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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:07 am
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Results for children, exposure to violence
1 results foundAuthor: McCoy, Ellie Title: A Consultation with Young People About the Impact of Domestic Violence (Abuse) in their Families and their Formative Relationships Summary: Domestic abuse (often referred to as Intimate Partner Violence) is a recognised global public health concern. It is often defined as behaviour that involves physical, psychological or sexual harm within an intimate relationship and can also include youth violence, child maltreatment, elder abuse and sexual violence. Domestic abuse can also occur within the family; the Department of Health estimates that 750,000 children experience domestic abuse annually. Research examining domestic abuse tends to focus on adult relationships; however it is important to consider young people and their relationships. Adolescence is an important time as this is often when people begin to form intimate and formative relationships. It is therefore an essential stage for initiating domestic abuse prevention work. There is a body of UK research on adult female’s experiences, and a smaller amount on children’s experiences, but little is known about adolescent’s experiences of partner violence and the research that has been conducted tends to originate from the USA. Research suggests that it is essential to include this through detailed examination of young people’s views and experiences in order to recognise young people’s views and actions in their own right. The Coalition Government has recently launched a paper ‘A call to end violence against women and girls’ outlining how they plan to tackle violence against females, with the vision of creating a society in which no female should have to live in fear of violence. Domestic abuse is also a priority locally. In Liverpool, Citysafe (Liverpool’s Community Safety Partnership) prioritises a number of key issues to tackle, one of which is to reduce serious violence, which includes domestic abuse, and to develop an understanding of the issues young people feel affect them in relation to domestic abuse. Citysafe therefore commissioned the Centre for Public, Liverpool John Moores University, to undertake a consultation, to speak with young people around their views and experiences of domestic abuse. The objectives of the research were: • to learn what the issues are for young people in relation to domestic violence (abuse); • to understand how young people view domestic violence (abuse) (in all its forms) in family and intimate partner relationships; and • to use the findings from the project to inform an education programme through ‘It’s Not Okay’. A qualitative study was undertaken to fulfil the research objectives through a series of focus groups with young people. Agencies across Liverpool providing services to young people were contacted and a total of 119 young people aged between 14 and 24 years were invited to attend the focus groups. Each focus group lasted approximately one hour and was conducted by two researchers. Verbal and written consent was obtained to digitally record each focus group session, and the young people were asked to complete a basic demographic questionnaire. In total, 93 young people attended the 14 focus groups. Just over half of participants were male (n=52, 55.9%) with the majority aged 16 and 17 years (n=22 and n=25 respectively). The majority defined their ethnicity as White English (n=72, 77.4%). However minority groups were represented. Ten percent of participants stated that they had a disability. Almost a third (30.1%, n=28) stated they had religious beliefs, 43.0% (n=40) stated that they had no religious beliefs and 26.9% (n=25) preferred not to say. The majority of the young people stated their sexual orientation as Heterosexual (n=70, 75.3%), 17.2% (n=17) preferred not to answer and 7.5% (n=7) stated their sexual orientation as Bisexual, Gay or Lesbian. Overall, the young people involved in the consultation had a good understanding of what domestic abuse is, they could state different types of abuse and who they thought it could happen to. They recognised that it could involve physical, psychological and sexual abuse. In acknowledging these different forms of abuse, the young people felt it should be referred to as domestic abuse rather than domestic violence. At all groups the young people acknowledged that domestic abuse can occur within the family and they placed an emphasis on it being something happening within a house, hence the word domestic. They believed domestic abuse could happen to anyone; however they felt that it is portrayed as happening more often to women. Young people viewed domestic abuse at home as having devastating effects on children; leaving them scared and affected by their experiences into later life. Although participants believed that the effects in adulthood largely depended on the person and how they handled their experiences. It was discussed that children affected by domestic abuse could become perpetrators and victims themselves when in adult relationships, however, the young people also acknowledged that witnessing domestic abuse could make you more determined to not act in this manner yourself. The young people’s knowledge appeared to be gained from what they had seen on TV and from their own personal and friends’ experiences. Not many of the young people had been given any formal training or teaching on the subject, although many of them thought it would be beneficial to have learnt about it. Although there was good knowledge on some areas of domestic abuse, there did appear to be a lack of awareness around the more subtle aspects, such as controlling behaviour. Many of the young people did not see certain controlling behaviours as abusive. The young people also demonstrated a lack of knowledge about where to go for advice; many were not aware of any domestic abuse services and many would not go to a professional for help. Therefore, it appeared that most young people would rather seek support from someone they know or are comfortable with, rather than access a website, ring a help line or speak to a stranger. Learning about domestic abuse was viewed as important and school was thought to be the best setting in which to teach it. The young people expressed preferences on programme content and length; they thought domestic abuse issues should be covered in lessons over a number of weeks and that programmes should incorporate all aspects of domestic abuse, not just the physical violence aspects. Young people expressed mixed views on whether they should be taught about healthy relationships. Some young people thought this was essential whereas others thought you could not teach young people how to have good relationships. Interactive material and activities such as group discussions, DVDs and talks by people affected by domestic abuse were viewed as approaches that would help them learn most effectively and felt that a programme should be realistic and modern in order to hold their attention and allow them to speak freely. Details: Liverpool: Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University, 2011. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 3, 2012 at: http://www.cph.org.uk/showPublication.aspx?pubid=754 Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.cph.org.uk/showPublication.aspx?pubid=754 Shelf Number: 125135 Keywords: Children, Exposure to ViolenceCycle of ViolenceDomestic Violence (U.K.)Family ViolenceIntimate Partner Violence |