Hear no misogyny, speak no sexism, see no harassment. Gender-Based Violence and UK University Campus Culture: Time for Change?

Gender Based Violence (GBV) in UK Universities has begun to gain the attention of scholars, government, the media and universities themselves albeit decades later than other Anglophone countries such as New Zealand and the USA. Though the policy situation in the UK has historically contrasted with that in the USA, where there are national and institutional policies on sexual harassment and violence (see for example Feltes et al 2012) in recent years, UK universities have become more attuned to issues of GBV with a number providing information about what to do in the wake of an assault. It is also increasingly common for universities to signpost information about national and regional support services, such as help lines for victims of sexual assault. Awareness-raising campaigns and active bystander and ‘consent’ programmes have also begun emerging, and many university counselling services now include specialist support for victims of (predominantly) sexual violence. In the UK the role of both student and academic activists (see for example NUS 2010 201, 2014 2015 and Phipps 2015) in bringing attention to GBV in universities and in holding universities to account for GBV amongst their staff and students has largely been the catalyst for the current changes. In summary 2016 saw the publication of the Changing the Culture document which established the Universities UK (UUK) taskforce with the remit of addressing GBV. This paper examines how GBV in universities in England in the UK is currently framed before exploring how universities are responding to increased expectations that they improve preventative measures and responses to GBV in their policies and practice. How these prevention interventions might shift campus cultures is particularly explored, with an emphasis on the Mandala Project at De Montfort University (DMU)

Change that Lasts is a Chance for Change

open access e-bookThe adoption of the risk need and responsivity (RNR) model in offending behaviour work in the 1990’s in England and Wales in the UK saw risk assessment aligned with the allocation and intensity of the supervision and resources applied in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and Allied Fields (Chapman and Hough 1998). As I have argued elsewhere (Turgoose 2016) although perhaps not known at the time the implications of this for the Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) sector would be significant. The introduction and adoption of the ‘risk model’ into DVA ‘work’ with victims in the specialist support sector has been a matter of mixed fortune. On the one hand a stronger connection with the statutory sector via the development of multi-agency partnership working on high risk cases and mobilising resources promptly at identified points of crisis has been enabled. On the other, DVA victims have been poorly served by a system which allocates resources based on risk levels rather than need (Home Office 2013; Regan 2007; Women’s Aid 2013; 2016), and by an approach which fails to appreciate the fluid nature of DVA and the importance of early intervention for both perpetrators and victims (Robinson 2010). Although statistics are disputed it is broadly accepted that women are both more likely to become victims of DVA than men and most likely to be subject to repeat acts of victimisation (Walby 2009; Walby and Towers 2018; Hester 2013). As such this paper takes a gendered analysis of DVA with the papers primary focus the (adult) victim. The Change That Lasts programme is a specialist sector idea regarding intervention (Women’s Aid 2016). It is a strengths-based, needs-led model that supports victims to build resilience and independence and which purports to respond to needs and risk whilst advocating the importance of empowering victims by responding to their self-defined needs. Here some observational practice findings of the use of a strengths-based approach utilising the Change That Lasts initiative within a DVA academic undergraduate module on a social-science-based degree programme with criminal justice based early career practitioners are explored

Children and Pets: The Hidden Victims of Domestic Violence & Abuse (DVA): Where Action & Activism merge!

Children and Pets: The Hidden Victims of Domestic Violence & Abuse (DVA): Where Action & Activism merge! Researchers such as Harne (2011) and Radford et al (2011) have long championed the area of Children’s rights in the DVA field and the Government’s VAWG strategy has begun to recognise young people as victims of DVA as a distinct issue. Another gain thus far has been that the Home Office (2013) definition now recognises victims from age 17 years. Moreover, the Government’s draft Domestic Abuse Bill (2019) commits itself to better addressing young people’s needs alongside making improvements for children, though it does fall short of recognising children as victims of DVA independently. Nonetheless, there continues to be calls to progress the agenda to recognise that child victims be given independent agency, with research and practice strategically developed to address their needs specifically, as well as within the broader context of DVA prevention (e.g. NSPCC 2019). In a similar vein, we argue that the concept of denial of agency, is equally applicable to other types of hidden victims of DVA including that of companion animals/pets. While some research has explored the link between victims and their companion animals in DVA relationships (e.g. Flynn, 2000, 2011), the area of agency and its denial has been relatively underexplored as it relates to animals. Arguably, one reason for this, is the notion of a broader ontological debate on anthropocentrism and speciesism. More specifically, an anthropocentric perspective of companion animals has provided some developments towards their protection such as pet fostering services offered to victims experiencing DVA when seeking to escape/flee. This is aligned with a hierarchal concept of the species placing humans at the top of a policy agenda comparative to non-human species (e.g. Beirne, 2013). On the other hand, a speciesist perspective explores and emphasises the rights of animals, where animals are given independent agency in the same way as humans (e.g. Sollund, 2011). This perspective then translates into policy and criminal law regarding the treatment of animals as victims of animal cruelty. These services already exist in for instance animal organisations taking responsibility for prosecutions of animal cruelty. However, we contend that the treatment of companion animals/pets should – not unlike the developments regarding children as victims of DVA – be incorporated into the same approach to developing and tackling strategies to address DVA. This poster explores the steps taken to date to draw attention to and develop a research and policy agenda of DVA for Pets, how this interlinks with the rights of children and what may be the blocks, challenges and enabling forces to start a collaborative discussion as to how to best address/recognise animal agency. We propose a broader theoretical development to help understand these victims of DVA using ‘The Power and Control Wheel’ model. Raising awareness of the need for the intersection of agency and highlighting that children and pets are very different to adults in numerous ways has important implications for service delivery and community resources which may help professionals and advocates to develop the support mechanisms these victims really need to survive and best recover from the trauma of DVA

Sexual Violence in Higher Education: What's Technology got to do with it? Protection, Prevention, Intervention Workshop

This interactive session is particularly relevant to practitioners, operational and strategic managers, students and university support and academic staff. The session commences with a brief overview of the changing landscape and demographics of technological and social media use in the 21st Century. Comparisons are explored in relation to on line and off line experiences of Relationships, Intimacy and Respect as a precursor to concentrating on the main focus of the session which is concerned with examining how coercion and control manifests in relationships within social media/digital experiences for young people who are by and large digital natives in a sexual context. Activities and group discussion are utilised to examine the accumulative effects of the mediated normalisation of sexism and the coercive and control tactics employed on line in the regulation of victim’s/survivor’s everyday lives. The session seeks to engage participants in reflective thinking using presenter input coupled with facilitated collaborative working via group exercise and discussion. The session is a useful tool to explore understandings of the complex ways in which the use of social media/digital media can contribute to experiences of coercion and control and consider how they might effectively be addressed and prevented. The implications for policy, practice and procedures at personal, operational and strategic levels in various occupational settings alongside academic institutions may be considered and examples of innovation and developing practice shared. Maximum number of participants 30 50-50 split between facilitator input including Q&A and facilitated group work activities

Realigning the domestic violence planet; bringing speciesism into focus – Starting a conversation on a new intersectionality and victimhood

The Domestic Abuse Bill (2019) and various Government Strategies ( e.g. VAWG) has seen an uptick in recognition of the importance of ‘hidden’ victims/survivors of DVA as distinct topics for empirical study and practical policy research recently. These developments have been achieved by increasing awareness that previously ‘invisible’ and ‘vulnerable’ victims/survivors such as children should be given independent agency. As a result, research and practice has been developed strategically to address their specific needs in terms of protection, prevention and intervention. Whilst we welcome this progress, it does not - we believe - go far enough. Currently non-human animal abuse is largely considered as a risk indicator (‘red flag’) for inter-human abuse. We wish to start a conversation concerning recognising non-human animals (‘pets’) as victims experiencing DVA who are worthy of victimhood status in their own ‘right.’ We argue - from this standpoint - that the concept of independent agency is equally applicable to pets who are victims/survivors of DVA. Moreover, we ask what this means when we consider intersectionality and the study of DVA

Generic Personal Safety Applications; empowering victims of Domestic Violence and Abuse? A Practitioner Lens

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Bespoke and generic Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) Personal Safety Applications (PSAs) have become a popular choice for strategic crime prevention projects by those in the criminal justice sector; to achieve justice through digital means as part of the wider digital justice project. These PSAs have been heralded as tools for the protection, empowerment, and resilience building of victims in DVA, despite limited independent evaluations. This article explores the use of a generic PSA, which the police have adopted for rollout to victims of DVA in one region of the United Kingdom. We undertook a thematic analysis of data taken from a roundtable and three follow up focus groups with practitioners from the police, criminal justice, DVA specialist sector, and victim services, alongside the PSA development team. We found both some support for using this PSA and serious concerns regarding its use in DVA situations

Personal safety mobile applications: Just another way of responsibilising survivors of IPV or a tool for empowerment? A survivor’s view!

Research and the academic literature have indicated the growing use of technologies such as the use of mobile phone applications as a tool either for the commission of IPV by perpetrators (‘tech abuse’) or as an ‘educational’ or ‘awareness raising’ forum/feature for both perpetrators and survivors of IPV. However, there is less exploration currently regarding whether and how this technology might be used as an empowerment tool in cases of IPV. Our research contributes towards closing this current gap. In this paper we focus on the preliminary results of our project examining the use of a mobile personal safety application in cases of IPV with a group of individual survivors assessed as medium/standard risk of ‘Domestic Violence’ in the UK. Our research sample consists of voluntary participants receiving services from specialist domestic abuse support agencies in one region of England. We also completed a qualitative analysis of data collected from a series of group and individual interviews. Results Drawing on the findings we examine the perceptions of the personal safety of survivors of IPV comparing those who choose to use the personal safety application with a control group whom did not. We explore intersectional differences between groups and what role the mobile phone safety application played as both a tool to assist towards the ‘protection’ of survivors as an element of their ‘safety plans’, and whether the personal safety application was perceived as an empowerment and personal resilience tool. We provide some recommendations which outline the strengths and challenges of personal safety mobile phone applications and how their utilisation can be disseminated more widely across the Domestic Violence sector

Women’s experiences of psychosis in the perinatal period:Exploring the perspectives of couples and midwives

This thesis explores the perspectives of couples and midwives regarding postnatal distress, specifically postpartum psychosis and perinatal psychotic-like experiences. It consists of three sections, a systematic literature review, an empirical research paper and a critical appraisal. The systemic literature review used Thomas and Harden’s (2008) methods for thematic synthesis to synthesise 17 studies exploring experiences of postpartum psychosis (PP) from mothers’ and partners’ perspectives. The review research question focused on mothers’ and partners’ experiences of their relationship with each other and their baby during PP, in addition to the impact of PP on these relationships. Four themes were generated: (1) The process of learning to adapt together; (2) Navigating the impact of the uncontrollable experience on our relationships; (3) This experience can strengthen or strain relationships; and (4) The journey through PP is a relational experience. Recommendations for clinical practice highlight the importance of services supporting women’s close relationships, and offering systemic interventions for families. The empirical paper aimed to explore midwives’ perspectives and perceptions concerning psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in the perinatal period. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data from semi-structured interviews with 10 midwives. Four themes were developed: (1) Identifying psychotic-like experiences would not be as easy as it sounds: making decisions on behalf of women (2) Psychotic-like experiences can feel overwhelming; (3) This is my responsibility: I’ll do what I can to support women even if it’s hard; and (4) The system feels unsafe and insecure which makes the anticipated role in supporting psychotic-like experiences harder. The results emphasise the importance of systemic safety for midwives, alongside training and guidance for midwives to support them in supporting women with PLEs. The critical appraisal summarises the research findings and discusses strengths, limitations and methodological decisions alongside the author’s personal reflections on the work

Associations between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Complex-PTSD, moral injury and perceived social support: A latent class analysis

Background Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including childhood abuse and neglect, are consistently linked to poorer mental health and psychosocial outcomes in adulthood. Complex-posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) and moral injury are two conditions which can cause significant distress and functional impairment in individuals affected by trauma. However, not much is known about the complex relationships between ACEs, C-PTSD and moral injury. Furthermore, while perceived social support is a commonly cited protective factor for C-PTSD, there is little understanding about how it relates to ACEs in traumatised populations. The aim of this study was to investigate ACEs in a trauma-affected sample of UK military veterans using latent class analysis. Secondly, the study tested for associations between latent classes of ACEs, severity of C-PTSD and moral injury, and levels of perceived social support. Method Data was collected from a UK military veterans mental health charity, from a clinical sample (N = 336) who were receiving treatment for mental health difficulties. Participants completed standardised measures of ACEs, C-PTSD, moral injury, and perceived social support. Data was analysed using a bias-adjusted 3-step approach latent class analysis. Wald statistics were used to test for associations between classes of ACEs and C-PTSD, moral injury and perceived social support. Findings A two-class model was found to be the best fit for the data, which depicted two classes of ACEs within the sample. The classes showed a distinction between a group of participants who were more likely to endorse experiencing high levels of ACEs, and a separate group who endorsed relatively lower levels of ACEs. As such, the model was interpreted as depicting a low-ACEs (class 1) vs. high-ACEs (class 2) distinction. 56 % of participants fell into class 1 (low ACEs) with 44 % in class 2 (high ACEs). Participants in class 2 (high ACEs) were significantly more likely to score highly for symptoms of C-PTSD and moral injury, and to report lower levels of perceived social support. Conclusion The present study is the first to report a two-class model of low vs high-ACEs in a clinical sample of UK military veterans. It also describes how membership of the high-ACEs class was significantly associated with higher scores for key mental health and psychosocial variables in C-PTSD, moral injury and perceived social support. The findings have important clinical implications in highlighting the possible role of ACEs in understanding the aetiology of psychopathology in military populations affected by trauma. It also adds to the growing literature which demonstrates how many military personnel experience significant levels of pre-existing trauma and adversity before entering service, and how this can contribute to the development of complex mental health outcomes in adulthood

A prospective registry-based cohort study of the diagnosis and management of acute leukaemia in pregnancy: Study protocol

Background Acute leukaemias (AL) are aggressive but potentially curable blood cancers that can potentially affect women of childbearing age. When a pregnancy is complicated by a diagnosis of AL, clinicians face a complex dilemma: to balance risking the mother’s survival through delayed AL treatment, against the potential harm to the foetus through exposure to anti-cancer drugs. Up until now, all guidance and advice regarding the management of AL in pregnancy, have been based on expert opinion and small case studies. There is a pressing need for more studies in the subject to address this evidence gap. Methods and analysis This study is a registry-based observational cohort study which aims to monitor and record the treatment outcomes of patients diagnosed with AL during pregnancy. Additionally, the study aims to assess pregnancy outcomes in patients who become pregnant following successful treatment. Prospective and historical cases from August 2009 onwards will be identified from AL treating haematology units within the UK. Details of diagnosis, AL treatment delivered, antenatal and postnatal outcomes for mother and neonate will be collected. This study will establish a new research database for Leukaemia in Pregnancy. Trial registration The study was registered on Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04182074) on the 2nd December 2019