Download Mothers Apart Project

Mothers separated from their
children in a context of domestic
violence:
A situational diagnosis using
the PRECEDE-PROCEED model
Laura Monk
Coventry University
Supervisory Team: Professor Erica Bowen (DoS), Professor Sarah Brown
and Dr Emma Sleath
Overview
Background to study
Preliminary needs assessment
Training 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 postseparation 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)
Adapted from Green and Kreuter (2005)
PRECEDE-PROCEED (P-P) model
15
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)
Quality of Life
Depression
Grief (with no closure)
Anxiety
Guilt/regret
Emotional dysregulation
Emotional distress
Social dysfunction/phobia
Post-separation violence
Suicidal ideation
Powerlessness
Substance misuse/abuse
Loneliness
Eating disorder
Isolation/outsider/stigma
Self harm
Low confidence/self-esteem
Feeling judged/blamed/criticised
Feeling like a failure
Loss of identity & purpose
Behavioural factors
Women’s behaviours/circumstances
Being in an abusive relationship
Perpetrators’ strategies using children
Escaping an abusive relationship
Mental health problems
Substance misuse
Homelessness
Learning difficulties
Being in prison
Discrediting women as mothers by
making false accusations
Barriers to help-seeking
Exploiting institutions
No specialised help available
Alienating/grooming
Fear of help going against them
(having their children taken away due
to social services involvement, in
particular)
Disrupting mother-child relationship
Child sex abuse
Using/threatening sexual/physical
violence against mother and child
Murder/suicides
Undermining mothering roles
Sabotaging contact
Fear of ex-partner prevents access
(going out/finding out)
Fear of being pathologised – getting a
Supplanting mothers as primary carers label that suggests bad parenting
Fear 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
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.
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Please contact Laura Monk
Email: [email protected]
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), 223234