NOTEPAD
Leadership in action at the ANROWS National Research Conference
ANROWS Notepad | 11 March 2021
ANROWS CONFERENCE: “EVIDENCE IN ACTION”
Key lessons from the ANROWS National Research Conference
In the lead-up to International Women’s Day 2021, ANROWS gathered policymakers, researchers, women with lived expertise and others – all leaders in the field of violence against women research – for a five-day event unpacking the theme “Evidence in Action”.
The conference included 15 sessions, in addition to the keynote address – a mix of plenary panels, case studies and solution sessions – that explored how to most effectively engage in the process of knowledge translation, or knowledge mobilisation.
Keynote speaker C. Nadine Wathen (Western University, London, Canada) spoke of knowledge mobilisation as “essentially a human process: iterative, non-linear and messy”. After going on to note that the “wickedness” of the problem of violence against women and their children “exacerbates this messiness”, she praised ANROWS for fulfilling its necessary role as a trained intermediary in the process of knowledge mobilisation. “I wish Canada had an ANROWS because it [has] just such an incredibly robust process,” she said.
Conference delegates learned from Professor Wathen that “key messages coming from research and data need to be framed as narratives grounded in values”, and the voices of women with lived expertise were foregrounded in the conference: the first plenary panel session of the event, “Experts by Experience”, spoke to the need to include these voices in violence against women policy, practice design, research and evaluation. Michael Salter (UNSW) said that “women’s stories are powerful in terms of giving us a bird’s-eye view of where the obstacles are to safety and wellbeing and recovery”.
Throughout the conference political leaders, including Senator the Hon Anne Ruston, Minister for Families and Social Services; Senator the Hon Marise Payne, Minister for Women and Foreign Affairs; the Hon Michelle Lensink MLC, Minister for Human Services, SA; and NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, highlighted the value of the role that ANROWS plays in translating evidence into policy and practice.
More than 850 delegates participated in the event, spread over five days from 1 to 5 March 2021.
2020–2022 ANROWS CORE GRANT RESEARCH PROGRAM
Adolescent family violence
In this issue, we bring you three more projects from the 2020–2022 ANROWS Core Grant Research Program. All three address adolescent family violence (AFV), also known as adolescent violence in the home (AVITH), an area of family violence in which significant gaps exist in our understanding. There is no research, either in Australia or internationally, that uses the perspective of young people to examine the prevalence, nature of and responses to AFV.
Led by Kate Fitz-Gibbon (Monash University), “Adolescent family violence in Australia: A national study of prevalence, use of and exposure to violence, and support needs for young people” intends to create a robust dataset for measuring the prevalence of AFV in Australia, through a nationally representative prevalence survey of young Australians (aged 16 to 18 years). In addition, it seeks to generate new insights and recommendations into support needs for young people using family violence.
Complementing this focus on the national prevalence of AFV, “WRAP around families experiencing adolescent violence in the home (AVITH): Towards a collaborative service response”, led by Elena Campbell at RMIT University, tells a more specific story, focusing on service design. The project builds on the earlier PIPA project, funded by ANROWS and also led by Elena Campbell, which examined legal and service responses to young people using AVITH and found that there is a need for multi-disciplinary interventions rather than “one size fits all” approaches. Accordingly, the WRAP project intends to fill a gap in both evidence and future practice and support the development of a whole-of-family, collaborative practice framework.
Finally, “Building a framework to prevent and respond to young people with disability who use violence at home”, led by Georgina Sutherland (University of Melbourne), will build a conceptual framework on how and why AFV arises for young people with disability, intended to guide intervention development, research, policy and practice.
As with the other five projects commissioned under the ANROWS Core Grant Research Program, these three projects respond directly to the experiences and needs of children and young people. This is the first priority research area under Australia’s National Research Agenda to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (ANRA) 2020–2022.
We are pleased to see the positive response to our call to submit relevant research projects for inclusion on the ANROWS Register of Active Research. Many of the submissions relate to the ANRA 2020–2022 “children and young people” priority research area. One such project, “Gender differences in the prevention of youth victimisation and offending”, led by Dr Stacy Tzoumakis of Griffith University, aims to aid policymakers in effectively preventing young people’s involvement with the criminal justice system by generating new knowledge on:
- gender-specific risk and protective factors of victimisation and offending
- the effectiveness of school-based, social-emotional learning programs for young people.
If you have research underway relating to violence against women and their children, that has an Australian target population and employs a robust, rigorous and ethical research design, please submit details for its inclusion on the RAR.
Work with ANROWS
Following the recent announcement of our CEO’s impending retirement, recruitment of a new CEO has commenced. The advertisement can be seen at these links: SEEK and Ethical Jobs. Applications close on 29 March.
Please pass on to anyone you know that may be interested in the role.
New research and resources
You can access the resources in this list and all the other articles in Notepad in the ANROWS Library.
Books and reports
Anleu, S. L. R., & Mack, K. (2021). Judging and emotion: A socio-legal analysis. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. https://www.routledge.com/Judging-and-Emotion-A-Socio-Legal-Analysis-1st-Edition/Roach-Anleu-Mack/p/book/9781138893023
Bartels, L., Easteal, P., & Dodd, S. (2021). Review of the Implementation of the Family Violence Act 2016 (ACT): Report prepared on behalf of the ACT Government. https://www.justice.act.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-02/Review%20of%20the%20Family%20Violence%20Act%202016%20Final%20Report.PDF
de Ávila, T. P., & Lopes Gomes Pinto Ferreira, G. (2021). Primary prevention policies to face domestic violence against women: Lessons from Australia to Brazil. International Journal for Crime and Justice. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.1807
Diversity Council Australia, & Our Watch. (2021). Myth busting and domestic and family violence at work: Using evidence to debunk common myths and assumptions. https://www.dca.org.au/research/project/myth-busting-flexibility
Douglas, H. (2021). Women, intimate partner violence, and the law. Oxford University Press.
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/women-intimate-partner-violence-and-the-law-9780190071783?cc=au&lang=en&
Erman, A., De Vries Robbe, S. A., Thies, S. F., Kabir, K., & Maruo, M. (2021). Gender dimensions of disaster risk and resilience: Existing evidence. World Bank Group. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35202
Harris, B., Dragiewicz, M., & Woodlock, D. (2021). Submission on online safety legislative reform. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/208284/
Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council, Legal and Social Issues Committee. (2021). Inquiry into homelessness in Victoria: Final report. https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lsic-lc/article/4662
Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council, Legal and Social Issues Committee. (2021). Inquiry into homelessness in Victoria: Final report: Summary booklet. https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lsic-lc/article/4662
Snell, L. (2021). Strengthening protections for people experiencing sexual and domestic violence. Law Society Journal. https://lsj.com.au/articles/strengthening-protections-for-people-experiencing-sexual-and-domestic-violence/
VicHealth. (2021). Victorians’ experiences of sexism and sexual harassment while working remotely due to the coronavirus: Report findings January 2021. VicHealth. https://doi.org/10.37309/2020.MW1020
New research articles
You can access the resources in this list and all the other articles in Notepad in the ANROWS Library.
Basilio, M. P., Pereira, V., de Oliveira, M. W. C. M., da Costa Neto, A. F., Moraes, O. C. R. d., & Siqueira, S. C. B. (2021). Knowledge discovery in research on domestic violence: An overview of the last fifty years. Data Technologies and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1108/DTA-08-2020-0179
Beatrice, M. (2021). A problem-solving approach to criminalised women in the Australian context. Alternative Law Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969X20985104
Boxall, H., Morgan, A., & Brown, R. (2021). Experiences of domestic violence among women with restrictive long-term health conditions: Report for the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. Statistical Report, no. 32. https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr32
Brown, C., & Hegarty, K. (2021). Development and validation of the TAR Scale: A measure of technology-facilitated abuse in relationships. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100059
Easteal, P., Blatchford, A., Holland, K., & Sutherland, G. (2021). teaching journalists about violence against women best reportage practices: An Australian case study. Journalism Practice, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2021.1886866
Flaherty, R., McDougall, S., Arney, F., Meiksans, J., & Hawkes, M. (2021). Review of the literature on child protection and domestic violence electronic medical record alerts. Child Abuse Review. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2675
Jeffries, S., Wood, W. R., & Russell, T. (2021). Adult restorative justice and gendered violence: Practitioner and service provider viewpoints from Queensland, Australia. Laws, 10(1), 13. https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/10/1/13
Meyer, S., Reeves, E., & Fitz-Gibbon, K. (2021). The intergenerational transmission of family violence: Mothers’ perceptions of children’s experiences and use of violence in the home. Child & Family Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12830
Tsantefski, M., Young, A., Wilde, T., & O’Leary, P. (2021). High-risk cases at the intersection of domestic/family violence and child protection: Learning from practice. Journal of Family Violence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-021-00255-8
Workman, A., Kruger, E., & Dune, T. (2021). Policing victims of partner violence during COVID-19: A qualitative content study on Australian grey literature. Policing and Society, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2021.1888951
Read
I’m a sexual assault counsellor. Here’s why it’s so hard for survivors to come forward, and what happens when they do—The Conversation
Listening to the voices of survivors of violence and abuse—Pursuit. University of Melbourne
This week’s news has put sexual assault survivors at risk of “secondary trauma”. Here’s how it happens, and how to cope—The Conversation
What I wish for Grace Tame: Rosie Batty’s open letter to the Australian of the Year—SMH
Conferences & events
3 to 14 March 2021: Queensland Women’s Week
24 March 2021: CEDAW Implementation Map in the Asia–Pacific Region launch
25 March 2021: Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence 5-year anniversary
31 March 2021: Engaging with multicultural communities to understand and respond to their needs
7 to 8 October 2021: Indigenous Wellbeing Conference
Opportunities
WOMEN’S HEALTH IN QUEENSLAND: SURVEY
Open to women across Queensland, the Women’s Health in Queensland survey is designed to help Women’s Health Queensland advocate for improved healthcare and access for women in the state. The survey consists of 10 questions, and is open until 1 May.
BREACHES OF FAMILY LAW PARENTING ORDERS: SURVEY
The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has been commissioned by ANROWS to undertake research into the compliance with and enforcement of family law parenting orders. The research will involve multiple studies, including a survey of legal and non-legal professionals working in the family law system.
You are invited to take part in this survey if you are a legal professional (including judicial officers, barristers and solicitors) or non-legal professional (including family dispute resolution practitioners, family violence sector professionals, and professionals working in post-separation support services, such as parenting order programs).
THE VOICES STUDY: HELP TO DISTRIBUTE SURVEYS FOR A NATIONAL STUDY
ANROWS and the University of Melbourne are conducting surveys of victims and survivors and people who use intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women as part of a project called “Transforming responses to intimate partner and sexual violence: Listening to the voices of victims, perpetrators and services” (the “Voices” study).
To help gather this important data, the research team are asking for your help in distributing the surveys. You can access information about the Voices survey for victims and survivors (women) here and about the survey for people (men, women and gender diverse) who use intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women here. Please feel free to share these survey links widely via newsletters, Twitter, Facebook and other social media.
The Voices study is led by Associate Professor Dominiek Coates at ANROWS and Professor Kelsey Hegarty at the University of Melbourne. It is part of a program of research led by ANROWS and funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services under the Fourth Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022.
This study will develop recommendations for service and system improvements to better respond to victims and survivors, their children and perpetrators.
This project has received ethics approval from the University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee.
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