Beaten Into Submissiveness? An Investigation Into the Protective Strategies Used by Survivors of Domestic Abuse

Abstract

The aim of the study was to identify the prevalence and perceived helpfulness of a variety of protective strategies that were used by female survivors of domestic abuse and to explore factors that may have influenced strategy usage. Forty participants were recruited from a voluntary sector domestic abuse service, commissioned by an outer London local authority in the United Kingdom, in early 2014. The measurement tools used were the Intimate Partner Violence Strategies Index (IPVSI) and the Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (CAADA) Domestic Abuse, Stalking and "Honour"-Based Violence (DASH) Risk Assessment Checklist. The average age was 33 years ( SD = 7.9, range = 20-57); half reported to be of Asian ethnicity, 37.5% White, and 12.5% Black or Mixed ethnicity. The average DASH score was 9.8 ( SD = 13.2, range = 0-18), and an average of 18 ( SD = 6.7, range = 1-29) protective strategies were utilized by each participant. All of the most commonly used strategies were from the placating category. Although safety planning strategies were rated as the most helpful by all participants, placating strategies were also rated as helpful by two thirds of participants. Stepwise multiple regression showed that placating was the only significant predictor of DASH score (β = .375, p < .05) and accounted for 14% of the variance of DASH score. Findings showed that women utilized a diverse range of protective strategies with placating strategies being most intensely used and rated as helpful. However, placating strategy usage could be a risk factor as opposed to a protective factor. This study has also demonstrated that greater placating strategies were used by White than South Asian women, and women who were employed used more formal strategies. This research has extended the knowledge base of protective strategies that professionals can draw from to underpin decisions and interventions when working with domestic abuse survivors.

Police employees' violence risk assessments: The predictive validity of the B-SAFER and the significance of protective actions

“…staying with friends/family). In a recent study by Irving and Liu (2016), female IPV victims were reported to use many different strategies to protect themselves from future IPV. Placating strategies were used the most and were considered helpful by many of the victims.…”

Domestic abuse among female doctors: thematic analysis of qualitative interviews in the UK

“…Using constant comparison 16 , transcripts were compared within and between each other, aiding the iterative search for themes which were then reviewed, defined and named. As well as using this inductive and iterative approach, the analysis was rooted in a theoretical framework derived from the literature on the female experience of DA 2,3,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] , DA among females from higher socioeconomic groups 25 and literature regarding necessity of specialised services for doctors with mental health problems [26][27][28][29] . Disconfirming cases were sought to further develop the analysis.…”

Everyday peace as a theory to explain victims’ peacemaking actions in intimate partner violence situations

“…With regards to IPV, this suggests everyday peace could provide a framework to understand the behaviours and agency of women who choose to stay in abusive relationships (or who are navigating post-separation relationships), and through understanding, point to ways to support them beneath the macro policy approaches of government and formalised programs typically provided in the family violence space. Additionally, practices of everyday peace could be presented as a soft-entry point for people unwilling to engage with traditional family violence supports, as it works with people at the stage they are at rather than pushing them to make significant decisions which they may be unready or unable to enact-particularly noting the complexity and heightened risk level associated with terminating a violent relationship (Irving & Chi-pun Liu, 2020;Fisher & Stylianou, 2019). In doing this, everyday peace accepts women as they are and respects the agency with which they live their lives.…”

“…Practices identified in the everyday peace literature best correlate with what are termed placating strategies in the family violence literature. IPV research suggests these comprise over 80 percent of the strategies adopted by women addressing violence (Irving & Chi-pun Liu, 2020).…”