Research

Refuge is committed to researching the effects of domestic violence and services provided for women and children.

We use our in-house research:

• To lead the field through innovative services of excellence.
• In training across all agencies, to promote best practice.
• In recommendations for policies and strategy, at local and national levels.
• In publications, to inform national and international thinking.

Research and publications that Refuge has produced or contributed to:

Service provision

• Refuge produced a Service Snapshot, to measure the support it was offering to women and children on one typical day in October 2008

Prevention and education

• Refuge produced the report Starting in Schools as a result of its 2008 YouGov survey into the attitudes and knowledge of young women of the early warning signs of domestic violence and the human right to a life free from violence. Please contact Janqui Mehta for a copy of the report

Domestic violence and children

• Refuge produced a report into the Assessment and Intervention for Pre-School Children Exposed to Domestic Violence in 2005. It identifies ways to support young children and help them overcome their experiences
• Refuge published a report on Domestic violence and the Impacts on Children in 2001. The report was based on the results of a survey into the knowledge and experiences of educational personnel in the UK and Finland, funded by the Daphne Project. Contact Janqui Mehta for a copy of this report
• Refuge produced a Review of Children’s Service Development for the King’s Fund in 1998. This was a casework analysis of the impacts of domestic violence on women and children, reviewing the first three years of children’s service development at Refuge. The report highlights what was learned, describes the programme developed, presents information gleaned through a small pilot study, raises further questions and makes recommendations for best practice. Contact Janqui Mehta for a copy of this report

Domestic violence and financial inclusion

• Refuge released a study into the impacts of financial abuse on women and children experiencing domestic violence, What’s Yours is Mine, in November 2008
• Refuge published a financial guide, You Can Afford to Leave, for women and children experiencing domestic violence in November, 2008
• Refuge contributed to the Fawcett Society report on Women’s Assets and Debts, November 2007
• The Advice Development Project produced a report on Addressing the Financial Needs of Women and Children Experiencing Domestic Violence, June 2005.
• Refuge contributed to a Family Welfare Association/One Parent Families/Gingerbread report on theFinancial Impact of Domestic Violence (2008)

Visit the economic abuse page for more information on Refuge’s work on financial abuse and economic exclusion of women experiencing domestic violence

Domestic violence and the workplace

• Refuge and Respect have produced a Domestic Abuse Resource Manual for Employers.  This comprehensive resource is designed to help employers and HR professionals respond to employees who are victims or perpetrators of abuse.  Find out more
  

Domestic violence against black, minority ethnic and refugee women

• Refuge conducted a scoping study into the experience of forced marriage of women from Middle Eastern and North East African communities, Forced Marriage in the UK, February 2010
• Refuge contributed to the Amnesty International/Southall Black Sisters report No Recourse, No Safety, April 2008.  Exploring the plight of women with insecure immigration status and no recourse to public funds who experience domestic violence

Other reports

• An evaluation of Refuge’s Independent Domestic Violence Advocacy (IDVA) service in Southwark, London, resulted in the report Providing Court-Based Support: An Evaluation of the Refuge Southwark Advocacy Service, March 2009
• Refuge contributed to the New Philanthropy Capital report into violence against women, Hard Knock Life April 2008
• Comic Relief has published a report into the Impact of the National Domestic Violence Helpline, run in partnership between Refuge and Women’s Aid, June 2008
• Refuge is shortly to publish a safety planning guide for women and children experiencing domestic violence

Other major reports on violence against women

• The Home Affairs Select Committee Report into Domestic Violence, Forced Marriage and ‘Honour’-Based Violence, June 2008.  Refuge gave both written and oral evidence to the select committee.  This was the third select committee enquiry into domestic violence (the previous two being in 1975 and 1991) and Refuge has given evidence to all three
• Making the Grade 2007 evaluates the commitment and performance of all government departments in supporting women and children experiencing violence and ending violence against women. Refuge contributed to this report as a member of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, which published the report
• The End Violence Against Women Coalition produced the most recent Map of Gaps: The Postcode Lottery of Violence Against Women Support Services (published jointly with Equality & Human Rights Commission) in February 2009 to highlight the shocking shortfall in services for women across the UK