Title: Violence, Abuse and Mental Health: Opportunities for Change
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Violence and abuse are endemic globally. In the most recent Crime Survey in England and Wales, 2% reported past-year community violence (where most victims were men). Domestic violence or abuse (physical, sexual, psychological, economic and controlling or coercive behaviour) in the last year was reported by 7.5% of women and 4.3% of men, with victims of repeated or severe domestic violence and/or sexual violence more likely to be women. Most previous mental health research has neglected the impact of domestic and sexual violence on mental health and well-being, so our network will prioritise these, and their links with childhood experiences, and mental health in childhood and adulthood. We know that people with mental health problems are more likely to be victims of domestic or sexual violence, or have witnessed parental violence as a child; some mental health problems are also, much less commonly, associated with committing violent acts though there is very little known about this in relation to domestic violence perpetration. The UK government has recognised that preventing and reducing the impact of domestic and sexual violence and abuse is an important way to improve mental health. This network aims to reduce the prevalence of mental health problems among children, working age adults, and the elderly, by bringing together experts with different ways of thinking about violence, abuse and mental health - some will have personal experience of these issues, others will have expertise from the work that they do, and survivor researchers have expertise born of lived experience and their work. Understanding, preventing and reducing the impact of violence and abuse on mental health requires that we resolve problems that have prevented progress in the past. Firstly, different organisations mean different things when they talk about violence and abuse. This has meant that violence and abuse, and mental health, are measured in different ways by different organisations, and that information collected about violence and abuse does not tell us what we need to know. For example, mental health surveys sometimes ask about violence, but do not ask about the relationship between the victim or perpetrator, what type of violence was experienced, or how it impacted on mental health. Secondly, we have limited knowledge of how and why experiencing different types of violence and abuse increases the risk of developing mental disorders, or how new digital technologies are changing people's experiences of abuse and how this impacts on mental health. Thirdly, we do not have interventions that are effective in preventing or reducing violence experienced by people with mental health problems, or programmes that reduce the risk of mental health problems developing after experiences of violence or abuse. Network activities will address these challenges through: 1) working with people who have personal experience of violence, abuse, and mental health problems to learn from different perspectives, and generate fresh ideas and research questions, with a focus on the commonest types of violence- domestic and sexual violence and abuse; 2) trying to answer research questions through small grant competitions, workshops, conferences, and other events; some of these will lead to larger grant applications; 3) sharing measurement approaches, including how to ethically and safely research this area, which will help data collection and analysis by health services, the criminal justice system, family courts, social care, charities, and researchers. We will also develop an online resource providing information about datasets that can be used in research in the future. We aim to make our results known by publicising them widely through our network and other organisations, including policy makers within NHS England, Public Health England and the National Institute for Health and Social Care Excellence, technology companies and the general public.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS;8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH