Laura Monk

Coventry University

Supervisory Team: Professor Erica Bowen (DoS), Professor Sarah Brown and Dr Emma Sleath

Mothers separated from their children in a context of domestic violence: A situational diagnosis using the PRECEDE-PROCEED model

OverviewBackground to study

Preliminary needs assessmentTraining needs analysis

Questions and answers

Maternal Alienation

• First identified by Morris in 1999 through research with women survivors of domestic violence

• Defined as “when a mother is alienated from her children in a context of violence against them”

• Identified as “a specific component of gendered violence aimed at mothers”

• “Both the tactics and the profound, long-lasting effects of these tactics on women and children”

(Morris 2010: 223)

Post-separation violence• A study commissioned by Women’s Aid (Humphreys and

Thiara 2002) 76% of separated women suffered post-separation violence

• “Women are at greatest risk of homicide at the point of separation or after leaving a violent partner” (Lees 2000).

• More than half of women with post-separation child contact arrangements with an abusive ex-partner continued to experience violence and abuse through the contact (Humphreys and Thiara 2002)

Us vs Them

• Challenging the perception of “Us vs. Them”

• Mothers separated from their children are not a homogenous group

• From a wide range of different backgrounds: class, age, MH, ethnicity, ability

An Invisible problem?

• Intersection of women’s services, children’s services and family courts

• Mental health, addiction agencies, homelessness services, criminal justice system, probation, learning disability help

• GP, CAB, Victim Support, advocacy, mediation

• Counselling services and private practice

Preliminary needs assessment• Using Intervention Mapping Approach (IMA) (Bartholomew et

al. 2011)• A multi-phase project (6 steps) • Utilises mixed methods QUAL (+ QUAN)• Uses multiple methods of data collection

• Step 1 is the needs assessment

Step 1 needs assessment

① Establish planning groups

② Plan and conduct the needs assessment using PRECEDE (Green and Kreuter 2005)

③ Balance the needs assessment with an assessment of community capacity

④ Link the needs assessment to programme planning by specifying programme goals

Participatory planning groups• The first task in the Step 1 needs assessment:

• Establish and maintain planning group with stakeholders

• Community based participatory research project

• Planning groups:• Supervisory team (academics)• Professionals addressing the needs of mothers apart (experts)• MATCH Mothers (service users)

PRECEDE-PROCEED (P-P) model

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Pragmatic approach

• Literature review using PRECEDE as a framework

• Survey using questionnaires designed using PRECEDE

• Transcript from interviews with MATCH Mothers analysed using PRECEDE

• Data (field notes) generated from planning groups conducted using activities embedded in the P-P model such as discussions and Q and A’s

Situational diagnosis

Behavioural and Environmental Factors

Epidemiological assessment examines the behavioural and environmental factors that impact on health and quality of life

Health

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)DepressionAnxietyEmotional dysregulationSocial dysfunction/phobiaSuicidal ideationSubstance misuse/abuseEating disorderSelf harm

Quality of Life

Grief (with no closure)Guilt/regretEmotional distressPost-separation violencePowerlessnessLonelinessIsolation/outsider/stigmaLow confidence/self-esteemFeeling judged/blamed/criticisedFeeling like a failureLoss of identity & purpose

Behavioural factors

Women’s behaviours/circumstances

Being in an abusive relationshipEscaping an abusive relationshipMental health problemsSubstance misuseHomelessnessLearning difficultiesBeing in prisonChild sex abuseMurder/suicides

Perpetrators’ strategies using children

Discrediting women as mothers by making false accusationsExploiting institutionsAlienating/grooming Disrupting mother-child relationship Using/threatening sexual/physical violence against mother and child Undermining mothering rolesSabotaging contactSupplanting mothers as primary carers

Barriers to help-seeking

No specialised help availableFear of help going against them (having their children taken away due to social services involvement, in particular)Fear of ex-partner prevents access (going out/finding out)Fear of being pathologised – getting a label that suggests bad parentingFear of judgement/blame/criticism

Environmental factors

Lack of specialised interventions/services

Lack of knowledge/awareness of alienating tactics

Culture of mother-blaming - ‘unfit mother’ narrative

Early intervention often = mother-child separation

Survivors/mothers not being listened to or believed – concerns about children not being taken seriously

Contradictions between violent men and men as fathers mean that mothers are blamed both for not protecting children and for not promoting contact (Hester 2004)

Mothers apart need…

Emotional support

Specialised psychotherapeutic help

Advocacy

Practical advice and guidance

Legal advice

Help with housing

Community capacity

The third task in the Step 1 needs assessment is to balance the needs with an assessment of community capacity

What is the discrepancy between what is and what should/could be?

How can professionals meet these needs?

Because no one service exists to address the needs of this group of women they seek help through a multitude of services

So as professionals we need to be equipped to address these needs whichever service women access

How can professionals be equipped?

Planning a training/awareness programme…

Would you benefit from training?

What would you hope/expect from training?

What would be most important to learn?

How would you like to be trained?

What barriers to an intervention?

Participating in this project • Interviews/focus groups : October 2014 to March 2015 by telephone,

Skype or face-to-face. • Alternatively, you can participate through my blog: • Community planning groups: 4th Wednesday of the month 6.30-8.30 at

Tesco Community Room, Coventry Ricoh Arena, CV6 6AS. • The training programme will be trialled in May 2015 in Coventry and

one other location in the UK subject to interest.

• Please contact Laura Monk• Email: monkl@coventry.ac.uk • Mobile: 07882 464133• Twitter: @monk_laura• Blog: www.mothersapartproject.com

References• Bartholomew, L. K., Parcel, G. S., Kok, G., Gottlieb, N. H., and Fernández, M. E. (2011)

Planning Health Promotion Programs: An Intervention Mapping Approach. 3rd edn. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

• Green, L. W. and Kreuter, M. W. (2005) Health Program Planning: An educational and ecological approach. 4th edn. New York: Mc-Graw Hill

• Hester, M. (2004) ‘Future Trends and Developments – Violence Against Women in Europe and East Asia.’ Violence Against Women 10 (12)

• Humphreys, C. and Thiara, R. (2002) ‘Routes to Safety: Protection issues facing abused women and children and the role of outreach services.’ Women’s Aid Federation of England: Bristol

• Lees, S. (2000) ‘Marital Rape and Marital Murder.’ in Home Truths about Domestic Violence: Feminist Influences on Policy and Practice: A Reader. ed. by Hanmer, J. and Itzin, C. London: Routledge

• Morris, A. (2010) ‘Seeking Congruence’. Australian Feminist Studies 25 (64), 223-234