roles ranging from victim to perpetrator

Trauma characteristics and posttraumatic growth: The mediating role of avoidance coping, intrusive thoughts and social support

Objective: Previous research suggests trauma characteristics can impact on posttraumatic growth (PTG). The current study considers whether previously identified predictors of PTG may produce different outcomes dependent on the characteristics of the trauma experienced. Method: Active coping, avoidant coping, emotional coping, intrusive thoughts, social support and spirituality were examined as potential mediators of relationships between trauma characteristics (interpersonal trauma, number of trauma types and childhood trauma) and PTG. The responses of 268 adults exposed to multiple and wide-ranging stressors were used to generate three multiple mediation models. Results: Intrusive thoughts and social support exerted small but significant indirect effects in all three multiple mediation models. Avoidant coping mediated associations between the number of trauma types and PTG, and the relationship between childhood trauma to PTG. Conclusion: Relationships between trauma characteristics and PTG appear to be explained through the presence of avoidant coping strategies, intrusive thoughts and the individual’s social environment, which could be the focus of intervention efforts to promote positive change

Assessing victim risk in cases of violent crime

Purpose: There is a body of evidence that suggests a range of psychosocial characteristics demarcate certain adults to be at an elevated risk for victimisation. To this end, the aim of the current study was to examine consistency between one police force, and a corresponding victim support service based in England, in their assessment of level of risk faced by victims of violent crime. Methodology: This study explored matched data on 869 adult victims of violent crime gathered from these two key services in Preston, namely Lancashire Constabulary and Victim Support, from which a sub-group of comparable ‘domestic violence’ cases (n=211) were selected for further examination. Findings: Data analyses revealed methodological inconsistencies in the assessment of victimisation resulting in discrepancies for recorded levels of risk in domestic violence cases across these two agencies. Practical implications: These findings provide a compelling argument for developing a more uniformed approach to victim assessment and indicate a significant training need. Value: This paper highlights areas of good practice and forwards several recommendations for improved practice that emphasises the integration of empirical research conducted by psychologists to boost the validity and reliability of risk assessment approaches and tools used

“I get knocked down, but I get up again” – A qualitative exploration of posttraumatic growth after multiple traumas

Theories of positive change following traumatic events, known as posttraumatic growth (PTG), posit that growth occurs in pre-determined domains. However, the domains in which growth occurs have largely been suggested from the results of studies which have looked at isolated traumatic events. The current paper has two aims: first, to explore whether looking for growth only in pre-determined domains limits opportunities to identify other changes that may occur; and second, to describe growth processes and outcomes in survivors of multiple, rather than single, traumatic events. Twenty-six semi-structured interviews analyzed with thematic analysis revealed two themes (outcomes of trauma and processing trauma) and seven subthemes (managing subsequent stressors, identity changes, co-existing positive and negative changes, trauma-related thoughts, control perceptions, spiritual challenges and social support and disclosure). Of these themes, the ability to handle subsequent stressors, identity changes and control perceptions, have not been previously reported in qualitative studies. More flexible conceptualizations of growth are needed to understand the nuances of positive change among survivors of multiple trauma types