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Research

Our research

Violence against women and children affects everybody. It impacts on the health, wellbeing and safety of a significant proportion of Australians throughout all states and territories and places an enormous burden on the nation’s economy across family and community services, health and hospitals, income-support and criminal justice systems.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

News and events

ANROWS hosts events as part of its knowledge transfer and exchange work, including public lectures, workshops and research launches. Details of upcoming ANROWS activities and news are available from the list on the right.

ANROWS

About ANROWS

ANROWS was established by the Commonwealth and all state and territory governments of Australia to produce, disseminate and assist in applying evidence for policy and practice addressing violence against women and their children.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Resources

To support the take-up of evidence, ANROWS offers a range of resources developed from research to support practitioners and policy-makers in delivering evidence-based interventions.


ANROWS supports the 16 Days of Activism

This Notepad reaches you during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, an annual opportunity for ANROWS to join with you and with individuals and organisations in our collective call for an end to all violence against women and girls.

The theme of the 2019 UNiTE campaign is Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands against Rape! Around the world, recent grassroots campaigns have turned a spotlight onto the prevalence and wide-ranging impacts of sexual violence.

Throughout the 16 days, the @ANROWS twitter account is standing with our Australian community against rape culture. Follow us for information and resources to help us all work towards dismantling the patriarchal beliefs, power, and control that normalise and ignore sexual violence.

In particular, we are highlighting the problem of intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV), and how it is used as a tactic of coercive control in domestic violence. IPSV is an indicator of high risk of homicide, with serious and long-lasting effects.

The ANROWS Research Synthesis on Intimate Partner Sexual Violence explores IPSV’s characteristics, considers community attitudes toward IPSV, looks at the barriers to recognising and responding to it, and offers evidence-based implications for policy and practice.

The 16 Days of Activism campaign runs from 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) to 10 December (Human Rights Day), underlining the connection between these two days and the fact that women’s safety is a human right.

Evidence in Action

Register now for the ANROWS Conference

Registration is now open for the ANROWS National Research Conference on Violence against Women and their Children: Evidence in Action. Join us over 3 days at the Hilton Adelaide 28–30 April 2020, for a chance to learn, connect, and reflect as we meet the challenge of responding to violence against women and their children.

The conference theme will open up opportunities to explore ideas of impact, including what works for whom and in what circumstances, and how we know an initiative has been effective. Coming together with other researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and survivor-advocates, we will discuss the ways evidence is being applied in policy and practice to reduce violence against women and their children.

The conference will be structured around themed conversational panels, each including facilitators with diverse backgrounds and expertise. This format will offer unique opportunities for conference participants to engage in discussion and to contribute to our understanding of “what works”.

REGISTER NOW

Podcasts

Healing Together: Podcasts on intergenerational trauma and family violence

Warawarni-Gu Guma Statement

At last year’s ANROWS National Research Conference, a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates and speakers led a plenary session.  They presented a powerful joint statement on a new way to address family violence in Indigenous communities: a way that recognises the impact of intergenerational trauma and honours cultural knowledge.

The Warawarni-Gu Guma Statement (Healing Together in Ngurin Ngarluma) was recorded, and is now available for download as an episode of Insights: the ANROWS Podcast. This short episode (10 minutes) delivers a crucially important message, and invites us to listen and act.

The statement can also be read on our website or downloaded as a PDF.

Keynote Address: Our Story of Trauma, Our Truth

The Conference Keynote address, which immediately followed the delivery of the Warawarni-Gu Guma Statement, has also been made available as a podcast episode.

This address was delivered by former ANROWS board director, Professor Victoria Hovane, from The Australian National University, and Doctor Mark Wenitong, from Apunipima Cape York Health Council. Vickie and Mark discuss intergenerational trauma, and the effects this trauma has in terms of health, health system responses, and family violence in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander communities.

You can also access the presentation slides for this address.

ACCESS PODCASTS

WorkUP Queensland is launched

This week WorkUP Queensland  has been launched, marking an exciting new stage in this statewide project creating workforce solutions to help end domestic, family and sexual violence.

WorkUP Queensland is an innovative partnership between ANROWS and The Healing Foundation, a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation that works with communities and leads research into Indigenous healing. The name WorkUP Queensland reflects our focus on developing the sector to meet the challenges of the future.

If you work for a Queensland-based sexual violence, domestic and family violence, or women’s health and wellbeing service that is funded through the Office for Women and Violence Prevention, this project is for you. Have a look at the new WorkUP Queensland website  and connect to the team on the WorkUP Queensland Facebook group.

Register your interest in hosting a practice studio

WorkUP will work closely with organisations across the state to run practice studios  which will lead the way in discovering what it takes to implement evidence in practice.

Practice studios (previously known as practice labs) bring current evidence, research and knowledge to life in real-world settings. Using action research, host services will take resources and strategies developed through ANROWS research and ‘road test’ or refine them for implementation. Lessons learned and resources developed will be shared across the sector, so that the benefits can be amplified.

Each practice studio will focus on one of the following options:

National Risk Assessment Principles

WITH Framework

Invisible Practices

Partnering with Women (using principles from the Invisible Practices project)

Social Entrapment Framework

This list has been based on feedback from stakeholder workshops conducted earlier this year, and is a starting point for the ongoing work of practice studios over the five-year life of the project. WorkUP is now planning next year’s options: if you have new ideas about what could be developed through the practice lab process, please contact the project using the details below.

If you are interested in hosting a practice studio at your organisation, please:

  • email workforce@healingfoundation.org.au   OR
  • call Theresa Kellett on 0424 979 454.

Expressions of interest will be accepted until 5pm, Monday 16th of December 2019.


Building capacity in Asia–Pacific

kNOwVAWdata

Last week staff from ANROWS were proud to deliver our annual training for the kNOwVAWdata course, a joint initiative from the University of Melbourne, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and ANROWS.

The course develops the technical capacity of our colleagues around the Asia-Pacific region, building their skills in safely and accurately measuring the prevalence of violence against women. The principle guiding the course is that it’s essential that we gather the data on VAW in order to support prevention and response efforts, nationally and globally.

In collaboration with journalist and author Jane Gilmore, Michele Robinson (Director, Evidence to Action) and Heather Champion (Media and Communications Coordinator) from ANROWS facilitated sessions on communications planning, building strategic relationships, working with the media, and managing resistance and backlash.

The course is convened by Dr Kristin Diemer and Dr Cathy Vaughan of the University of Melbourne, and Dr Henriette Jansen from UNFPA.

DISCUSSION IN BRISBANE

Should domestic violence be decriminalised?

What does it mean that our primary response to domestic and family violence is a legal one?

And why do we use the criminal system to solve this hugely complex problem, when it could be better understood as an issue for our economy, public health system, communities and human rights?

ANROWS is holding a special event in Brisbane to discuss these questions in depth. Join us at the Queensland Supreme and High Courts, where the ABC’s Paul Barclay will be interviewing internationally respected academic Professor Leigh Goodmark about overturning our approach and creating a real roadmap for reform.

In Conversation with Leigh Goodmark is on 4 December 2019 in Brisbane. Register now to secure a place.

For those who are unable to make it to Brisbane, the conversation will be broadcast on ABC Radio National and made available for download on the Big Ideas podcast.

REGISTER NOW

Seminar in Sydney

Using a new legal framework to understand intimate partner violence

For those in Sydney, we have an upcoming seminar to discuss recent research on how intimate partner violence is understood in legal contexts.

The report found that when a woman kills her abusive partner, it is extremely difficult for her to raise a case of self-defense. It examines the reasons for this, and proposes a “social entrapment framework”, which can provide a more complete picture of the facts of a case.

Join ANROWS and the University of Sydney in Sydney on 3 December for a seminar discussing these findings.

REGISTER NOW

Opportunities

Do you work in specialist family violence or primary prevention in Victoria? The Victorian Government is collecting essential data on the sector in order to improve workforce planning and development. Have your say in the Family Violence Workforce Census.

The Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety has proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to introduce new regulations for rental housing. Put forward your views on the proposed Residential Tenancies Regulations 2020.


New resources

Burndawan: a resource for Aboriginal people who would like information or support about harmful behaviours from a partner or family member.

Gender Equity Victoria: Online Active Bystander Project

Government of Western Australia Department of Communities: 16 Days in WA: Stop Violence against Women

1800RESPECT: 16 Days Toolkit

1800RESPECT: Escape Bag Checklist

1800RESPECT: Financial Abuse Support Toolkit

New research

Books & Reports

Australian Institute of Family Studies: Parenting arrangements after separation: Evidence summary

Hagemann-White, C., Kelly, L., & Meysen, T. (2019). Interventions against child abuse and violence against women: Ethics and culture in practice and policy. Stuttgart: Verlag Barbara Budrich.

Harkin, D (2019). Private Security and Domestic Violence: The Risks and Benefits of Private Security Companies Working With Victims of Domestic Violence. Routledge.

Lowitja Institute: The First Response project: Trauma and culturally informed approaches to primary health care for women who experience violence

Queensland Department of Child Safety, Youth & Women (2019). Prevent. Support. Believe. Queensland’s Framework to address Sexual Violence

Education Centre Against Violence (ECAV) and Prevention and Response to Violence, Abuse and Neglect (PARVAN) Unit (Ministry of Health), NSW Health: Avoiding the 3 ‘M’s: accurate use of violence, abuse and neglect statistics and research to avoid myths, mistakes and misinformation – A resource for NSW Health Workers. 

Child Family Community Australia: Elder abuse: Key issues and emerging evidence

Downing, T., & Bennie, J. (2016). Research Paper for Ending the Cycle Project – Building Safer Communities for Women and their Children

Articles

Adhia, A., Drolette, L. M., Vander Stoep, A., Valencia, E. J., & Kernic, M. A. (2019). The impact of exposure to parental intimate partner violence on adolescent precocious transitions to adulthood. Journal of Adolescence, 77, 179–187.

Anderson, E. J., Krause, K. C., Meyer Krause, C., Welter, A., McClelland, D. J., Garcia, D. O., … Koss, M. P. (2019). Web-Based and mHealth Interventions for Intimate Partner Violence Victimization Prevention: A Systematic Review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, (Advance online publication).

Carlson, M. L., Wittrup, E., Moylan, C. A., & Ortiz, D. V. (2019). A Good Call?: Contextual Factors Influencing Mandated Reporting in Domestic Violence Programs. Journal of Family Violence, (Advance online publication).

Dumont, A., & Lessard, G. (2019). Young Adults Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence in Childhood: The Qualitative Meanings of this Experience. Journal of Family Violence, (Advance online publication).

Fitz-Gibbon, K., & Sheehy, E. (2019). The Merits of Restricting Provocation to Indictable Offences: A Critical Analysis of Provocation Law Reform in Canada and New South Wales, Australia. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, 31(2), 197–231.

Gear, C., Koziol-Mclain, J., & Eppel, E. (2019). Exploring sustainable primary care responses to intimate partner violence in New Zealand: Qualitative use of complexity theory. BMJ Open, 9(11).

Haselschwerdt, M. L., Maddox, L., & Hlavaty, K. (2019). Young Adults Women’s Perceptions of Their Maritally Violent Fathers. Family Relations, (Advance online publication).

Rollero, C., Bergagna, E., & Tartaglia, S. (2019). What is Violence? The Role of Sexism and Social Dominance Orientation in Recognizing Violence Against Women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, (Advance online publication).

Stephens-Lewis, D., Johnson, A., Huntley, A., Gilchrist, E., McMurran, M., Henderson, J., … Gilchrist, G. (2019). Interventions to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration by Men Who Use Substances: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Efficacy. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, (Advance online publication).

Svensson, B., Richert, T., & Johnson, B. (2019). Parents’ experiences of abuse by their adult children with drug problems. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, (Advance online publication).

Taillieu, T. L., Brownridge, D. A., & Brownell, M. (2019). Screening for partner violence in the early postpartum period: Are we missing families most at risk of experiencing violence? Canadian Journal of Public Health, (Advance online publication).

Warshak, R. A. (2019). When evaluators get it wrong: False positive IDs and parental alienation. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, (Advance online publication).

Yates, S. (2020). Gender, context and constraint: Framing family violence in Victoria. Women’s Studies International Forum, 78.


In the media

Watch

Karla Grant Presents Not Just Numbers: Aboriginal women stopping the violence in their communities (documentary on Tangentyere Women’s Family Safety Group) – SBS on Demand

16 Days In WA: I Speak Out  – WA Department of Communities

Listen

Podcast: Warawarni-Gu Guma Statement

Podcast: Going beyond the hashtag with Me Too founder Tarana Burke – ABC Radio National

Podcast: The Gender Card – Griffith University

Oetha’s new track has a powerful message about domestic abuse – The Music Network

Read

Coercive control: The ‘worst part’ of domestic abuse is not a crime in Australia. But should it be? – ABC

$6m in family violence funding to help double the sector’s workforce (Victoria) – The Age

Compulsory training for SA public servants to reduce violence against women – The Mandarin

Sweeping family violence reform laws for WA welcomed – WA Today

White Ribbon goes west as Perth service buys brand – SMH

‘My name is Tanya Louise Day’: Family’s final submission to coroner – The Age

The Identities Of Rape And Assault Survivors Were Accidentally Revealed In A #MeToo Documentary – Buzzfeed

‘THEY.ARE.WASTED’: Wellington poster campaign aims to prevent sexual assault – The Guardian

Indigenous child welfare review finds newborns being removed from mothers in ‘unethical’ ways (NSW) – ABC

#MeToo founder says Australia’s defamation laws silence victims – The Age

Courtroom shake up: New rules in rape cases hailed as decades-overdue – NZ Herald

‘Bad culture growing’: Report finds Islamophobic incidents becoming more brazen –SMH

‘Disappointing’: The latest gender equality scorecard for Australia is in & it’s not pretty – Women’s Agenda

Domestic violence will spike in the bushfire aftermath, and governments can no longer ignore it – The Conversation


Conferences & events

Conferences

Gold Coast, 9-11 Dec 2019: 9th Stop Domestic Violence National Indigenous Conference 

Melbourne, 13-14 February 2020: Respect. Prevent. Respond. Conference 2020 (Deakin University)

Sydney, 19 February 2020: Housing: the foundation for mental health (AHURI One-day Conference)

Melbourne, 27-28 February 2020:  Advancing the Evidence: Migrant Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Conference

Adelaide, 28-30 April 2020: ANROWS 3rd National Research Conference

Brisbane, 13–14 May 2020: Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Prevention Forum (QIFVP)

Siem Reap, Cambodia, 26–29 May 2020: 10th Asia-Pacific conference on reproductive and sexual health and rights

Melbourne, 10-12 June 2020: AIFS 2020 Conference: What is a good life for families? And how do we get there?

Sweden, 30 June – 2 July, 2020: 23rd Conference of the Nursing Network on Violence Against Women International

Canberra, 10-11 August 2020: National Homelessness Conference 2020

Hunter Valley, NSW, 19–22 November 2020: Family and Relationship Services Australia (FRSA) Conference: New Horizons: Building the future, Paving the way

Training & events

Sydney, 29 November 2019: Indigenous Women’s Leadership Symposium

Newcastle, 29 November 2019: Strategies for a Safer City: a one-day symposium on Violence Against Women

Melbourne, 3 December 2019: Book Launch: Private Security and Domestic Violence: The Risks and Benefits of Private Security Companies Working with Victims of Domestic Violence

Sydney, 3 December 2019: Seminar: Transforming legal understandings of intimate partner violence

Sydney, 3 December 2019: Not In My Workplace Sydney Summit

Online, 3 December 2019: Violence against migrant and refugee women: risks, realities and responses

Brisbane, 4 December 2019: In Conversation with Leigh Goodmark

Newcastle, 9 December 2019: Confronting Violence Against Women in Our Communities

Sydney, 10 December 2019: Breaking Silent Codes Book Launch: Gendered Violence Research Network (GVRN)

Contribute to Notepad

If you have publications, resources, opportunities or events to promote, please forward them to enquiries@anrows.org.au.

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