Karen Schucan Bird

Domestic abuse is a serious and persistent global problem (World Health Organisation, 2021). Defined as physical, sexual, economic, or psychological abuse perpetrated by a current or former intimat...

Background: Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) is a significant global problem that warrants a robust, multi-sectoral response. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted that informal and social networks play a critical role in responding to victim-survivors, alongside formal agencies and specialist services. Friends, relatives, neighbours and colleagues are uniquely placed to recognise abuse, respond and refer to wider services, where appropriate. Seeking to harness this potential, interventions tailored towards such informal supporters are being developed and implemented around the world. Yet little is known about such interventions. By pulling together the research on such programmes, this evidence and gap map begins to advance the understanding of informal support interventions, pinpointing the range and type of interventions implemented around the world, and the extent of the available evidence. This provides valuable insights for policy makers and practitioners seeking to commission or develop interventions and research in this area, with a view to facilitating a holistic, societal-wide response to domestic abuse. The evidence and gap map was a collaboration of academics and specialists, as well as domestic abuse researchers, with input and guidance from an Advisory Group. Objectives: This evidence and gap map aims to establish the nature and extent of the empirical primary research on interventions aiming to create or enhance informal support for victim-survivors of domestic abuse, identifying clusters of evidence potentially suitable for synthesis, and gaps in the research base. Search Methods: The following bibliographic databases were searched for published studies from inception to 31st October 2022: APA PsycINFO, Social Policy and Practice, ASSIA, PubMed, and Social Science Citation Index. Identifying grey literature was an important pillar of the search strategy and so websites of domestic abuse organisations, predominantly in the United Kingdom, were also searched. Similarly, a targeted search of specialist systematic review, policy and domestic abuse databases was undertaken from inception to 10th July 2023. Selection Criteria: The evidence and gap map focused on any interventions that explicitly aimed to create or enhance informal social support for victim-survivors of domestic abuse. Eligible interventions targeted the providers of the support (i.e., friends, relatives, neighbours or colleagues), the victim-survivor, the relationship between them, and/or the wider community within which the informal support was provided. All study designs were included, reporting qualitative or quantitative data for samples or victim-survivors (adults who were/had been experiencing abuse in an intimate relationship) or informal supporters. Outcomes were not used as part of the eligibility criteria. Eligible studies needed to be published in English. Data Collection and Analysis: All studies included in the evidence and gap map were coded by two independent reviewers, using specialist systematic review software EPPI Reviewer. Details were collected about the study sample, study design, intervention and outcomes. Quality appraisal was not undertaken. Main Results: The EGM identified 47 primary studies of interventions that aimed to create, enhance or facilitate informal support for victim-survivors of domestic violence and abuse. The overwhelming majority of evidence is drawn from the Global North, and there is dissonance between the small evidence base and the relatively larger number of informal support interventions implemented around the world. The EGM highlights the importance of diverse study designs and grey literature in this field. The body of research is unevenly distributed, with the greatest concentration of studies around interventions directed towards victim-survivors, such as support groups or mentoring, and those tailored towards informal supporters, such as education and training. Most research reported on female, adult victim-survivors with a particular emphasis on their mental health and wellbeing, and their help-seeking behaviours. The reporting of such outcomes aligns with wider service user/provider priorities and highlights the imperative of DVA research to improve the lives of victim-survivors. The EGM found little research focused on interventions targeting structural factors that shape informal support, such as social relationships or community norms, and a lack of data on specific population groups including victim-survivors in the longer term, ethnic minority groups and men. There are major gaps in the research for informal supporters with limited data or outcomes for this group, and specific types of informal supporters (namely friends and family members) are notably absent from samples. The EGM also highlights a gap in the research on community-level outcomes. Authors' Conclusions: To our knowledge, this EGM is the first to provide a comprehensive and rigorous overview of the evidence on informal support interventions in domestic abuse. The EGM provides a valuable tool for policymakers, practitioners and researchers seeking to navigate the evidence around such interventions. Whilst the EGM provides a partial picture of interventions around the world, the studies offer insight into informal support for victim-survivors of DVA and the potential effects of intervening. The suite of interventions covered by the EGM can inspire policymakers to broaden the response to domestic abuse beyond frontline services, identify stakeholders and commission pilot studies to further understanding of informal support interventions. The evidence base can be strengthened with additional studies examining interventions that target relationships and communities, as well as individuals, and assessing a wider range of population groups. At the same time, the EGM offers pockets of rich data, such as outcomes on victim-survivor mental health or interventions in faith-based organisations,...

Alongside formal agencies and specialist services, informal and social networks play a pivotal role in responding to domestic abuse in the community. Friends, relatives, and neighbours are uniquely placed to recognise domestic abuse, respond to victim‐survivors, and refer to wider services. Yet, informal networks may not know how to respond and feel overwhelmed or ill‐equipped to offer support. This mixed method systematic review examined the role of training for equipping and enabling informal supporters to respond to disclosures of abuse. To do so, four bibliographic databases, alongside specialist repositories and websites, were searched for empirical studies of educational programmes tailored towards informal networks. Nine included studies were subject to data extraction and quality appraisal by two members of the review team. A thematic synthesis of qualitative data was undertaken to identify the characteristics of training deemed important by informal supporters. The findings focused on engaging informal supporters in the issue of domestic abuse, training content, materials, and delivery. The themes were translated into ten recommendations and juxtaposed with studies reporting quantitative evidence of effectiveness. The resulting matrix was used to identify five characteristics of successful training for informal supporters. These included training content that covered (a) warning signs and nature of domestic abuse, (b) impacts of abuse, and (c) how to respond/local resources. Tailoring training to the context/audience and the use of nontext formats were also evidenced by included studies. The review highlights the potential of educational programmes for enabling community responses to victim‐survivors. Such interventions offer opportunities for formal agencies to collaborate with informal networks and strengthen the societal‐wide response to domestic abuse.

Informal supporters (friends, family, colleagues, and community members) play a crucial role in societal-wide responses to victim-survivors of domestic violence and abuse. Familial and social networks, however, report a sense of helplessness and difficulties in knowing how to respond. This mixed method systematic review examines the effectiveness, and perceived effectiveness, of training informal supporters to improve their responses to victim-survivors. A novel conceptual framework was developed to underpin the review. A systematic search of four electronic databases, specialist repositories, and websites were used to identify empirical research (in academic or gray literature). Eleven included studies examined educational interventions that aimed to improve responses from informal supporters. Quality appraisal was undertaken, and studies were judged to be “good enough” for synthesis. The studies in the review indicated that informal supporters recognized the value of training for building understanding and equipping them with the skills to respond to victim-survivors. The synthesis identified statistically significant improvements in the knowledge and attitudes of informal supporters in the immediate and short-term following training. Using a behavior change model to frame the evidence, the review found that training/educational activities prime informal supporters to respond to victim-survivors, as well as enhancing their capacity and motivation to do so. This increases the likelihood that informal supporters will take action to support victim-survivors of abuse. We don’t know, however, what type of support they will provide and/or whether it would be judged to be helpful by victim-survivors.

Purpose: Systematic reviews have an important, and growing, role to play in the global evidence eco-system of domestic violence and abuse. Alongside substantive contributions to knowledge, such reviews stimulate debates about ethical reviewing practices and the importance of tailoring methods to the nuances of the field. This paper aims to pinpoint a set of ethical and methodological priorities to guide and enhance review practices specifically in the field of domestic abuse. Method: The five Pillars of the Research Integrity Framework (ethical guidelines for domestic abuse research) are used to interrogate the systematic review process. To do so, the Framework is retrospectively applied to a recently completed systematic review in domestic abuse. The review included a rapid systematic map and in-depth analysis of interventions aimed at creating or enhancing informal support and social networks for victim-survivors of abuse. Results: Ethical and methodological priorities for systematic reviews in domestic abuse include (1) Safety and wellbeing: maintaining the wellbeing of researchers and stakeholders, and appraising the ethics of included studies, (2) Transparency/ accountability: transparent reporting of research funding, aims and methods together with explicit consideration of authorship of outputs, (3) Equality, human rights and social justice: developing diverse review teams/ Advisory groups, and review methods that aim to search for, and report, diverse perspectives. Considering researcher positionality/ reflexivity in the review, (4) Engagement: collaboration with non-academic stakeholders and individuals with lived experience throughout the review process, (5) Research Ethics: independent ethical scrutiny of systematic review proposals with input from researchers with expertise in systematic reviews and domestic abuse. Conclusion: Additional research is required to comprehensively examine the ethics of each stage of the review process. In the meantime, attention should be given to the underpinning ethical framework for our systematic review practices and the wider research infrastructure that governs reviews.

Background: Existing research explores Parole Board decision‐making, but not specifically for perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV), a special case due to the gendered and secretive nature of IPV and the role of control in predicting reoffending.Aim: To identify associations between case variables in England and Wales Parole Board decisions regarding perpetrators of IPV and explore how these variables help construct the decision.Methods: Logistic regressions regarding decisions in a sample of all 137 male prisoners who had abused women and applied for release or progression to open conditions in England and Wales from April 2018 to September 2019, developed into latent class analyses.Thematic analyses of six interviews with Parole Board members about decision‐making in IPV cases.Results: Release decisions were strongly predicted by the recommendations of offender managers, offender supervisors and psychologists, mediated by the Parole Board's confidence in their ability. Decisions were also significantly associated with custodial behaviour and attendance on courses, mediated by the Board's confidence in the prisoner's insight and honesty. Thematic analysis was both consistent with these findings and provided a context in which the associations could be understood.Conclusions: The findings have implications for understanding the dynamics between professional decisions and the Parole Board's decision; for the importance of offender managers demonstrating their expertise and ability to manage risk; for Parole Board members' reflection and development; for academic research into IPV; and for those who have experienced IPV and are looking to understand parole decisions about their abuser.

There is a growing impetus, from university students and administrations, to decolonise the curriculum and develop diverse reading lists. Yet, there is limited theoretical or empirical analysis of the authorship of current reading lists to justify this imperative. The present study developed and applied a method for auditing the authorship on reading lists of two modules, one from science and one from social science, in a research-intensive British university. The paper explores whether these reading lists can be considered descriptively representative of the student body or scholarly community. The analysis of reading lists found empirical basis for concerns that university curricula are dominated by white, male and Eurocentric authors, with some exceptions. The reading lists did not represent the diverse local student body but came closer to representing the demographic profile of academic staff. To interpret these findings, the paper argues that reading lists have a role to play in decolonising our universities, and offer opportunities to critique and deconstruct disciplinary boundaries. Further research is required to explore student and staff views of reading lists and the meaning of diversity, to evaluate existing tools, and address barriers to decolonising our curricula on a global scale.

Background: Prearrest diversion strategies are being adopted across the Western world, enabling the police to identify and divert people suspected of having mental disorder towards health and community services rather than the criminal justice system.Aims: To quantify longer‐term criminal justice and mental health outcomes after prearrest diversion of people with suspected mental disorder and consider economic correlates.Methods: A systematic review of published literature on longer term outcomes after prearrest diversion.Results: Only two quasi‐experimental studies, with four independent samples, could be included. Findings for criminal and mental health outcomes were inconclusive, but potential for adverse outcomes was identified. Ten studies with cost data suggested that prearrest diversion can lead to overall cost savings.Conclusions: There is still inadequate evidence on which to base prearrest diversion programmes. Although some benefits have been identified by the review, so have possible harms. Future research and funding strategies must build in high‐quality, systematic evaluation of outcomes before implementing a theoretically attractive strategy more widely.

The passage of the parity law and the principle of men and women sharing 50/50 in the political sphere in France seems perfectly revolutionary. Parity was expected to produce a remarkable advance in women's access to politics, and to vault France out of second-to-last position in Europe for the number of women elected to national politics. The parity law has applied to municipal elections held in March 2001, Senate elections held in September 2001, and legislative elections held in June 2002. While the application of the parity law to municipal elections is fairly strict, there remain a number of shortcomings. Parity applies only in departments where Senators are elected using a party list system of proportional representation. The impact of parity in legislative elections was underwhelming. The impact of quotas on women's access to political office varies widely depending on the electoral methods applied.

Recent breast implant complications led to a UK government policy review of the evidence concerning cosmetic interventions. We synthesised cosmetic intervention research evidence covering psychosocial factors associated with requesting procedures and psychological outcomes, effects of procedures on psychological outcomes, preintervention assessments for identifying those at risk, alternative therapy effectiveness, and issues in achieving informed consent. Undertaking a systematic rapid evidence assessment, six databases and three journals were searched. Included studies were systematic reviews or primary studies of participants requesting cosmetic procedures; published 2002–2012; containing either psychological or psychosocial measures, a psychological outcome, or evaluation of informed consent. Reviewers independently assessed study eligibility, extracted data, and assessed quality, undertaking narrative synthesis. Methodological quality of the included 13 systematic reviews and 179 primary studies was low, with wide variation in psychosocial measures. Findings suggest several psychosocial factors (e.g., intimate partner violence) may be associated with requesting cosmetic surgery. Multiple factors (e.g., unrealistic expectations) may predict poor psychological outcomes. Current psychological screening tools focus predominantly on body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) symptoms. Psychological and pharmacological interventions are effective alternative BDD treatments. Patients and doctors bring different needs to informed consent discussions, inconsistently matched to those required by professional ethics, litigation risk, and facilitating profit. Systematically reviewing this literature for UK policy has highlighted that some groups may be at risk of poor post-cosmetic procedure outcomes. Practitioners and patients must explore reasons for seeking cosmetic procedures and discuss all potential results and alternative solutions. Future research should employ more robust methodologies to identify effects in those at risk, led by consensus on a core set of psychological outcomes. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.