Home violence and abuse (DVA) is a critical however typically missed public well being subject. It happens between people who find themselves personally linked like companions and relations, and the time period covers bodily, sexual, psychological or monetary abuse and controlling or coercive behaviour (UK Authorities, 2021). The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates that 3.9 million adults had been harm on this approach between March 2023 to 2024 (Workplace for Nationwide Statistics, ONS 2024). Every of these incidents is doubtlessly lethal and carries instant and long-term well being penalties, putting a big burden on people, households, and healthcare techniques.
Well being practitioners have an necessary function in recognising and serving to victims of DVA, (Eyuboglu, 2021) however they will lack confidence, expertise and understanding. Addressing DVA as a well being subject means coaching well being professionals to recognise indicators of abuse and embedding routine enquiry in consultations. Early identification, intervention, and cross-disciplinary communication can mitigate well being impacts and scale back long-term prices to each people and the NHS.
This current research helps practitioners perceive the lived experiences of moms and daughters who’ve collectively skilled DVA (King et al, 2023). It addresses a essential hole within the literature by focusing not solely on particular person trauma, however on relational elements. It demonstrates that DVA is not only about bodily or verbal acts; it’s about how these acts operate inside an online of emotional, social, and psychological ties. The authors discover how these dyads make sense of their experiences over time and the way their relationships affect restoration, resistance, and progress.
3.9 million adults skilled home violence and abuse (DVA) in 2023-2024. What are the experiences of moms and daughters who’ve collectively skilled DVA?
Strategies
This research makes use of Narrative Inquiry (Riessman, 2015), a qualitative analysis strategy that centres on lived experiences and explores the methods individuals make sense of their lives. Narrative Inquiry considers the previous, current, and future inside the unfolding of tales. It’s contextual as a result of tales sit inside broader social, cultural, and institutional frameworks.
The next questions had been used to construction the analysis:
- What narratives are constructed and the way have they modified over time?
- How have these narratives constructed the abuse and the relationships impacted by the DVA?
- What narratives are shared between caregiver and baby and what narratives are stored to the person?
The researchers carried out interviews with two mother-daughter pairs after which spoke to every participant individually to seize the dynamics of the relationships and particular person views. This methodology recognises the interplay between researcher and participant, and the way their relationship shapes how which means is made.
Outcomes
The findings are shared as interwoven tales that reveal the complexity of trauma and restoration, encouraging practitioners to maneuver past simplified assessments and have interaction with extra nuanced understandings of lived expertise.
The authors recognized three overarching narrative themes:
The Relationship with DVA
- Abuse formed the dyads’ relational dynamics, typically creating cycles of silence, guilt, and safety.
- Moms and daughters skilled abuse otherwise however shared a mutual understanding of its impression.
Understanding and Connection
- The function of shared reflection in therapeutic was discovered to be key.
- Dyads reported that sharing their tales helped them reframe trauma and construct belief and empathy.
Proper Assist on the Proper Time
- Well timed and applicable trauma-informed care is significant, but contributors revealed systemic failures in care.
In Narrative Inquiry, researchers typically establish a number of layers or varieties of tales inside a participant’s account. These are generally known as sub-stories and so they assist unpack the complexity of lived expertise.
- There are private tales, right here described firstly as ‘Acts of Resistance’, demonstrations of company and defiance in opposition to abuse. This recognition of individuals experiencing DVA as resistors as a substitute of merely passive victims is useful in supporting empowerment and alter. Secondly as “Embodied Lives”, a report of the bodily and emotional toll of abuse and restoration. When professionals are collaborating with individuals who have survived DVA you will need to recognise the echo of that trauma and its impacts.
- Interpersonal tales emerge from interactions between the participant and others. They replicate the relationships and shared experiences, right here they’re grouped below the heading “Mom and Daughter”, and this evolving bond was central to restoration.
- Cultural or Social Tales place the private narrative inside broader societal or cultural contexts. Right here critiques of institutional responses to DVA are recorded as “Failure of Providers”. Contributors criticised systemic gaps, particularly in psychological well being and safeguarding.
Recognising individuals experiencing home violence as resistors as a substitute of passive victims will be useful in supporting empowerment and alter.
Conclusions
This analysis is an instance of how qualitative inquiry can illuminate the nuanced realities of home abuse survivors. It underscores the significance of relational contexts in each the expertise and restoration from trauma and affords professionals evidence-based methods to know and assist individuals with lived expertise of DVA.
This analysis exhibits how qualitative inquiry can illuminate the complicated realities of individuals experiencing home abuse.
Strengths and limitations
This analysis demonstrates sturdy tutorial high quality by means of its use of Narrative Inquiry, which successfully uncovers which means by means of tales. The revolutionary twin interview format, (combining joint dyadic and particular person follow-ups) captures each shared and personal views, revealing how narratives shift in relational contexts. The pattern measurement could appear small, with 4 contributors (2 mother-daughter dyads), however that is customary as Narrative analysis prioritises depth over breadth. The outline of the research design incorporates sufficient element to permit for replicability, and prioritising contributors’ voices over predefined constructs affords recent insights into relational dynamics.
Nevertheless, there have been some limitations to this research. The research would profit from extra various dyadic configurations. Purposive sampling ensured that the contributors all had direct, intergenerational DVA expertise however this lack of demographic range (all dyads from comparable UK contexts) reduces transferability. Utilizing open-ended prompts invitations deep reflection, however there’s a danger of social desirability bias shaping the info shared in joint interviews. The mixture of those elements does optimise the depth of information gathered and affords new insights, however it requires cautious facilitation to handle energy dynamics between all events particularly contemplating the sensitivity of the subject.
Efficient reflexivity is indicated by authenticity, credibility and self-awareness being demonstrated by the researcher, and by transparency and rigour being a part of the methodology. Whereas the analysis staff acknowledge their positionalities as qualitative researchers with DVA experience, higher transparency round reflexive practices would strengthen trustworthiness. The paper could be enhanced by higher element on how researcher assumptions had been bracketed or how reflexive journaling formed the evaluation of the findings.
This revolutionary twin interview format captures each shared and personal views, revealing how narratives of home violence shift in relational contexts
Implications for observe
Affect on Observe
- Practitioners ought to incorporate joint narrative classes the place survivors and important others co-construct their tales of resilience and resistance.
- Clinicians ought to be educated in dyadic narrative methods and embed routine enquiry about household relationships in DVA assessments, guaranteeing exploration of intergenerational dynamics.
- Moreover, group packages bringing collectively dad or mum–baby pairs to observe boundary-setting and co-regulation workouts below skilled steering may additionally assist.
Coverage Implications
- These findings name for a shift in coverage from individual-centred to relationship-centred service fashions.
- Updating nationwide DVA frameworks to advocate dyad-focused interventions as a part of restoration companies and guaranteeing that they use inclusive and survivor-informed language may enhance care.
- Devoted funding for intergenerational assist, together with family-inclusive remedy, can also be important.
Future Analysis Instructions
By illuminating the ability of shared storytelling and mutual resistance, this research opens a number of avenues for additional inquiry. For instance, longitudinal mixed-methods research can study how dyadic narratives evolve over years and predict long-term wellbeing. Particularly in the event that they discover various dyadic configurations like father–son, siblings, LGBTQ+ companions and consider the generalisability of relational therapeutic processes utilizing randomised managed trials when it comes to psychological and relational outcomes. Future analysis may develop to incorporate:
- Extra heterogeneous dyads (e.g., father-son, siblings, LGBTQ+ relationships).
- Cross-cultural comparisons to know how cultural norms form DVA experiences.
- Longitudinal research to trace narrative evolution over time.
Narrative analysis may very well be coproduced with survivors and be designed to supply express suggestions for bettering companies for this underserved inhabitants.
Practitioners ought to incorporate joint narrative classes the place survivors and important others co-construct their tales of home violence, fostering resilience and resistance.
Assertion of pursuits
NA.
Hyperlinks
Main paper
King, L. and Rishworth, B. (2023) ‘The experiences of dyads who’ve collectively been uncovered to home violence and abuse: Narratives of progress, connection and resistance’, Qualitative Social Work, 22(1), pp. 151–167.
Different references
Charura, D. and Smith, P., (2024) Working Via Relational Trauma: An Exploration of Narratives of Lived Experiences of Trauma and Restoration. In: D. Charura and P. Smith, eds. Relationships and Psychological Well being. Cham: Springer, pp.99–116.
Eyuboglu, (M) 2021) ‘It’s time to CATCH on: supporting well being practitioners to recognise and assist victims of home violence and abuse’. The Psychological Elf, 30th June 2021
Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (2024) Crime Survey for England and Wales, yr ending March 2024. [online] Obtainable at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2024 [Accessed 26 September 2025].
Riessman, C.Ok., (2015) Getting into the corridor of mirrors: Reflexivity and narrative analysis. The handbook of narrative evaluation, pp.219-238
UK Authorities. (2021) Home Abuse Act 2021. [online] Obtainable at: https://www.laws.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/17/enacted [Accessed 26 Sep. 2025].
