Social Work - Research Publications
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ItemShifting practice in domestic violence: child protection workers partnering with mothers(Interdisciplinary Research in Motherhood, 2019-12-05)Child protection services have struggled with domestic and family violence (DV) and how to respond to it. Historically it has been slow to recognise the impact of domestic violence on children. Once identified, child protection services have been slow to recognise that affected children are usually best safeguarded by workers supporting the non-offending parent, typically, the child’s mother in situations of DFV. The focus on assessing mothers for their protection or failure to protect their children in the face of fathers who use violence has become characteristic of much child protection practice which has failed to engage constructively with the challenges of domestic violence. Many issues have emerged as problematic, highlighting the poor ‘fit’ between the traditional child protection lens and the demands of an effective response to domestic violence. These include: an exclusive focus on the ‘best interests’ of the child without due regard for two victims of domestic violence (child and usually the child’s mother); the lack of engagement with fathers who use violence; the necessities of engaging with diverse communities; the problems with developing effective domestic violence interventions when separation has not occurred. These are not the problems of an individual practitioner, but rather point to the structural and cultural change required by organisations to support workers to shift their practice. This chapter will draw on recent research (a national case reading of child protection files in Australia) to highlight the gaps in understanding the impacts of DV on parenting skills, and the gaps in recognising and documenting mothers’ strengths and efforts to keep their children safe. Sometimes this has involved mothers being deemed as ‘non-compliant’ with child protection instructions. An intersectional lens will be taken to explore a feminist perspective on child protection practice. The framework developed by Safe & Together™ will be used to inform the chapter and bring a feminist lens which is inclusive of the needs of children for agency, safety and protection. There is evidence that supporting the mother–child relationship is the most effective way of keeping children safe where there is domestic violence. Strategies required at an organisational and a practitioner level will be explored, including the need for a differential response to children exposed to DFV. This response recognises that not all children are significantly affected by DFV and not all mothers find their parenting significantly compromised. While partnering with mothers, it should be recognised that children may have different perspectives on violence and have their own views about what keeps them safe.
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ItemResponding to Students Living with Domestic and Family Violence.(Routledge, 2021)
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ItemTipping the Scales: Factors Influencing the Decision to Report Child Maltreatment in Primary Care(SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC, 2020-07)Child maltreatment (CM) is an important public health issue linked to significant physical and mental health complications across the life span. Given the association between CM and health, general practitioners (GPs) and primary care nurses (PNs) are well-placed to identify and respond to this issue and are mandated to report suspected CM in many jurisdictions. Research has found that primary care doctors and nurses need support when responding to CM. This scoping review sought to answer the following question: What factors influence GPs and PNs decision to report CM when fulfilling their mandatory reporting duty? By exploring these factors, areas where support is needed were pinpointed. A systematic search was run across four databases: Medline (Ovid), PsycINFO, Embase, and CINAHL. Articles that reported on studies conducted in a location that had mandatory reporting legislation specific to CM and had a study population sampled from primary care were included in analysis. Thirty-three articles met the inclusion criteria. This review found that four principal factors influenced the decision to report CM: personal threshold of suspicion of abuse, relationship with the family, faith in the child protection system, and education and discussion. We conclude that improving the support and training to address these four areas may be beneficial for GPs and PNs in responding to CM.
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ItemHow can mental health practitioners collaborate with child welfare practitioners to improve mental health for young people in out of home care?(WILEY, 2021-12)BACKGROUND: Young people who grow up in out of home care have higher risk of poor mental health outcomes than peers who grow up with their family-of-origin. Interagency collaboration is an important service-level intervention to improve access to mental healthcare. However, few descriptions of collaboration provide guidance about collaboration between individual practitioners. AIM: This substudy aimed to contribute to a larger study-the Ripple project-through exploring the experiences of practitioners working across child welfare and mental health services regarding collaboration in the care of young people; and to identify practices that might enhance collaborative work and improve mental health outcomes. METHODS: Practitioners from across child welfare and mental health services were purposively sampled and participated in focus groups. Recordings and transcriptions of focus groups were analysed to identify themes within and between groups. A cross-sector expert advisory group was involved in this work. RESULTS: Focus groups were convened with 43 practitioners. We identified four themes during analysis, these were: shared understanding of the history and context of problems; specific skills and practices; self-awareness of workers and carers; and involving and supporting carers. CONCLUSIONS: A number of practices were identified that might lead to enhanced collaboration between agencies and across interdisciplinary care teams. Supporting mental health practitioners to adopt these might assist interagency and interdisciplinary working.
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ItemAn online healthy relationship tool and safety decision aid for women experiencing intimate partner violence (I-DECIDE): a randomised controlled trial(ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2019-06)BACKGROUND: Evidence for online interventions to help women experiencing intimate partner violence is scarce. We assessed whether an online interactive healthy relationship tool and safety decision aid (I-DECIDE) would increase women's self-efficacy and improve depressive symptoms compared with an intimate partner violence information website. METHODS: In this two-group pragmatic randomised controlled trial, we enrolled women who had screened positive for any form of intimate partner violence or fear of a partner in the 6 months before recruitment. Women aged 16-50 years currently residing in Australia, who had safe access to a computer and an internet connection, and who answered positively to one of the screening questions in English were eligible for inclusion. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) by computer to receive either the intervention or control website. The intervention website consisted of modules on healthy relationships, abuse and safety, and relationship priority setting, and a tailored action plan. The control website was a static intimate partner violence information website. As the initial portion of the website containing the baseline questions was identical for both groups, there was no way for women to tell which group they had been allocated to, and the research team were also masked to participant allocation until after analysis of the 12-month data. Data were collected at baseline, immediately after completion of the website, at 6 months, and 12 months. Primary outcomes were mean general self-efficacy score (immediately after website completion, and at 6 months and 12 months) and mean depression score (at 6 months and 12 months). Data analyses were done according to intention-to-treat principles, accounting for missing data, and adjusted for outcome baseline scores. This trial was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN 12614001306606. FINDINGS: Between Jan 16, and Aug 28, 2015, 584 patients registered for the study and were assessed for eligibility. 422 eligible participants were randomly allocated to the intervention group (227 patients) or control group (195 patients). 179 (79%) participants in the intervention group and 156 (80%) participants in the control group completed 12-month follow-up. Mean self-efficacy at 6 months and 12 months was lower for participants in the intervention group than for participants in the control group, although this did not meet the prespecified mean difference (6 months: 27·5 [SD 5·1] vs 28·1 [4·4], imputed mean difference 1·3 [95% CI 0·3 to 2·3]; 12 months: 27·8 [SD 5·4] vs 29·0 [5·0], imputed mean difference 1·6 [95% CI 0·5 to 2·7]). We found no difference between groups in depressive symptoms at 6 months or 12 months (6 months: 22·5 [SD 17·1] vs 24·2 [17·2], imputed mean difference -0·3 [95% CI -3·5 to 3·0]; 12 months: 21·9 [SD 19·3] vs 21·5 [19·3], imputed mean difference -1·9 [95% CI -5·6 to 1·7]). Qualitative findings indicated that participants found the intervention supportive and a motivation for action. INTERPRETATION: Our findings highlight the need for further research, development, and refinement of online interventions for women experiencing intimate partner violence, particularly into the duration needed for interventions. Although we detected no meaningful differences between groups, our qualitative results indicated that some women find an online tool a helpful source of motivation and support. FUNDING: Australian Research Council.
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ItemSafe at home? Housing decisions for women leaving family violence(WILEY, 2017-03)Abstract Internationally, domestic violence policy has shifted towards supporting women to stay at home with the perpetrator of violence excluded. However, the practical realities indicate that this is a complex arena in which the rhetoric of rights for “women and children to stay in their own home” needs to be underpinned by additional support to provide safety and protection for those choosing this option. The current study examines decision making about accommodation options and the role of civil protection orders among 138 women accessing domestic violence support services in Victoria Australia. It shines a light on the intersection between justice responses and the housing needs of women and their children leaving a violent relationship. Our findings reveal that for this sample of women, staying in their own home left them more open to breaches of intervention orders than those who re‐located. In spite of the frequency of breaching, a majority of women believed that they were safer with the protective order in place. We conclude that supporting women to “stay at home” with the perpetrator removed may be a pathway to safety for only a minority of women particularly if support from police and courts is not proactive and reliable.
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ItemInterventions to improve supervised contact visits between children in out of home care and their parents: a systematic review(WILEY, 2017-05)Abstract Although the importance of contact between children in care and their parents, when safe, is accepted, there is limited research about supervised face‐to‐face contact. There is no literature that has systematically critiqued how supervised contact can be best delivered. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence for interventions aimed at improving the quality of contact visits between parents and their children who are in out‐of‐home care. Twelve studies were included in this review. Each study was graded and assigned scores according to the presence or absence of each of seven criteria. The studies demonstrated key similarities in the types of interventions provided, although delivery varied across group, individual and educational interventions. Parents reported improved capacity to manage their emotions and parents' satisfaction with the programmes was high. Although there was a lack of large scale, methodologically rigorous studies with long‐term follow‐up, some promising findings were identified: the literature indicates individual family support and group programmes have the potential to improve parent–child relationships and the quality of contact visits. This review suggests that future studies build on current evidence by addressing their methodological limitations and evaluating interventions that can be tailored to meet the needs of individual families.
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ItemFathers who use domestic violence: Organisational capacity building and practice development(WILEY, 2020-08)Abstract It is well established in the literature that fathers who use violence harm women and children. Statutory child protection workers and other human service professionals now face strong injunctions to work with these men. However, insufficient attention has been given to considering the processes for intervening with fathers who use violence and the organisational context to support workers in refocusing their practice. Workers lack clear guidance, and organisations lack specific understandings of how to support workers in this complex area of practice. Australian research used co‐design with professionals in Communities of Practice supported by the Safe & Together Institute to explore the organisational context required to work with fathers who use violence. This paper presents findings of qualitative data gathered from surveys, focus groups, and ethnographic notes of 30 Community of Practice sessions. Working together, practitioners and researchers identified four essential elements to support organisational development and improve practice: leadership by senior managers; recognition that domestic violence work needs to strengthen collaborative working; extensive training, supervising, and coaching; and enhanced worker safety. Worker perspectives are critical in developing practice principles and identifying organisational mechanisms that support practitioners to work safely and effectively with fathers who use violence.
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ItemSex differences in psychological distress, behavioural and emotional problems, and substance use in young people in out-of-home care(WILEY, 2020-05)Abstract The aim of the study was to examine sex differences in self‐reported psychological distress, behavioural and emotional problems, and substance use in young people living in out‐of‐home care (OoHC). One hundred seventy‐six young people aged 12–17 years (females 53.4%) in OoHC in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, were interviewed. Participants completed self‐report measures: Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and the World Health Organization Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test—Youth Version. Girls had more OoHC placement instability over the past year compared with boys (p = .019). Compared with boys, the girls had significantly higher levels of distress (p < .001) (p = .007), were more likely to have self‐reported emotional symptoms (p < .001) and peer relationship problems (p = .043) and were more likely to use sedatives (p = .004). Girls had more psychological distress, behavioural disturbance, and sedative abuse; placement instability might contribute to these problems. Greater integration across OoHC, mental health, and substance use sectors is required. Girls in OoHC may benefit from interventions targeting problems with peer relationship and substance use and supporting prosocial behaviour; such targets may reduce distress and emotional symptoms and possibly prevent longer term problems.
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ItemThe Perceptions of Australian Workers about Caring for Sexually Exploited Children in Residential Care(WILEY, 2019-11)Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a problem for children and young people living in out‐of‐home care (looked after children). As part of a broader action research project aiming to prevent both harmful sexual behaviour carried out by children and young people and CSE in out‐of‐home care, four focus groups were undertaken with 17 workers at three Victorian residential houses in 2017. The findings reported in this paper were generated through the research question: What do workers perceive as the key challenges in caring for children and young people vulnerable to CSE in out‐of‐home care? Three major themes were identified: (i) children and young people going missing from home; (ii) children and young people not identifying as victims; and (iii) frontline police response unhelpful when children and young people missing. The design of prevention and response strategies to combat CSE must take into account the challenges identified by workers to ensure the best possible sexual abuse prevention outcomes for children and young people living in residential care. ‘What do workers perceive as the key challenges in caring for children and young people vulnerable to CSE in out‐of‐home care?' Key Practitioner Messages Children and young people need to be educated about the tactics used by perpetrators so that they can recognise if they are being groomed or exploited. Residential staff need to be upskilled about how to respond to children and young people at the point that they are leaving the house for the purpose of CSE. Workers need to be empowered to make decisions about the day‐to‐day welfare of the children and young people in their care. Multiagency collaboration is vital in preventing and responding to CSE, and efforts should be upscaled across all local government areas.