We thank the participants whose interviews underpinned this work and the two anonymous reviewers for their very valuable comments that improved this paper. FUNDING This article was undertaken with financial support from a Criminal Justice Board in England whose name has been withheld at our discretion to maintain anonymity.

This article, based on research conducted in Glasgow, Scotland, analyses the complex process of desistance from youth gangs. The discussion is multifaceted focusing on the agency of the young people themselves as well as on how relationships within their local community can have a role in replacing their previous identification as gang members. It explores what is meant by a youth gang, why some young people stop identifying with the youth gang and argues that the local community and broader society have a role in providing social recognition and identity-enhancement opportunities for these young people.

Participation in educational and social research helps to develop understanding of how young people learn and to consider wider aspects of their lives to enable their voices to be heard and acted upon. Research also facilitates the articulation and sharing of methodologies across a range of professional practices. We assert that theory and practice in educational youth work offers a position of strength from which to undertake research. In making this assertion, we suggest cross-disciplinarity between youth work and research practices in order to build research mindedness among youth workers who, through this nexus, are well-placed to engage in practice based research. Drawing on discourses about young people, youth work and youth participation, we identify five elements of youth work practice that can be aligned with research processes: reflexivity; positionality and bias; insider cultural competence; rapport and trust; power relationships. The article examines how these elements are present in youth work and a range of research settings. We identify youth work methods and dispositions as enhancing research capacity which could also be useful in building participatory research methods in disciplinary areas beyond education. Yet, in making these connections, we also identify a range of factors that show this nexus as complex and contestable. Reflecting on the lessons learned from our experiences as youth work practitioners and academic researchers, we propose that finding nexus, which in this instance is between youth work and research paradigms, could inform educational research practices and contributes to developing a meaningful praxis.(1) The research places central importance on the lives and experiences of groups that have traditionally been marginalised.(2) The research analyses how and why inequalities exist and are reflected in asymmetric power relationships.(3) The research examines how the results of social enquiry on equality are linked to political and social action.(4) The research uses transformative theories to develop the research approach and to develop a theoretical framework (adapted from Mertens, 2005, p. 23).These four characteristics are important in: focusing on young people as a marginalised social group; analysing the power relationships inherent in research settings; generating findings that may be used to inspire or underpin political social action using transformative theories to develop research projects. These characteristics are also consistent with educational youth work that actively seeks to: engage the most excluded; tip the balance of power in their favour; build on peer relationships as a means of taking social and political action to change the world; and, engage in transformative education (see, for example

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Riverside Women's Aid offers a specialised youth service for young people who have experienced or been affected by domestic abuse in one town in Scotland. This article discusses findings from a research evaluation that examined the advantages of participating in this service. The experiences of young people and youth workers involved showed a commitment to youth work values and methods that contributed to support and helped reduce feelings of isolation. The findings suggested that one-to-one support and group work sessions brought benefits in establishing empathy and generating positive experiences. This helped the young people to better understand domestic abuse and to feel safe and confident about working through their feelings and making new friends. Analysis also suggested that young people valued the services provided by qualified and experienced Women's Aid youth workers, which they perceived as different from other youth work services. The arguments for this kind of specialist service were compelling, yet analysis highlighted a need for caution in order to avoid creating dependency. There were also calls for improved communication and understanding among partner agencies involved in work with young people. Keywords: domestic abuse, young people, specialist youth work, understanding of domestic abuse, tangible coping strategies or feeling safer and/or more supported. What is domestic abuse and what impact does it have on children and young people?An examination of literature established the definition of domestic abuse that was applied in this study. It also identified impacts of domestic abuse among children and young people and introduced policy contexts that underpinned service development.

We examined perspectives of social workers, police officers and specialist domestic abuse practitioners about their perceived ability and organisational readiness to respond effectively to incidents of coercive and controlling behaviour. Interviews revealed intervention and risk assessment strategies structured around an outdated, maladaptive concept of domestic abuse as an unambiguous and violent event and frontline services that lacked appreciation of the power dynamics inherent in controlling relationships. The analysis demonstrates how lack of definitional clarity around non-physical domestic abuse can increase the use of discretion by frontline services and, by extension, increase the discounting of coercive control by pressured frontline officers.

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