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    Intimate partner violence : advocates expertise on the complexity of maternal protection : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Loft, Melanie L.
    Intimate Partner Violence is a pervasive and insidious epidemic within Aōtearoa New Zealand with one in three women experiencing psychological or physical abuse by their partners in a lifetime. The National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges (NCIWR) seeks to prevent and eliminate violence and in doing so liberate women abused by their partners. This research is a contribution to the gap in psychological research which calls upon the expertise of refuge advocates from a feminist standpoint and additionally adds to valuable production of knowledge from a New Zealand context. The aim was to explore how advocates perceive and understand mothering and maternal protection in the context of intimate partner violence and moreover how advocates’ understandings impact their experience of client protection. A qualitative, thematic approach opened a space for advocates to voice their experiences and importantly challenge the socio-political landscape which maintains a focus on women’s responsibility as protectors, opposed to perpetrator accountability. Societal expectation of mothering does not take into account the context of intimate partner violence and as mothers fail to meet expectations, notions of mother-blame are ascertained. The analysis identified three major themes: The first theme concerns the severity of perpetrator harm and the direct interruption intimate partner violence has on mothering; shaping and complicating mothering. The second theme identifies a multitude of factors mothers juggle to protect their children within the context of intimate partner violence. The final theme involves understanding the mode of survival in which women come to live, how women navigate fundamental support systems, and finally how the role of the advocate is pivotal for the safety of women and children. Overall, findings showed an alignment between the expertise of advocates and existing international research.
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    Women's Refuge clients' experiences of social responses to domestic violence including interventions informed by response-based practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Reedy, Jessica Juliet
    In Aotearoa New Zealand, transformation in thinking about and acting to prevent domestic violence is exigent. Response-Based Practice (RBP) provides a transformational framework for ethical social responses for families experiencing violence. RBP attends to ways discursive practices undermine or support victim safety and dignity. The current research involved developing, delivering, and evaluating a RBP group intervention at Women's Refuge. Evaluation privileged women's accounts of the intervention and entailed comparing discourses clients utilised to inform their understandings of violence and position themselves before and after Group participation. Implications of clients' positioning for enabling or constraining their safety and dignity are also considered. The project's design used feminist collaborative action research principles, and thematic analysis in the first study to develop the intervention. Five advocates were engaged in meetings, semi-structured interviews, document reviews, and focus groups. The second study used discourse analysis of women's pre- and post- intervention accounts of their domestic violence experiences and social responses to them. Four clients engaged in semi-structured interviews. Before Group participation, discourses that minimised and mutualised violence predominated, positioning victims as instrumental in provoking and preventing violence, and victims and perpetrators as pathological. Languaging often represented perpetrators' violence as accidental/uncontrollable and concealed victim resistance. Narratives engaged traditional gender discourses of men's dominance, encompassing coercive control and violence, and women's submission and self-sacrifice, as normative. Women's entrapment by victim-blaming discourses alongside threats of poverty and condemnation from perpetrators, families, church and social agencies was evident. Following Group participation, resistance discourses prevailed. Clients challenged their positioning as pathological or blameworthy and re-positioned themselves as sensible, competent women. Group content and processes were constituted as privileging and legitimating women's unarticulated knowledge of how concealing violence, perpetrator responsibility and gendered social power relations diminish victims' safety. Narratives of domestic violence evinced increased recognition of patterns of coercive control, entrapment and other non-assaultive violence intersecting with harmful social responses and structural violence. Thus, the Group provided a safe and dignifying social and physical space for clients to collectively reconsider their responses to violence; and discover, discuss, and critique discursive practices that reveal violence, perpetrator responsibility, and victim resistances.
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    Women and their fur-babies : leaving family violence together : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology, at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Gillespie-Gray, Jasmine
    The use of animal abuse as a coercive control technique within intimate partner violence is found in nearly half of all violent relationships. Concern for their animals’ well-being, fear for their own safety and difficulty finding temporary animal accommodation leads to women remaining in these relationships. Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge is the only women’s refuge in New Zealand that makes formal provision for animals at their safe houses, enabling women and animals to leave violence together. This research explores the relationship women have with their animals within the context of intimate partner violence, positions animals as victims of family violence themselves, and asks why the service Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge offers is important in enabling women and their animals to leave family violence together. Three women who had animals and were residing at Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge, two Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge social workers and four Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals staff volunteered to participate in conversational interviews that were focused on women’s relationships with their animals and experiences of animal abuse and intimate partner violence. The provision of accommodation for animals leaving violence was investigated. The interviews were voice-recorded, transcribed and analysed using feminist standpoint epistemology and Riessman’s (1993) method of narrative inquiry. The analysis represents the strength of women’s relationships with their animals and the importance of them being able to leave their violent relationships together. Animals were positioned as victims of family violence within this research, resulting from the animals’ experiences of physical abuse, purposeful neglect and emotional suffering. Women were found to generally position their animals to be part of the family and an important source of comfort, unconditional love and companionship, especially during difficult times. Having these animals at the safe house with them meant that the women were able to settle in to the safe house better and focus on moving forward with their lives, rather than worrying about their animal’s safety or grieve the loss of, or temporary separation from, their relationship with their animal. This research has highlighted the need for systematic changes to the way we understand family violence and how we view animals within our society, and the need for the development and implementation of programs, like Tiaki have, that enable women, children and animals to leave violence together.
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    Intimate partner violence, family court, and assessment : a qualitative study of the experiences of women's advocates : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Culver, Krystal
    Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a pervasive problem throughout New Zealand. Approximately a third of all women will experience some form of abuse from their partner in their lifetime. Literature on IPV highlights the difficulties these women face when they enter the Family Court system and the lack of understanding regarding the dynamics of IPV. Of particular concern are those women who undergo a psychological assessment as part of the custody dispute. The Family Court has posited the movement to collaborative parenting may outweigh the need to keep women and children safe. Consequently, women may not only be re-victimised, but both their safety, and the safety of their children, could be at risk. The purpose of this study was to provide a greater understanding of women’s advocates experiences of issues of IPV, Family Court, and psychological assessment in New Zealand. Four advocates from Women’s Refuge were interviewed and a thematic analysis conducted. Four superordinate themes emerged from participants’ accounts: process difficulties, conflict, lack of expertise and gender-based issues, while a fifth theme of cultural differences emerged from one of the participants. These experiences were supported by the existing literature, and added valuable knowledge from a New Zealand context. Unexpected issues also arose, including the difficulty women with children face in being granted the right to relocate. This will help form the basis of continued research into the area, with the aim of gaining a more discerning picture of key issues that arise for women who have experienced IPV and who are embattled in a custody dispute in the Family Court.
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    Struggling with systems : refuge workers accounts of domestic violence service provision : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2005) Hindle, Shelly
    Domestic violence is thought to be at epidemic levels in New Zealand and is considered a priority in the health care sector. This research explored the topic of domestic violence service provision from the perspectives of nine Women's Refuge advocates. The participants views and opinions, and my interpretations of the participants stories, do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges. The data, in the form of interview transcripts, was analysed from a feminist standpoint and Sarbin's conceptualisation of narrative analysis was utilised. Findings from the analysis suggest that there are still many barriers to both providing and accessing service provision for D.V. related issues. The Refuge advocates expressed concerns about other organisations/agencies apparent lack of education/training in D.V., different views of D.V., and negative views of Refuge. They commented on the lack of links between organisations/agencies, the problematic systems of other service providers and the resulting propensity to subject women to structural violence. These outcomes have also been found in other literature, suggesting that despite implementation of various government initiatives, there still appear to be problems within this field of service provision. The advocates also discussed the difficulties they experience within their own jobs and further research is suggested to address this issue.