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    Working with interpreters in the family violence sector in Australia: “It's very hard to be in between”
    (Elsevier B.V., 2023-08-14) Sullivan C; Block K; Murray L; Warr D; Chen J; Davis E; Murdolo A; Vaughan C
    This study explores the role of interpreters and experiences of interpreting within family violence service provision in Australia. Data were drawn from the ASPIRE Project, a community-based participatory research project involving in-depth interviews with service providers (n = 57) and refugee and migrant women who had experienced family violence (n = 46), and a focus group discussion with interpreters (n = 4). The findings show that interpreting services are often inadequate and can create additional safety risks through breaches of confidentiality and other practices that undermine women experiencing family violence. Interpreters themselves are insufficiently supported to undertake the complex and sometimes traumatising task of working in family violence service provision. Cultural conceptions around gender that arise in family violence situations can complicate interpreted interactions, with each party to the triad bringing their own intersectional experiences. Expectations of the role of the interpreter in this context are at times expanded to the role of cultural and institutional broker by service providers. In contrast, migrant and refugee women interviewed prioritised a model based on directly interpreted interactions embedded in the norm of impartiality to promote trust in this high-risk practice area.
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    Judicial experiences : a discourse analysis of Family Courts judges' talk about domestic violence : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MAster of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2005) Thompson, Juliet Louise
    Domestic violence toward women and children is a serious and prevalent issue in New Zealand society. It has both serious physical and psychological effects on all victims, including children who only witness the violence. This research focuses on Family Court Judges' responses to domestic violence and asks how these Judges make sense of domestic violence and work within the Domestic Violence Act 1995 to provide effective protection for victims. The framework of this research is feminist post-structuralism. This framework argues that there is no one singular objective truth but that all objects are dynamic and are constructed by talk. The meaning of objects and the position of subjects depend on discourses that are culturally and historically specific rather than individual attitudes or independent facts To examine the response of the Family Court Judges two Judges were interviewed and two published papers taken from speeches made by Judges were chosen for analysis. The results of the discursive analysis indicate that within the legal discourse there is a move away from valuing the role of women's groups and feminist theory in regard to the construction of domestic violence. The current construction of domestic violence within the Judges' talk tended to value the role of father's rights groups and the patriarchal familial construction of the father/child relationship. Domestic violence is being constructed more in terms of provocation rather than in terms of power and control, which is the feminist construction of domestic violence that current legislation is based upon. These differences between the legal discourse and feminist discourse constructions of domestic violence raise important questions as to how the aims of the Domestic Violence Act are being constructed by the Judges and whether these constructions are impacting on the effective protection of domestic violence victims.
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    Exploring attitudes towards intimate partner violence : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Brooks, Morgan Elizabeth
    Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant societal problem which causes extensive costs, not only to the individuals involved but also to the wider community. Consequently a considerable amount of resources are invested into preventing and reducing the occurrence of IPV. Underpinning all of these initiatives is the focus on changing societal attitudes towards IPV, including attitudes of perpetrators and victims. Most of the focus thus far has been on changing attitudes towards male perpetrated physical IPV, and this continues despite the knowledge that psychological IPV is just as damaging as physical IPV and that IPV is perpetrated equally by males and females. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify what the New Zealand publics’ attitude towards IPV is, by looking at male and female perpetrated IPV and physical and psychological IPV. In addition, this study also explored the impact that gender, history of IPV, and age of the participant had on their attitudes towards IPV. Results of this study established that generally participants had attitudes that were disapproving of IPV, although they were more tolerant of IPV when the perpetrator was female or when the IPV was psychological. In addition, participants younger than 46yrs had more accepting attitudes towards IPV than older participants. It was also found that participant gender and history of IPV did not significantly impact on participants’ attitudes towards IPV. The findings of this study provide important areas for future prevention and reduction initiatives to focus on. After all, it is important that the public develop an attitude that IPV is completely unacceptable, for as long as IPV is tolerated it will not be possible for the goal of eradicating the occurrence of IPV to be achieved.
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    Men's violence against wives and partners : the state and women's experience, 1960-1984 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2012) O'Neill, Jacqueline Marie
    While men’s violence against wives and partners is universal and transhistorical, the various terms used to describe it have been, and remain mutable, constructed and contested. This thesis traces how men’s violence against wives or partners was once constructed as a private or domestic matter and how and why these constructions have changed over time; and what effects, if any, the changes might have had on the way the violence was responded to, and experienced by victims. The thesis is particularly concerned with state practices and how these impacted on women’s capacity to resist a husband’s or partner’s violence. The thesis begins with marriage in the medieval period because marriage and the family have been central to the concept of “domestic” as it emerged in Western society. The principal temporal focus of the thesis is the 1960s – 1984. The 1960s were a period marked by rapid social change that provided a foundation for the construction of “domestic violence” in the 1970s. The thesis ends in 1984, two years after the Domestic Protection Act which marked a radical shift in the construction of men’s violence against wives or partners from a private matter to a public one, and one year after the state began to fund places of refuge for women trying to escape violent partners. The central concern of this thesis is the operation of both dominant and resistant discourses that structured social practices in particular fields that affected women’s capacity to resist violence by a husband or partner. How men’s violence against wives or partners is constructed is crucial to social responses to it and women’s experience of it. Discourse analysis is especially suited to this project because it can reveal which discursive practices created and upheld particular forms of social life. Importantly, a discursive analysis can explain the difference between rhetoric and practice. Although the thesis is underpinned by a legislative trajectory which appears linear and progressive, the discourses which swirl around legislative measures are constantly evolving, sometimes in regressive and internally contradictory ways. Exploring the discursive field of men’s violence against wives or partners provides an understanding of historical actors and practices, and has a contemporary value. Current discourses of domestic violence are shaped by discursive practices that occurred in the period under study. Multiple contesting and contradictory discourses continue to undermine gains made by women in resisting domestic violence today.
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    Changing perceptions : interpretation of songs versus lyrics with a domestic violence theme : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Boulle, Mellany
    Listening to songs is a frequent activity for many people in Western societies. Not only are people exposed to songs in a variety of places, but many people increasingly choose to listen to songs. Some songs are popular despite the antisocial or prosocial nature of the lyrics on important societal topics, such as domestic violence. However, both music and lyrics have the power to communicate, and are processed by the human brain at a complex and detailed level. Of interest to the present study is whether people perceive song narratives and messages differently across these two presentations. The present study explored whether people change their perception of songs with domestic violence content as promoting or opposing domestic violence, when listening to the song compared to reading the lyrics without music. Primarily, the present study aimed to explore the selfreported reasons for changes in song interpretation and perception between the two presentations. Twenty-seven adults (18 females and 9 males), aged between 18 and 65 years, participated in the study. Participants were recruited from both the community and a university in Auckland, New Zealand. A survey research design was used to obtain data in relation to each of eight songs with domestic violence content, and a mixed-method of quantitative and qualitative analyses were employed to analyse the data. The data from the present study showed few statistically significant differences in perceptions between the presentations of song versus lyrics in relation to the potentially prosocial and antisocial domestic violence content of songs. However, qualitative analyses showed that the interpretation of song narratives and messages involves information perceived from both music and lyrics, which can influence the perception of songs. The study also found that incongruence between music and lyrics can result in softer perceptions of antisocial lyrics. Thus, people may not find antisocial messages in songs objectionable when the music of those songs is pleasant. Implications for future research are discussed.
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    Men against violence : a post-structuralist critique of the science and practice of stopping men's violence to women in an applied community setting: a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1997) O'Neill, Damian; O'Neill, Damian
    This research project begins with a post-structuralist critique of the social science theoretical literature surrounding wife abuse. Within this most controversial area of the social sciences five discourses were found to be operating in and informing the field, between them affording a diverse array of theoretical accounts and intervention strategies. These underlying discursive resources are the Liberal humanist 'instrumental' position, the Romantic 'expressive tension' position, Tabula rasa 'learning' theory, Medical 'pathology' and the Structuralist 'social systemic' account. The history and implications of each discourse are discussed. In a second study a participant observation strategy explored how the Manawatu Men Against Violence collective (MMAV), in the face of this diverse and conflicting field, work to stop men's violence in the community. Through participating in a MMAV 'Stopping Violence' programme, observations concerning the discursive content and structure to the programme were made. It was found through this exercise that MMAV employed four of the five discourses identified in the scientific literature and omitted one; 'pathology'. This was a strategic move on MMAV's part, enabling a variety of intervention strategies, dominated by a Liberal humanist construction of events, around which the remaining discourses were couched. The implications of this discursive structure to the programme are discussed. A third study explored how the MMAV programme impacts upon participant's subjectivity. Semi-structured interviews prior to and following participation in a MMAV Stopping Violence programme recorded narratives of the men as they accounted for their violence, the violence of others in the community and described their intimate relationships. It was found that exposure to the discourses imparted by MMAV had had an impact upon the men's accounting practices as distinct shifts as well as consistencies in subject positionings were apparent in the post-course interview comparison. Results demonstrated that the men had interacted with the course material and that this had several effects upon their sense of agency. The implications of such shifts and continuities are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.
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    The legal response to men's violence against women (ex-)partners : narrative representation of women's experiences and discourse analysis of lawyer's talk : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Turitea Campus, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2003) Pond, Rachael Lynn
    Men's violence towards women within the context of intimate relationships is a complex and serious social problem. Particularly problematic are its prevalence and its extensive deleterious effects on women and children's health and psychological wellbeing. The present research was interested in New Zealand's legal response to domestic violence. More specifically, it explored how well the legal system serves the needs of women who experience abuse from their male partners and ex-partners, and how lawyers make sense of partner violence and the legal response to it. Feminist poststructuralism was a useful theoretical stance for the research. Feminist poststructuralism argues that there are multiple truths and realities, some that are hegemonically authorised as truth, and others that are marginalised and rejected. This stance also theorises that our sense of self, and understandings of phenomena like domestic violence and the legal response to it, are socially constructed by culturally and historically specific discourses. To create space for women to voice their experiences of the legal response to domestic violence, I interviewed ten women, and represented their individual accounts using narrative methodology. Collectively, the women's narratives suggest that the legal system does not consistently serve the needs of women seeking protection from partner violence; many women were dissatisfied. Women did not always feel that judges, lawyers, and other legal personnel treated their experiences of violence and psychological abuse seriously or empathetically. Some women also encountered resistance when they attempted to protect their children through supervised access. In the second phase of the research, I interviewed eighteen lawyers working in the area of domestic violence, and analysed their transcripts using discursive methodology. Lawyers utilised many discourses to make sense of and constitute domestic violence and the legal response to it. Some discourses were consistent with holding perpetrators accountable for their violence, and with protecting women and children. However, many discourses minimised and detracted attention away from men's violence towards women, marginalised women's experiences of abuse and violence, and undermined women and children's protection and safety. In this way, the legal system maintains and perpetuates gender bias and oppression against women.
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    Telling lives : children's stories of hope, loss, love, and violence in Aotearoa/New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2008) Infanti, Jennifer Jean
    This is a descriptive, exploratory study of children’s experiences and understandings of domestic violence in the Manawatu region of Aotearoa/New Zealand. It responds to the historical absence of children in anthropological research and in studies of domestic violence. The research is based on data gathered through group activities and discussions with children, five to twelve years old, in a domestic violence education and support group. A series of life history interviews was also undertaken. The study uncovers a myriad of ways that children make sense of domestic violence; incorporate their experiences of domestic violence into their identities; and manipulate, adapt, disrupt, or reproduce cultural knowledge about domestic violence in their own lives and relationships. Special focus is given to the role of helping or compassionate social relationships in children’s lives, not only for the physical safety of children but also for their ability to cope with domestic violence and bounce back from other hardships in life. The children’s narratives shared in this study have practical implications for domestic violence service delivery in New Zealand, as well as applied research with children more generally. The study also highlights children’s capacities for powerful observations, insights, and critical analysis. The thesis itself incorporates many different modes of data (re-)presentation, including poetry, drama, vignettes, and experiments with narrative voice and researcher reflexivity. The use of these literary forms helps to weave multiple perspectives into the thesis, allowing participants to speak for themselves. It also assists in producing an engaging and accessible account of children’s lives, which shows or represents lived experience, an alternative to the large number of statistical analyses that exist in the literature on domestic violence.