Social Work - Theses

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    Cloaked in Strength An exploration of Aboriginal mothers’ experiences of family violence and the role of cultural practice as a tool of engagement, resilience and resistance
    Andrews, Shawana Marie ( 2021)
    The violence in the lives of Indigenous women globally has been sustained and perpetuated through generations of patriarchal and colonial subjugation. As a result, a growing and important discourse on Indigenous feminist thought explores the possibilities of Indigenous women’s polity, agency and gendered standpoint. In Australia, the nature of domestic and family violence (DFV) experienced by Aboriginal women is distinct and of urgent concern as rates rapidly increase. The Cloaked in Strength study seeks to examine the lived experience of DFV of urban Aboriginal women using an Indigenous women’s standpoint and an Aboriginal woman researcher’s subjectivity. The study begins with a broad narrative review of the literature pertaining to DFV, Indigenous women and feminism, and cultural practice. A critical interpretive synthesis of the literature follows, enabling a deeper review of Indigenous mothering and DFV. The study engaged 17 Aboriginal mothers living in Melbourne through yarning interviews and a series of possum skin cloak workshops to consider their stories of DFV. The research uses a possum skin cloaking methodology to frame its engagement with Aboriginal women. Cultural practices and their restoration as a process of healing and cultural continuity are under-researched as protective factors and important mechanisms to support Aboriginal women in the context of DFV. In Aboriginal communities across south-eastern Australia, possum skin cloaks were traditionally made in preparation for the birth of a baby, were inscribed with tribal lore, and imbued the wearer with cultural identity and place. Contemporary possum skin cloak making is grounded in renewal, belonging and cultural strength – all synonymous with healing in the context of DFV. The findings are themed as Aboriginal women’s place, relationships, being and future in the context of DFV. They relate to the marginal positioning of Aboriginal women within the private and public spheres, in their communities and across society. Analysis of the interviews draws attention to the nature of Aboriginal women’s relationships and how structures of power impact their mothering and the obfuscation of accountability. The trauma of DFV is a feature of the findings, as are survival and hope. Several significant areas of discussion emerge, including the perpetuation of silences, the relationality of Aboriginal women and the support they provide one another, and the agency Aboriginal women demonstrate that informs a self-represented counter-narrative. Methodological findings related to the possum skin cloaking highlight important considerations about DFV research with Aboriginal women. These are discussed in the contexts of authorising environments, and repositioning value, agency and resistance. They explore assumptions about Aboriginal women and their citizenship value and the ways in which Aboriginal women establish safety and self-representation in contexts of violence. Tenuous DFV theorisation and the silent locations of DFV discourses are detailed throughout the discussion. An important conclusion is that DFV research is important to Aboriginal women. While Indigenous women’s feminisms vary around the world, they have a unifying feature that foregrounds Indigenous women’s gendered and cultural experiences of being in the world. Colonialism, inextricably shaped by patriarchy, uniquely positions Indigenous women worldwide in their resistance against violence. Empirical research, conducted appropriately, can un-silence Aboriginal women’s voices.
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    People with and without refugee experience co-creating a shared world through narrative practices
    Strauven, Sarah Lucie P ( 2021)
    In this thesis, I look at Australian grassroots community initiatives where people with refugee experience share their stories with people from the established community, most without refugee experience, who listen to them. More specifically, I seek to understand how ‘ordinary’ people are responding to the problems of refugees through narrative practices. For this, I foreground an understanding of these problems as existential, consisting of experiences of worldlessness and superfluity. Through a critical, post-structural perspective and interview-based inquiry, I explore how narrative practice in storytelling can support people as they resettle and build their lives. I argue that definitional ceremony, in particular, is a powerful practice because it provides people with refugee experience the opportunity to present themselves on their own terms to others in the community. I discuss the myriad ways narrative practice supports the crafting and recounting of preferred selves. When definitional ceremonies turn listeners into active and responsive witnesses, storytellers’ understandings of themselves and their lives are validated. On the grounds that definitional ceremonies are constitutive of identities and worlds I argue that they are political and therefore have value in the pursuit of social change at the local level. Through the lens of definitional ceremony I suggest a process-oriented approach to storytelling that promotes negative capability, highlights the significance of communitas and considers the principle of an aesthetics of existence to guide and sustain grassroots action. This research introduces possibilities for anyone seeking to create storytelling events that centre the interests of people with refugee experience. More generally, it offers ideas to all those who seek to take relational responsibility in the way they engage with people with refugee experience and their stories. The theoretical and practical contributions of this research emphasise that small-scale and localised action, through meaningful narrative practices, can help address the existential problems that people with refugee experience face. Methodologically, academics who work from post-structural perspectives might be interested in my discussion on the transferability of narrative practices to research interviews, my development of resonance work to (re)present and analyse interview materials and my proposition to read back people’s narratives to reciprocate their time and effort and acknowledge their valuable contributions to knowledge.
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    Illuminating skills and knowledges of women who have lost a male partner to suicide: A feminist insider narrative practice research project
    Sather, Marnie ( 2021)
    Abstract This qualitative exploratory study, from a feminist insider position, uses narrative practice to privilege the insider knowledge of widows , and to contribute new knowledge about how women respond to the suicide of a male partner. Narrative therapy, co-developed by Michael White and David Epston (1990), is a non-pathologising practice that situates experiences of hardship in their historical and social contexts. It supports people to free themselves from stigmas generated by contemporary attitudes and to craft preferred identities. Narrative practices arose specifically to counter discourses that marginalise and stigmatise people, and is thus particularly suited to assisting those bereaved by suicide as they are subject to significant stigmatisation. Feminist-informed qualitative research is underpinned by a reflexivity in relation to one’s own positioning, interests, values and knowledges. It ‘generates problematics from the perspective of women’s experiences’ (Harding, 1987, p. 6). In this project, I drew on my own lived experience of bereavement, which came about through the suicide of my husband and father of my children 16 years ago. Influenced by Wilkinson and Kitzinger (2013), this study does not minimise or maximise insider experience; rather it uses it in transparent ways. Seventeen women were interviewed from Australia, the United States and Canada. These women brought expertise, commitment and care to the project. The women’s rigorous contributions were thematically analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six phases of reflexive thematic analysis in a manner consistent with narrative practice and feminist understandings. The exploration of widows’ grief following the death of a spouse by suicide has been given little attention in bereavement research (Flake Ford, 2016; Miers et al., 2012). The literature that exists has not considered suicide bereavement in its specific social, political, ethical and historical contexts, and has forsaken considerations of power. This poststructuralist study questions socially constructed norms of contemporary Western culture in relation to suicide, provides openings for fresh thinking and argues for the recognition and application of insider knowledges. In this research, responses to suffering and loss are honoured and explored. Such responses have been absent or thinly described in previous studies. The ways in which women actively negotiate and break through the embodied stigma and taboo that often accompany losing a partner to suicide, and the skills and knowledges that women deemed helpful in their transition from ‘partnerhood’ to ‘widowhood’, are richly documented, witnessed and shared (see Leahy et al., 2012; Speedy, 2004). Based on the analysis of widows’ responses, this thesis offers new understandings to the field of suicide bereavement, and provides recommendations to first responders, practitioners and service providers on more supportive and less stigmatising practice responses to suicide.
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    Women’s Perspectives on the Impact of Trauma on Pregnancy, Substance Use and Parenting
    Felemonow, Kerri Lee ( 2021)
    There are few in-depth enquiries with pregnant women affected by substance use issues that have asked them about their past trauma experiences and the therapeutic interventions they think are required in an obstetric setting to address the implications of adverse events. Large-scale studies that have examined trauma histories in alcohol and other drug (AOD) services and in the wider population suggest a significant proportion of women affected by substance use have experienced trauma. However, prevalence studies tend to refer to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to understand trauma and this may not be the most appropriate reference for research or clinical interventions for a pregnant substance using population. This is a qualitative research project that explored how 12 women from the Royal Women’s Hospital, Women’s Alcohol and Drug Service (WADS) understand the impact of past trauma on recovery from alcohol and other drug use (AOD), pregnancy, healthcare, and parenting. This research also examined what interventions pregnant women affected by AOD think could assist in their recovery from substance use and trauma and improve parenting capacity in the perinatal period. Constructivist theory is the overarching methodological approach chosen for this research, that is influenced by feminist theory. Data were collected through in-depth interviewing using a semi-structured interview and included obtaining basic demographic information. Thematic analysis was used to examine the data. This research suggests that pregnant women who have issues with substance abuse are likely to be affected by interpersonal trauma that commenced in childhood. Findings suggest that structural, systems and gender related violence can compound early childhood trauma and complicate recovery processes as these women mature. The multiple and enduring forms of trauma experienced by this population resulted in detrimental implications in a variety of psychosocial domains across the lifespan and in the perinatal period. Findings suggest that PTSD diagnostic criteria will not adequately capture the impact that adverse events have had on a pregnant substance using population. This research indicates that specialist obstetric services and clinical guidelines for pregnant women affected by AOD need to incorporate theory and practice approaches related to complex trauma, neurobiology, attachment, and betrayal trauma. Findings suggest that organisations which auspice clinical care to this population need to broaden their understanding of trauma, integrate this into policy and programming, and advocate for service systems change.
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    Shared understanding of knowledge translation in a domestic violence research network
    Cameron, Jacqueline Jane ( 2021)
    Background: Despite significant growth in knowledge translation research, there remains a gap in our understanding of the connection between knowledge translation, domestic violence research and research networks. Knowledge translation is crucial as it creates the connection between those that produce the research and those that use the research. However, despite efforts, there is still a disconnect between researchers, practitioners and policymakers, suggesting a need to further explore this critical area of research. One framework, Integrated Knowledge Translation, offers the potential to bridge these gaps. Aims: Given the paucity of existing literature, this study explored the shared understanding of knowledge translation of a domestic violence research network. The study answered the following questions: What is the shared understanding of knowledge translation and activity in a domestic violence research network? How is a shared understanding of knowledge translation developed in a domestic violence research network? Method: The study utilised several methodological approaches, including participatory action research and realist research. The three phases of data collection included an online scoping survey; a realist informed systematic review and deliberative dialogue. Results: The scoping survey completed by 49/65 researchers found a focus on practitioners when sharing results from research with considerable gaps that included policymakers and survivors. A systematic literature review of 50 studies using a realist lens identified mechanisms of change that support knowledge translation. The synthesis of the included studies identified five potential program theories. A deliberative dialogue explored these mechanisms further and identified four key actions 1) agreement on a knowledge translation approach; 2) active promotion of dedicated leadership within an authorising environment; 3) development of sustainable partnerships through capacity building and collaboration particularly with survivors; and 4) employment of multiple strategies applying different kinds of evidence for diverse purposes and emerging populations. Conclusion: This study adds to our understanding of the meaning of shared knowledge translation by exploring the knowledge translation activity of a research network. Moreover, the mechanisms of change identified will support the knowledge translation of future research networks. The use of the deliberative dialogue has uncovered specific factors required for the successful knowledge translation of domestic violence research. These factors have been added to the Integrated Knowledge Translation capacity framework to enhance its application for domestic violence research. Future research could explore these individual, professional organisational and network factors further by evaluating them in practice. Forthcoming research could also explore these factors with input from survivors.