External research, reports, articles, and other useful information relating to domestic abuse and VAWG

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Title	Author/s	Year published	Comments
Large in numbers, invisible to services. Suicide, domestic abuse and homelessness among the Polish community in Cheshire East	Ewa Wilcock	2025	This report looks at local statistical data on mental health and suicide, domestic abuse and housing in relation to the Polish community in Cheshire East.
The Annual Audit (annual)	Women’s Aid	2017-2025	The Domestic Abuse Report is a series published by Women’s Aid that brings together the most comprehensive set of data on domestic abuse in the country.
Research reports	Domestic Abuse Commissioner	2021-25	Series of reports shining a spotlight on the issues that affect victims and survivors of domestic abuse.
Did the First COVID-19 National Lockdown Lead to an Increase in Domestic Abuse in the U.K.’s Capital City of London?	Chelsea Gray and Kirstine Hansen.	2025	This study estimates the impact of lockdown in the 32 boroughs that make up the London metropolitan area, showing an increase in the probability of being a victim of domestic abuse and demonstrating inequalities across some groups.
Experiences of current UK service provision for co-occurring parental domestic violence and abuse, mental ill-health, and substance misuse: A reflexive thematic analysis	Kate Allen et al.	2025	A study which explored service users’, service providers’, and senior leadership/commissioners’ experiences of service provision for responding to parental DVA, MH, and SU in one locality.
Domestic abuse, primary care and child mental health services: A systems analysis of service coordination from professionals’ perspectives	Claire Powell et al.	2025	This article explores how services work together to support parents and children experiencing both parental intimate partner violence and parental or child mental health problems.
Contemporary Treatment of Crime Victims/Survivors: Barriers Faced by Minority Groups in Accessing and Utilizing Domestic Abuse Services	Terri Cole et al.	2025	This research explored the experiences of LGBTQIA+, black and ethnic minority (BME), and disabled victims of domestic abuse due to the frequency of abuse in these populations and bespoke needs they may have.
Nowhere to Turn (annual)	Women’s Aid	2017-24	A series of reports drawing on findings from the No Woman Turned Away project which supports survivors who face barriers and structural inequalities when searching for a refuge space.
Child-to-Parent Violence and Abuse: A Scoping Review	Michaela Rogers and Charlotte Ashworth	2024	This scoping review explores the characteristics of parents, carers, children, and young people in cases of CPVA, the characteristics of CPVA, and barriers to and facilitators of help-seeking in cases of CPVA.
The Price of Safety: The cost of leaving a perpetrator and rebuilding a safe, independent life	Women’s Aid	2024	This research aims to quantify the costs survivors may face when fleeing a perpetrator and building a new life.
Understanding family abuse: An intersectional approach to prevention and addressing family abuse perpetrators	Geetanjali Gangoli et al.	2024	This article contributes to an understanding the motives for and perpetration patterns of family abuse that affects a range of minoritised communities on the basis of race, sexuality or transgender identity.
Post-separation Child Contact and Domestic Violence and Abuse: The Experiences of Children with a Disability	Soma Gregory et al.	2024	This article addresses a gap in empirical knowledge on post-separation contact in the context of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) for children with disabilities.
Breaking the Silence: Addressing Domestic Abuse in Mental Health Settings-Identification, Screening, and Responding	Ema Baukaite, Kate Walker and Emma Sleath	2024	This review investigates DA identification, screening, and responses within mental health settings.
Technology-Facilitated Domestic Abuse: An under-Recognised Safeguarding Issue?	Kathyrn Brookfield, Rachel Fyson and Murray Goulden.	2024	This article sets out the ways in which rapid technological advances are being co-opted by perpetrators of domestic abuse to create new ways of exerting control.
Violence against older people and associations with mental health: A national probability sample survey of the general population in England	Anastasia Fadeeva et al.	2024	A study to estimate prevalence of past-year violence victimisation in older people, identify factors associated with violence in older age, and to quantify the extent to which experience of violence in older people was associated with common mental disorder (CMD).
Living at the edge	Sukhwant Dhaliwal and Liz Kelly	2023	An evaluation of the Home Office’s Support for Migrant Victims pilot programme (SMV pilot) documenting the experiences and support needs of migrant victim-survivors of domestic abuse, particularly foregrounding the women’s voices.
Seen Yet Sidelined	Nicola Sharp-Jeffs, Katryn Royal and Keith Gibson	2023	An updated analysis of how economic abuse is reflected and responded to within successful prosecutions of the Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Offence.
Power and control, resistance and survival: A systematic review and meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature on intimate partner violence against transgender individuals	Elliot Marrow, Mannat Malik, David Pantalone, David and Sarah Peitzmeier.	2023	A review of qualitative and theoretical literatures on IPV against trans individuals to generate novel IPV theory inclusive of trans individuals' experiences.
Managing risk: social workers' intervention strategies in cases of domestic abuse against people with learning disabilities	Megan Robb and Michelle Mccarthy	2023	This article reports on the findings of social workers' approaches to risk management interventions in cases of domestic abuse against adults with learning disabilities.
Suicide Rates in High-Risk High-Harm Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse in England and Wales	Duleeka Knipe et al.	2023	This study seeks to estimate the suicide rate in high-risk high-harm perpetrators of domestic abuse utilizing data collected as part of Drive (which supports and challenges perpetrators of DA to reduce their harmful behaviours).
Experiences of interpersonal victimization and abuse among autistic people	Sarah Douglas and Felicity Sedgewick	2023	This research sought to explore the firsthand accounts of a range of autistic people about intimate partner violence and sexual assault.
The Use of Chemical Control Within Coercive Controlling Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse	Sarah-Jane Walker, Marianne Hester and Elizabeth McCarthy	2023	This paper explores the use of chemical control by perpetrators as part of coercive controlling intimate partner violence and abuse.
The ‘officer effect’ in risk assessment for domestic abuse: Findings from a mixed methods study in England and Wales	Andy Myhill, Katrin Hohl, Kelly Johnson	2023	Multi-level modelling reveals an ‘officer effect’ whereby victims’ responses to the DASH risk assessment are influenced by the specific officer that completes the assessment.
The National MAPPA Research	Dr Natalie Mann, Professor Samantha Lundrigan and Simon Kerss	2023	A 26-month study to examine the effectiveness of the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) in England and Wales
Self-blame and (becoming) the crazy ex: Domestic abuse, information sharing and responsibilisation	Nicole Renehan, Charlotte Barlow and Sandra Walklate	2023	This article highlights the informal ways in which women shared and received information about domestic abuse experiences among each other to prevent domestic abuse.
‘I’m a red-blooded male’: Understanding men’s experiences of domestic abuse through a feminist lens	Nicole Westmarland and Stephen R Burrel	2023	This article draws on the experiences of 344 men using a helpline for male victim–survivors of domestic abuse.
Coercion, Control and Criminal Responsibility: Exploring Professional Responses to Offending and Suicidality in the Context of Domestically Abusive Relationships	Vanessa E. Munro, Vanessa Bettinson and Mandy Burton	2023	The article highlights the precarity of recognition of the effects of coercive control and the need to engage in more complicated discussions about when and why context matters.
Improving the ‘victim journey’ when reporting domestic abuse cyberstalking to the police	Holly Taylor-Dunn and Rosie Erol.	2023	In one UK police force, a project was developed to improve the identification, investigation and victim journey for domestic abuse cyberstalking offences.
Cost of Living and the impact on survivors of domestic abuse	Women’s Aid	2022	Survey findings exploring the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on survivors.
Theorising victim decision making in the police response to domestic abuse	Nathan Birdsall and Laura Boulton.	2022	The paper provides a conceptual argument for the importance of understanding victim decision making in responding to cases of domestic abuse.
“Abusers are Using COVID to Enhance Abuse”: Domestic Abuse Helpline Workers’ Perspectives on the Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on those Living with Domestic Abuse	Zara P. Brodie et al.	2022	This project examined the nature and frequency of calls received by domestic abuse helplines since the first COVID-19 lockdown period.
‘Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? If I Go There will be Trouble and if I Stay it will be Double’: An Examination into the Present and Future of Protective Orders Regulating the Family Home in England and Wales	Ana Speed and Kayliegh Richardson.	2022	This paper offers original empirical insights into where the current law fails victims of domestic abuse. The analysis reveals three key barriers to securing occupation orders.
Come Together to End Domestic Abuse: a survey of UK attitudes to domestic abuse 2022	Sarah Davidge, Women’s Aid.	2022	This report sets out the key findings from research on attitudes towards domestic abuse to better understand where and why domestic abuse is ‘tolerated’ in our society.
‘A genuine one usually sticks out a mile’: policing coercive control in England and Wales	Andy Myhill et al.	2022	In 2015, legislation was enacted in England and Wales to criminalise coercive control. This paper presents findings from a focused ethnography conducted in two police forces in England.
Policing a pandemic: changes in police response to intimate partner violence (IPV) during the first lockdown in England	Lucy Trafford	2022	This article investigates the police response to intimate partner violence (IPV) during the first lockdown in England (23 March–30 June 2020).
Mapping the benefits of the Respect Standard	Nicole Westmarland and Zuzana Zilkova	2022	The Respect Standard is a quality assurance framework for work with perpetrators of domestic abuse, and for work with male victims too. The report draws on interviews with funders, commissioners and policy leads, and incorporates feedback from Respect accredited services to give a picture of the Standard’s impact and influence.
Street gangs and coercive control: The gendered exploitation of young women and girls in county lines	Tirion Elizabeth Havard et al.	2021	This article explores young women and girls’ participation in gangs and ‘county lines’ drug sales.
Abused by the Patriarchy: Male Victims, Masculinity, “Honor”-Based Abuse and Forced Marriages	Mohammad Mazher Idriss	2021	This research adds to the patriarchal framework for understanding HBV/A and why it is committed against men.
The Economic Abuse Threat facing Girls & Women in the UK: 6 Moments That Matter in the Lives of Female Survivors	Jane Portas and Nicola Sharp-Jeffs	2021	This report identified the 6 Moments That Matter in which survivors of economic abuse can be supported by organisations across the financial services sector.
The Shadow Pandemic – shining a light on domestic abuse during Covid	Savannah Dawsey-Hewitt et al.	2021	This report is a detailed synthesis of the impact of Covid-19 on survivors of domestic abuse and on the frontline organisations that support them.
The Batty Effect: Victim-Survivors and Domestic and Family Violence Policy Change	Lisa J. Wheildon et al.	2021	This article explores the influence of victim-survivors as change agents through the examination of the case of domestic and family violence advocate Rosie Batty.
Gendered experiences of justice and domestic abuse. Evidence for policy and practice	Women’s Aid, Hester, M., Walker, S-J., and Williamson, E.	2021	Research into gendering discourses and the role they play in women’s experiences of domestic abuse.
“I Have Guys Call Me and Say ‘I Can’t Be the Victim of Domestic Abuse’”: Exploring the Experiences of Telephone Support Providers for Male Victims of Domestic Violence and Abuse	Benjamin Hine, Elizabeth A. Bates and Sarah Wallace	2020	This study aims to provide information regarding the nature and context of abuse toward, and help-seeking experiences of, male victims, and explore the experiences of those supporting abused men.
Honor-Based Abuse in England and Wales: Who Does What to Whom?	Lis Bates	2020	Thematic and quantitative (regression) analyses were used to investigate whether and how HBA differed from other forms of domestic abuse and forced marriage.
Parental alienation and the family courts	Dr Adrienne Barnett	2020	An exploration of how claims of parental alienation in the family courts are being used as means to silence victims of domestic abuse.
The Impact of the Dual Pandemics: Violence Against Women & Girls and COVID-19 on Black and Minoritised Women and Girls	Baljit Banga and Sumanta Roy	2020	One of a series of position papers published by Imkaan fixating a lens on issues from the margin that they wish to move to the centre.
A GAP EXPOSED: What Is Known About Sikh Victims of Domestic Violence Abuse (DVA) and Their Mental Health?	Harjinder Kaur-Auja, Farzana Shain and Kate Lillie	2019	This paper aims to extrapolate key generic studies on domestic abuse in the South Asian culture to help formulate an initial understanding of issues involving domestic violence and mental health as it impacts Sikh women in Britain.
The voices of male victims: Understanding men's experiences of the Men's Advice Line	Burrell and Westmarland, for Respect	2019	The report provides unique insights into callers’ expectations and experience of the Respect Men’s Advice Line, their help-seeking behaviours, and their perceptions of domestic abuse services more broadly.
Help-seeking by male victims of domestic violence and abuse - A systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis	Alyson L Huntley, Lucy Potter, Emma Williamson, Alice Malpass, Eszter Szilassy, Gene Fede	2019	A systematic review to understand the help-seeking experiences of male victims of DVA.
Good Practice Briefing: Communicating about violence against women and girls	Imkaan and Ascent	2019	This briefing presents methodologies of purpose and integrity that are rooted in an intersectional approach through fundamentally centring the voices, experiences, and demands of Black and minoritised survivors of violence.
Who Does What to Whom? Gender and Domestic Violence Perpetrators	Professor Marianne Hester	2009	This research explores how male victims and perpetrators of domestic violence may differ from female victims and perpetrators. The report explores ‘who does what to whom’, taking into account both context and consequences.
Coercive Control	Research in Practice for Adults and Women’s Aid	N/A	A website is for social workers and other health and social care practitioners to develop their knowledge and skills in working with situations of coercive control.
Online courses	IDAS	N/A	Free online domestic abuse and sexual violence basic awareness training courses.
Spotlights: Hidden victims	SafeLives	Various	A series of information pieces focusing on groups of victims who may be 'hidden' from services or face additional barriers to accessing support.