The “Safe Nest Group” pilot project: Early intervention for mothers and infants leaving family violence

This pilot study is evaluating the effectiveness of a community-based early intervention program for women and their children (0 to 3 years) experiencing family violence who are living in a refuge or transitional housing.

The “Safe Nest Group” (SNG) program is adapted from the Peek-a-Boo Club™ model (Bunston et al., 2016). It is a closed, “infant-led” group intervention for mother–infant dyads who have left violent relationships and are staying in a refuge or other stable transitional housing.

The program is run at Emerge Women and Children’s Support Network in Melbourne.

Methods

This research is using a mixed methods pre-, post- and follow-up single group design. Questionnaire data are being collected at baseline, post-group, and at one-month follow-up. The pilot project study will run across four SNG groups, with a maximum of six mother–infant dyads per group.

The following measures are being used:

• Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995)
• Shutdown Dissociation Scale (Shut-D; Shauer & Albert, 2010)
• Alarm Distress Baby Scale© (ADBB; Guedeney & Fermanian, 2001)
• Parent–Infant Relationship Global Assessment Scale (PIRGAS)
• International Trauma Questionnaire (Cloitre et al., 2018).

A qualitative interview has been designed specifically for this pilot study to explore mothers’ subjective experience of being in the group, as well as their experience of their relationship with their infant.

Significance

The findings of this project will help to better understand the needs of mothers and their infants who have been impacted by family violence and are living in a refuge or transitional housing. This is in line with a key recommendation from the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence (State of Victoria, 2016) that more needs to be done to support women and their children who have been exposed to such violence in the early intervention space. The implementation of the Safe Nest Group with culturally and linguistically diverse women in transitional housing will also impact other service delivery models. That is, if proven to be effective, the program could be expanded to a range of other community-based organisations accessed by women and children affected by family violence.