Domestic violence in midlife Australian women: Perceived support needs and interactions with services.

1. Faculty of medicine, dentistry and health sciences Domestic violence in midlife Australian women:  Perceived support needs and interactions with services. Prof colleen fisher, june 2014

2. Outline • Family & Domestic Violence in midlife women. What do we know? • Our study • ‘Journeys’ to accessing FDV ‘knowledgeable’ services • Family and Friends • Health sector • Social Marketing/Awareness Campaigns • Police/Legal • So what? • Perceived support needs

3. What is known? FDV – midlife women Pervasive public health/social issue internationally. Viewed predominantly as an issue for younger women Midlife women – fall into the ‘gap’ between ‘victim of FDV’ and ‘victim of elder abuse’? Issues: If midlife women are largely absent from discourse, or have experiences conflated with women over 60 years, it is difficult to develop appropriate responses that will meet their needs and understand the challenges they face in accessing support. Issue: There are multiple points in women’s lives where they interact with informal and formal support. Missed opportunities? Issue: If support for FDV is accessed earlier in the relationship, existing support services may be appropriate

4. What is known? FDV – midlife women • Important issue for midlife women • Prevalence: • 28.7% (45-54) – physical and/or sexual violence current partner (ABS 2006, p 34-35). • 20.9% - physical and/or emotional abuse – past 12 months (Mazza et al 2001) • Serious physical health (Loxton, Schofield & Hussain, 2006; Parker & Lee, 2002) & mental health implications (Hegartyet al 2004; Loxton t al 2006; Parker & Lee 2002) • Ongoing non-physical violence interspersed with episodes of sexual and/or physical violence (Fisher, Keeling, Gausia & Tsou 2014; Keeling, Smith & Fisher, 2014) & Non physical only. • Social isolation – experience of violence & impact of violence • Cumulative effects: sense of self, self-esteem & self worth severely diminished (Fisher, Keeling, Gausia & Tsou2014) • Do not return as readily to same violent relationship as younger counterparts and take longer to establish new relationships (Fisher, Keeling, Gausia & Tsou, 2014; Keeling, Smith & Fisher, 2014) • Ideal opportunity for intervention? Or culmination of ‘opportunities lost’?

5. The Study Qualitative study – informed by van Manen’s (19900 hermeneutic phenomenology In depth interviews – (60-90 minutes) 18 women (Australia – 12 survivors + 6 FDV support agency staff) [+ 15 women (UK)] – audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, analysed thematically to identify structures of the experience common to participants. addressed women’s lived experiences and context/s that typically influenced or affected these experiences Aged 40-55 years (contested): women grew up in violent household and those where current relationship first reported exposure to FDV. Length of time in relationship: up to 30 years (most 15-20 years). Recruited through metropolitan and rural FDV support agencies – across geographical contexts Grown up children; Children living with them; Grandchildren Ethics approval: The University of Western Australia HREC (& University of Chester – UK) Broad understanding of FDV

6. Who did women interact with for impact of FDV? (Or which agencies had opportunity to address FDV?) • Informal networks – family and friends • Health Sector Plus • Social Marketing/awareness raising campaigns • Police/Legal • Specialist DV agency

7. Family and Friends First source of support for many women – ongoing & in crisis Supportive:

8. If I hadn’t had someone to go to I don’t know what I would have done that day…And because I’d only been over here [Western Australia] for literally three or four months, I was lucky that I had a friend who, you know, I’d met through a playgroup….So I went to her and…I left the grandchildren with her and she said “you’ve got to go and see the police”

9. Family and Friends First source of support for many women – ongoing & in crisis Supportive: Not supportive:

10. I think going to family first is probably a big mistake because they won’t give the woman the right advice. You know ‘cause they’ll say to her, “Oh, that’s [experiences] not that, not bad” or they’d say “right, you’ll be leaving him” but not help in the way that might necessarily benefit the woman in the long run.

11. Family and Friends First source of support for many women – ongoing & in crisis Supportive: Not supportive: ‘Tyranny of time’ Compounded in rural areas?

12. Formal Support – Health Sector GPs Potential to interrupt the cycle of violence: particularly GPs

13. the best person I seeked (sic)support from was my doctor…and I used to go and see her whenever I got really low….but the best um, thing (GP did), because I had no money, was to send me to the Sandalwood City Health Department um, counselling service

14. Formal Support – Health Sector GPs Potential to interrupt the cycle of violence: particularly GPs Uncommon response – lack of knowledge/understanding

15. a well versed doctor in DV shouldn’t’ve dismissed me immediately because, I’m not going to know to represent myself in a certain way [for DV to be probed for]. I’d go along and say why I was there “I’m feeling really low” or, that I didn’t really know what was wrong with me. I kept going back to the doctors. And he didn’t recognise it [DV] so I didn’t recognise it

16. Formal Support – Health Sector: Counsellors Majority of women in study sought support for mental health issues Variable response : violence often not addressed as part of counselling

17. You know I went through so much counselling and it [FDV] was never articulated and never came up, never

18. If you hear it [you’re mad] enough you start taking some of it on whoever tells you or infers it, because I was very sad and cry easily, sleep deprived, hyper-vigilant and flat or weary….I just sort of left it [counselling] because I just, from my experience the counselling made it worse

19. Formal Support – Health Sector: Counsellors • Majority of women in study sought support for mental health issues • Variable response : violence often not addressed as part of counselling • Essential components of support: • Understanding of dynamics of a violent relationship & behaviour of perpetrators • Mental health issues are not just part of the normal aging process or part of being a woman

20. I actually went in there [counselling service] and I said you know “look I think there’s something wrong with me, I think I need locking up. If I need electric shock therapy, I’m open to that, I’m open to having medication whatever you think. My husband says blah, blah, blah, blah, blah”, and she very gently sat there and said, “well let’s see what you think”. And I did a questionnaire and at the end of it she said, “you know you’re not mad and you’re definitely not bad”, but she said “you’re very, very sad” and she said that I was living with domestic violence, my husband was very abusive and I was in quite a dangerous situation, we had to make a safety plan. And it was like, it was like sitting there in those storms where everything else just whizzes past you, it was just like a real moment and somehow I just suddenly thought “God Sophie, you’ve been living like this all this time and you’ve been listening to him and yet a perfect stranger’s just gently told you, you know, there’s nothing wrong with you. How can you possibly think it’s ok, no matter what you do, for your husband - who is supposed to be the love of your life, the father of your children - to treat you like this, it’s not ok”. So it was really, ahm and so difficult going home that day because it was like I’d had blinkers taken off.

21. Formal Response – Social Marketing/Awareness Raising Many midlife women did not recognize their experiences as FDV – particularly long term non-physical abuse

22. I remember thinking “Oh my god”, you know, “the cycle of violence” and “That’s just me” and I recognised it [FDV] in me. Which was really really hard to take, but really good as well. I was shown some videos about, you know, non-physical violence, what it looked like and ……. I realised “that was me”. That was pretty early on (after contact with the support agency). You know, I still feel like a bit of a fraud. I’ve been here [in contact with FDV agency] for a while now, and I’ve been told that what I’ve experienced is domestic violence. And I believe that, I truly do, but I’m still… I still think sometimes, ”no it’s not really DV, it couldn’t be what you went through”. I’m still finding it hard to accept.

23. Formal Response – Social Marketing/Awareness Raising • Many midlife women did not recognize their experiences as FDV – particularly long term non-physical abuse • Support agency staff: difficulties explaining violence as FDV • Why? It’s been on the social policy agenda for many years • Campaigns: ‘Australia Says No’; Freedom From Fear

24. The campaigns that are out there at the moment are very much still physical and I just think that it needs to be shown the economic, the isolation …..I mean not to minimise the physical things, but all those things [non physical violence] aren’t really clear in any of the advertising campaigns that have been produced to this point anyway and I think if they were, and I think it’s hard probably to portray that as well, and perhaps not as hard hitting but it’s so widespread, so widespread and people don’t recognise it because they don’t see it

25. Formal Response – Social Marketing/Awareness Raising • Many midlife women did not recognize their experiences as FDV – particularly long term non-physical abuse • Support agency staff: difficulties explaining violence as FDV • Why? It’s been on the social policy agenda for many years • Campaigns: ‘Australia Says No’; Freedom From Fear • Implications: negate severity of violence in minds of women; no active seeking of information on local DV specific support agencies

26. Formal Response - Police & Legal Contact with police : crisis and severe violence

27. he was just abusing me and I just, I remember turning round saying” I’m calling the police” and he looked so frightened ‘cause he knew he’d gone too far and then he started shouting, “you wouldn’t f***** dare. I’ll tell them that you’re mad” and I just, ‘cause you know, I’d had all this talk from the counsellor and I thought “I’m not mad” and I just said you know, “get away from me, f*** off, I’m calling the police, I’ve had enough - you do not have the right to do this”…. I didn’t scream and I just closed up and said” I’m calling the police Bruce - I’ve had enough it’s over, I can’t do this anymore” and started dialling and I just looked him in the eye and I thought “you are not going to intimidate me anymore”. And they answered and I said “police please” and that’s when he took off and that was the last time we sort of lived together.

28. Formal Response - Police & Legal Contact with police : crisis and severe violence Referral to specialist FDV agency (importance of inter-agency relationships and partnerships) Limited involvement of police makes appropriate intervention and supportive/knowledgeable response vital Implications of inappropriate response potentially fatal

29. Police/Legal DV ‘knowledgeable’ Services Supportive Response Family& Friends Increasing Isolation, fear, Violence, Health/social/economic impacts, age Social Marketing Health Sector

30. What do midlife women perceive their support needs to be?

31. Support for midlife women • Midlife women are a diverse group • Existing services should understand and recognise cumulative effect of extended years of abuse and implications of leaving relationships • With these understandings can existing services accommodate a range of clients’ ages and life stages

32. Having all these other young families around was difficult for me – somebody without young children. But what do you do? How do you separate that? It becomes a huge problem. You can’t just have three refuges – one for young people, one for people with young children and one, you know, for women like me. It would become a huge issue

33. Questions?

34. References Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2006). Personal Safety Survey Australia, Catalogue No. 4906.0, Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Fisher, C. (2001). Silent voices: Domestic violence in Western Australia. (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Curtin University of Technology: Perth. Fisher. C., Hunt, L., Adamsam, R., &Thurston, W.E. (2007). ‘Health’s a difficult beast’: The interrelationship between family and domestic violence and health. An Australian case study. Social Science and Medicine, 65(8), 1742-1750. Fisher, C., Keeling, J., Gausia, K., & Tsou, C. (2014). Experiences of domestic violence in Australian midlife women. Manuscript submitted for publication. Fisher, C., Keeling, J., Tsou, C., & Gausia, K. (2014) Navigating Complexity and the Unknown: The Journey to Violence-Free Lives for Australian Midlife Women Who Have Experienced Domestic Violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

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