Social Work - Research Publications

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 11
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    Relevant Evidence for Practice
    HUMPHREYS, C (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2006)
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    Crossing the Great Divide: Response to Douglas and Walsh
    Humphreys, C (SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC, 2010-05)
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    Night terrors - Women's experiences of (not) sleeping where there is domestic violence
    Lowe, P ; Humphreys, C ; Williams, SJ (SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC, 2007-06)
    The management of sleep is embedded within the social context of individuals' lives. This article is based on an exploratory study using focus groups of the sleep problems encountered by 17 women survivors of domestic violence. It argues that fear becomes the organizing framework for the management of sleep and illustrates how this takes place both while living with the perpetrators of violence and after the women have been rehoused. It argues that sleep deprivation is a method used by the perpetrators to exert control over women and that this has long-term implications for women's physical and mental health.
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    Domestic violence and child protection: exploring the robe of perpetrator risk assessments
    Humphreys, C (BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, 2007-11)
    ABSTRACT This article explores the issue of severity in relation to domestic violence and provides a number of reasons for the necessary engagement by workers with such a contentious issue. The specific role that the assessment of the risks posed by the perpetrator which has now developed in some police forces in the United Kingdom is examined, and its relevance to child welfare intervention discussed. A range of factors are identified that heighten the risks of increased violence. These include prior sexual assault; stalking and controlling behaviour; substance misuse and mental‐health problems; separation and child contact disputes; pregnancy; escalation including the use of weapons and psychological abuse; attempts and threats to kill; child abuse; isolation and barriers to help‐seeking. The ways in which perpetrator risk assessment can be used to inform the filtering of referrals to the statutory child care agency, enhance multi‐agency working, provide a structure for the assessment of the perpetrator, enhance partnership‐working with survivors (usually women) and inform the protection strategies for workers are explored.
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    The Planets Aligned: Is Child Protection Policy Reform Good Luck or Good Management?
    Humphreys, C ; Holzer, P ; Scott, D ; Arney, F ; Bromfield, L ; Higgins, D ; Lewig, K (ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2010)
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    Sleep disruption and domestic violence: exploring the interconnections between mothers and children
    Humphreys, C ; Lowe, P ; Williams, S (WILEY, 2009-02)
    ABSTRACT This paper argues that sleep disruption is both a strategy and an effect of violence and abuse which profoundly affects the lives of women and children. This paper traces the interconnections between the patterns of sleeping (not sleeping) for women and children living with and recovering from the effects of violence and abuse. It highlights the threat to the emotional and physical well‐being of children and women and provides a non‐pathologizing route into an exploration of one of the symptoms of trauma. It is based on a pilot study which interviewed 17 women, 14 of whom were mothers to 28 children. Mothers reported that many of their children experienced nightmares, bed‐wetting, night panics and disrupted sleep patterns. Recovery of the ability to sleep was often slow and uneven with interactive effects between women and children slowing progress.
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    A health inequalities perspective on violence against women
    Humphreys, C (BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, 2007-03)
    The present paper argues that the physical and mental health consequences of gender-based violence constitute a major public health problem in the UK and a source of significant health inequality. The concept of violence against women is explored alongside brief examples of the mental and physical health impact of this violence. While the impact on women's health is relatively uncontested, the extent to which social divisions such as poverty, class and minority ethnic status create specific vulnerabilities to violence are more controversial. A widely held view within the movement to support survivors within the UK has been that violence against women cuts across class and ethnicity, and is found in all communities and classes. A more nuanced discussion of the way in which poverty and ethnic background may create particular vulnerabilities is explored. Disentangling cause and consequence, and also the barriers to help-seeking for minority ethnic women are discussed. The role of social workers in addressing the way in which violence against women is both ubiquitous but marginal in their caseloads is discussed, and appropriate interventions to respond to health inequality issues are proposed.
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    Problems in the system of mandatory reporting of children living with domestic violence
    Humphreys, C (ECONTENT MANAGEMENT, 2008-10)
    Historically, the chasm between services for women and services for children has been problematised in the domestic and family violence arena. However, this paper argues that it is now equally, or more problematic, that the recognition of harm to children in the context of domestic and family violence has ‘grafted’ statutory child protection response to intervention in this area. This paper argues that when judged against the criteria for a functional system, one which is effective, efficient, efficacious or ethical then there are a number of areas in which the child protection system fails in relation to children living with domestic violence. The paper raises three issues of particular concern: (a) responding to a widespread social problem through an individualised response at the tertiary end of provision; (b) undermining the voluntary and empowerment model of intervention for women through compulsory, statutory intervention with children; (c) creating a mandatory pathway to an intervention system which is not set up to work with an adult and child victim or intervene effectively with men who use violence.
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    Domestic violence and substance use: Tackling complexity
    Humphreys, C ; Regan, L ; River, D ; Thiara, RK (Oxford University Press (OUP), 2005-12-01)