The cost of caring.

This entry is our analysis of a review or synthesis of research findings considered particularly relevant to improving outcomes from drug or alcohol interventions in the UK. The original review was not published by Findings; click Title to order a copy. Links to other documents. Hover over for notes. C lick to highlight passage referred to. Unfold extra text The Summary conveys the findings and views expressed in the review. Below is a commentary from Drug and Alcohol Findings.

Alcohol use disorders: diagnosis, assessment and management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence

This article examines the way in which the police in England and Wales respond to allegations of male rape and sexual assault. It includes reference to interviews conducted by the author with male complainants. The article also questions the claim that male rape and sexual assault complainants receive better treatment by the criminal justice system than female rape complainants.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1305102_code1076078.pdf?abstractid=1305102

Policing Male Rape and Sexual Assault

Reflections on Research: The Realities of Doing Research in the Social Sciences

Rigorous, comprehensive and timely research are the cornerstone of social and transformative change. For researchers responding to femicide, family and intimate partner homicide, there are substantial challenges around accessing robust data that is complete and fully representative of the experiences and social identities of those affected. This raises questions of how certain social identities are privileged and how the lens of intersectionality may be constrained or enabled through research. Further, there is limited insight into the emotional labour and safety for researchers, and how they experience and mitigate vicarious trauma. We examine these issues through a shared critical reflection and conclude with key recommendations to address the challenges and issues identified. Four researchers examining and responding to femicide, family and intimate partner homicide in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom shared and evaluated their critical reflection. We drew on our experiences and offer insights into processes, impacts and unintended consequences of fatality reviews and research initiatives. There are substantial limitations in accessibility and completeness of data, which has unintended consequences for the construction of social identities of those affected, including how multiple forms of exclusion and structural oppression are represented. Our experiences as researchers are complex and have driven us to implement strategies to mitigate vicarious trauma. We assert that these issues can be addressed by reconceptualizing the goals of data collection and fostering collaborative discussions among those involved in data collection and violence prevention to strengthen research, prevention efforts and safety for all involved.

/pdf/intersectionality-and-invisible-victims-reflections-on-data-3d5hzz4737.pdf

Intersectionality and Invisible Victims: Reflections on Data Challenges and Vicarious Trauma in Femicide, Family and Intimate Partner Homicide Research.

Secondary trauma (ST) refers to the impact of indirect exposure to traumatic experiences; effects which can be ‘disruptive and painful’ and can ‘persist for months or years’ (McCann and Pearlman 1990). The effects, as described by McCann, in relation to working directly with clients, are considered to be a usual response which results from witnessing a distressing traumatic event or from knowledge about such an event, particularly if the person is connected with the victim-survivor (Figley 1998). ST is one of a number of terms used somewhat interchangeably (including vicarious trauma, burnout, compassion fatigue) to convey ideas about the transference, or rippling-out effects, of trauma from the original incident and the original victim-survivor. Burnout is more usually related to the demands of work (including https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-019-09348-y

/pdf/secondary-trauma-emotional-safety-in-sensitive-research-1v3dwxyq0m.pdf

Secondary Trauma: Emotional Safety in Sensitive Research

This article draws upon quantitative and content analysis of 585 reports of rape recorded within two police force areas in England in 2010 and in 2014 tracking individual incidents to eventual outc...

/pdf/rape-inequality-and-the-criminal-justice-response-in-england-4npzpk4j3x.pdf

Rape, inequality and the criminal justice response in England: The importance of age and gender:

The nature and prevalence of prostitution and sex work in England and Wales today

There has been a long running debate as to whether interventions to change the behaviour of domestic abuse perpetrators actually ‘work’ in the sense of reducing perpetrators’ violent and abusive behaviour and making the lives of victims-survivors and their children safer. In this report we summarise the findings from the evaluation of the Drive Project (‘Drive’), showing that the intervention does indeed ‘work’. As the report indicates, Drive enabled perpetrators to reduce their use of abusive behaviour. As a result of Drive, victims-survivors were safer and more likely to be free from abuse, and the work with perpetrators created space for victims-survivors to make decisions for themselves.

Sarah-Jane Walker

Papers

Secondary Trauma: Emotional Safety in Sensitive Research

Rape, inequality and the criminal justice response in England: The importance of age and gender:

The nature and prevalence of prostitution and sex work in England and Wales today

Evaluation of the Drive Project: – A Three-year Pilot to Address High-risk, High-harm Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse

How is ‘justice’ understood, sought, and experienced by victims/survivors of gender based violence? A review of the literature