Low-threshold approaches to help with violence in couple relationships of older women and men (HiGPAe)
| Project name: | Low-threshold approaches to help with violence in couple relationships of older women and men (HiGPAe) |
| Faculty: | Applied Social Sciences |
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| Funding body: | Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) |
| Duration: | 01.01.2017-31.12.2018 |
Brief project description
Starting point
Older women and men are also affected by violence in couple relationships, i.e. "domestic violence", because despite advancing age, physical, psychological and sexual violence does not end in long-term violent relationships. Crisis events in life such as retirement, declining health and possible social isolation can also trigger violent conflicts for the first time. Although there is a relatively dense network of help and support facilities for domestic violence in Germany, senior citizens (60+) in particular rarely seek them out. Existing research findings and action programs not only point to the prevalence of violence in older people's relationships, but also to the need for low-threshold help services.
In particular, outreach, longer-term and continuous support in the process of clarifying the desire for change and intervention options as well as time-intensive and repeated support, including to various social, elderly care and medical services and facilities as well as psychosocial aftercare, are recommended.
Research question
The project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research for two years, investigates whether it is possible to better reach this target group and facilitate their access to the help system with the help of the low-threshold help setting of volunteer or semi-professional guides in the areas of senior citizens, health and integration. Because psychological, physical and sexualized violence is a taboo and shameful topic, especially for older and elderly women and men, the non-explicitly violence-related or thematically open, social space-oriented help setting of volunteer guides, which focuses on coping with everyday problems, could be suitable for the goal being pursued.
Approach and methodological procedure
In cooperation with three practice partners - Caritas Offenbach, Frankfurt City Health Office and the Municipal Women's Representative of the City of Wiesbaden - a participatory and dialogical approach is being used to develop, implement and evaluate continuing education for pilots in the areas of senior citizens, integration and health. In consecutive and complementary work steps (research and evaluation of existing pilot projects, expert interviews with full-time professionals, focus group discussions with pilots, workshops with practice partners, social service professionals, The aim is to gain in-depth insights into whether the help approach of the guides is considered suitable by the actors involved to break down access barriers for older people affected by violence and thus open up opportunities for protection and support for them. The insights gained form the basics for both the development of the manual-based continuing education and for the implementation of the evaluation of the qualification, which will be checked for its transfer potential in a final step.
Reaserch project description
In the Federal Republic of Germany, little attention has been paid to domestic violence experienced in the partnerships of senior citizens. However, official figures and scientific insights suggest that violence does not disappear with increasing age (60+). According to experts in supporting facilities, elderly find it difficult to access existing intervention and support systems, or are barely accommodated by them. Primarily the results of the European research project, "Intimate Partner Violence against older Women" (IPVOW) pinpoint the need for low-threshold support services.
Within the framework of a research project financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01.01.2017-31.12.2018) and in cooperation with three local partners (health-care system, gender-based violence, work with senior citizens) we have been examining the question of whether volunteer guides in the senior/health/integration area can reach this target group more effectively, and make it easier for them to access the help system. Therefor we conducted expert interviews with professionals and focus group discussions with volunteer guides. On this basis we developed training and training manual that should provide the volunteer guides with knowledge of domestic violence and information about the existing support system. The training will be given and evaluated on a formative basis starting next year.
Publications
Conference documentation
Final conference
"Showing ways. Volunteers as guides to the help system for violence in couple relationships of older women and men" took place on Friday, 18.01.2019 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Wiesbaden, on the Kurt-Schumacher-Ring Campus.
At this symposium, we presented our results from two years of research with and for practical experience. In addition to the project team, the practice partners also reported on their experiences. The focus is on the question of what requirements are necessary for guides to be able to show older people affected by violence the way into the existing psychosocial help and support system, as well as reflecting on the challenges and challenges of the qualification we have developed on the topic of violence in couple relationships of older people.
Further highlights:
Heike Rabe from the German Institute for Human Rights in Berlin gave you an overview and analysis of the Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence) ratified in 2018 and its significance for the practical experience of protecting against violence. The conference program was livened up by a staged reading from the play "Schlag-Worte", which was developed by students based on qualitative interviews with women affected by violence.
On June 29, 2017, the first symposium on "Low-threshold approaches to help with violence in couple relationships of older women and men" took place with over 70 interested volunteers and Social Work professionals. Presentations from Germany and abroad provided insights into the current state of research and tried-and-tested practical experience.
You can view the conference documentation here.
Workshop
Workshop
At a workshop in September 2017, the research team discussed an initial outline for the qualification of volunteer pilots in the senior citizens' and health sector with senior citizens' work and violence protection professionals as well as pilots. The valuable re-registration was incorporated into the revision of the concept.
Qualification modules
The qualification
Developed in a dialogical and participatory process with our practice partners, the Frankfurt/Main City Health Department, the Caritas Association Offenbach and the Municipal Women's Representative of the City of Wiesbaden, the training comprises 3 modules of 3 hours each and is aimed at guides and volunteers who work with senior citizens.
In terms of content, the participants are made aware of the different forms and effects of partner violence, they acquire knowledge of the legal framework for domestic violence through a presentation by a lawyer and learn about the local and national support network. In the last module, professionals from women's shelters and counseling and men's counseling/perpetrator work report on their counseling activities. Furthermore, the volunteers deal with the possibilities and limits of their actions.
References
If you would like to find out more about the topic of violence in relationships between older women and men, you will find a list of literature, specialist books, films and some selected links here.
Manual for the qualification of volunteer guides
Own articles
Dackweiler, Regina-Maria/Schäfer, Reinhild/Merkle, Angela/Peters, Franziska (2019a). Closing the gap: Volunteer guides as appropriate actors to improve the practical response and care of older victims of intimate partner violence in Germany? In: Journal of Gender Based Violence Themed Issue "Domestic Violence: New Developments in Policy and Practice in Europe", Bristol (n.d.)
Dackweiler, Regina-Maria/Schäfer, Reinhild/Merkle, Angela/Peters, Franziska (2019b): Gender_Wissen im Forschungsfeld der Gewalt in Paarbeziehungen Älterer: Verdrängungen, Verkennungen, Abschottungen? In: Kasten, Anna/Rose, Lotte/Schimpf, Elke (eds.), Sozialarbeitswissenschaftliche Geschlechterforschung: Methodologien, Konzepte, Forschungsfelder. Opladen/Toronto (forthcoming)
Poster presentations
In March 2018, we presented our project poster as part of an exhibition at the congress of the German Society for Educational Science "Movements" at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Panels
Participation in specialist conferences and meetings
9/2017 Gender Section of the DGSA: Project presentation
2/2018 Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin: Gender_Knowledge in Research Fields of Social Work (Panel)
6/2018: European Network on Gender Based Violence, University of Bristol (lecture)
9/2018 Federal Congress of Social Work, University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld (workshop)
11 students took part in the two-semester course in the winter semester 2017/18 and summer semester 2018. In addition to theoretical discussions and several excursions, e.g. to the "Violence against Women Helpline" in Cologne, the participants created their own small pieces of research in cooperation with and for selected practice partners.
For example, they created the interactive theater play "Schlag- Worte", which presents the topics of ageing and violence in couple relationships from the perspective of those affected in order to help raise public awareness of this taboo subject.
Another group worked on press relations and was interviewed by the Höchster Kreisblatt newspaper.
