Promoting cultures of respect and non-violence
A growing field of research at ARCSHS focuses on violence prevention among a range of disadvantaged groups. Preventing violence against women is a particular focus and is also a priority area for funding bodies such as VicHealth and the Australian Research Council, and along with industry sources, this research program has had considerable success attracting funding for projects. Violence against women is a major public health concern, it is a leading contributor to death, disability and illness in Australian women aged 15 to 44 years, and is responsible for more of the burden of disease than other risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure. Associated with violence against women or gender-based violence are forms of violence based on sexual and gender identity. Associations have been found between an environment in which ‘group disrespect’ (the presence of rude and aggressive behaviour, pornography consumption, sexualised discussion, and encouragement of group drinking) is found at individual and group levels, and cultures that support violence against women, gays, lesbians, and transgender people. Accordingly, research and evaluation projects in this field of research at ARCSHS have focused on sport, education and community-based settings and take an asset-based approach to build a body of evidence for effective prevention programs.
Sue Dyson discusses culture change research in sports: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF0CCRo3H7M
The Primary Prevention of the Sexual Assault of Older Women
Catherine Barrett, Rosemary Mann (The McCaughey Centre), Jean Tinney (The National Ageing Research Institute) and Philomena Horsley (Centre for Women's Health, Gender and Society). This project is also a collaboration with the Council on the Ageing Victoria and the Alzheimer's Australia Consumer Dementia Research Network.
This project was funded by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs in November 2011. The three year study, the first of its kind nationally, aims to strengthen the community’s ability to prevent, respond to and speak out about the sexual assault of older women in aged care services and the broader community. The project will begin by developing an evidence base on the underlying causes of sexual assault and then develop a framework and resource for primary prevention. A key component of the project is engaging and working with the community, including the aged care sector.
Building Equal and Respectful Relationships Between Men and Women at Work: Evaluation
Gillian Fletcher and Sue Dyson
2011 saw VicHealth award a three year tender to ARCSHS for a collaborative evaluation of an innovative new pilot project, which aims to better understand how to build equal and respectful relationships between men and women and to promote gender equality in the workplace, drawing on an organisational and systems approach. Building Equal and Respectful Relationships Between Men and Women at Work forms part of a broader VicHealth program; the Creating Healthy Workplaces Program aims to build a body of evidence about designing and delivering interventions that effectively promote health in and through the workplace. ARCSHS will be undertaking a collaborative evaluation, in which the lead evaluator is embedded within the project and contributes to ongoing learning within the project cycle, rather than at the end of the project.
Beyond the Glass Box of Silence and Invisibility: Examining Inclusion and Participation Programs from a GLBT Perspective
Gillian Fletcher and Sue Dyson
ARCSHS researchers Dr Gillian Fletcher and Dr Sue Dyson received one of just five VicHealth Innovation grants announced by the State Government in late 2011. The grant, for $200,000 over two years, will fund research into whether approaches and implementation processes within current safe sports participation and inclusion culture change projects in Victoria enable, or constrain, the participation and inclusion of GLBT people in mainstream sporting settings. The two year project will include use of innovative online methods to create discussion communities among GLBT, and non-GLBT, sports people from across Victoria, and will result in development of practical, evidence-based, principles for effective promotion of greater inclusion of GLBT people in sport in Victoria.
Fair Go, Sport! Collaborative Evaluation
Gillian Fletcher and Sue Dyson
The Fair go, sport! project, implemented in 2011 by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) in partnership with Hockey Victoria and Hockey Australia, aimed to “increase awareness of sexual and gender diversity in hockey and promote safe and inclusive environments, and develop a flexible model of engagement that can be adapted for other sporting codes and their governing bodies” (VEOHRC, 2010a). The project resulted in notable achievements at pilot club, State Sporting Association and National Sporting Organisation levels, as well as having an impact beyond the bounds of hockey. ARCSHS’ collaborative evaluation of the project (in which an evaluator was embedded in the project, asking questions and providing feedback to facilitate learning throughout the project, rather than simply at the end) was acknowledged by project partners as having played an integral role in that success. Project Officer Peter Gourlay commented: “The big difference between this model and other, standard [evaluation] models is that we didn’t want “what happened and was it successful”, we wanted “what could happen, why, and how”. We were always interested in the why and how."
Evaluation of AFL Victoria’s Fair Game Respect Matters Project
Sue Dyson and Jo Grzelinska
The Fair Game Respect Matters (FGRM) program is funded by VicHealth and its goal is to prevent violence against women and girls through changing cultures of disrespect. The program is being piloted by AFL Victoria because team sports have been associated with cultures that are sometimes disrespectful towards women. 2011 was the fourth year of the FGRM program evaluation, which will continue until April 2014. Reports and valuation information can be found at www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs/publications.
Fair Game Respect Matters: Research with Women in Country Football Clubs
Sue Dyson, Jo Grzelinska and Carmel Hobbs
This six month research project was funded by VicHealth to inform the introduction of the FGRM program in a country football league for the first time. Focus groups were held with women from country Victoria football clubs, and key informant interviews were also conducted with stakeholders in the Ballarat area, where the program will be introduced in 2012. The report was delivered at the end of 2011 and makes recommendations about the way forward for the program in 2012.
Taking a Stand: A Case Study of the Respect and Responsibility Program in the AFL 2005-2011
Sue Dyson, Julienne Corboz, Moira Carmody (University of Western Sydney) and Michael Flood (University of Wollongong)
Taking a Stand is an ARC Linkage project, with partnerships between ARCSHS and the AFL. VicHealth has also contributed funding for the project. In July 2010, the project will investigate the inception, implementation and establishment of the AFL’s Respect and Responsibility program. It will focus on players who have been exposed to the Respect and Responsibility training since 2005, and on key informants from within the AFL who have been instrumental in the program. Data collection will commence early in 2011. An APAI PhD scholarship is associated with the project and Ms Alissar El-murr has been appointed to this position, commencing in 2011.
‘Breaking the Silence’ Evaluation
Sue Dyson, Catherine Barrett and Maria Platt
This project evaluated the first year of training for school principals in the Sydney Department of Education Region. The evaluation report made a number of recommendations for future work in schools and research. Notably, these include confidence building and resources for school principals concerning how to introduce issues of violence against women to staff members in their schools and with staff members as they work with children to introduce culture change. Furthermore, the evaluation suggested work be done to develop strategies for engaging parent and community networks to understand and support primary prevention messages. The report is available from www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs/publications.
Living Safer Sexual Lives: Respectful Relationships
Patsie Frawley and Amie O’Shea
This Commonwealth Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs funded program ended in July 2011. Living Safer Sexual Lives was a community development intervention and action research project based on the fact that people with an intellectual disability are at risk of sexual abuse and exploitation. The project worked with a team of peer educators in five sites in Victoria and Tasmania to develop a Respectful Relationships education program for people with an intellectual disability using the Living Safer Sexual Lives model.
Living Safer Sexual Lives Evaluation
Sue Dyson, Catherine Barrett and Maria Platt
The program evaluation, which identified key learnings from the program, also finished in 2011. The evaluation focused on the processes involved in engaging communities and on the outcomes of the program for workers who have participated in the community reference groups established to drive the program. The combined program and evaluation report will be available early in 2012 from www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs/publications.
The Tensions for Parents, Educators and Children in Building Respectful Relationships Early in Life
Sue Dyson, Marisa Monagle, Moira Carmody (University of Western Sydney) and Kerry Robinson (University of Western Sydney)
This three year ARC Discovery project commenced early in 2011 in partnership with the University of Western Sydney. It is investigating how parents, educators and children aged between 5 and 11 years develop the knowledge and skills necessary to build respectful relationships. Interviews and focus groups have been conducted in rural and metro centres in NSW and Victoria and will continue during 2012. An online survey is also seeking parent’s input.
Evaluation of the Healthy Sporting Environments Program
Sue Dyson, Russel Hoye, Matthew Nicholson and Emma Sherry (Faculty of Law and Management, Research Centre for Sport and Social Impact, La Trobe University)
This project is evaluating a three year VicHealth funded program in the Geelong region of Victoria. Around 80 sporting clubs are being supported by Leisure Networks to introduce cultural changes to a range of health related issues, including cultures of disrespect. The research component is monitoring the process and outcomes of the interventions in participating clubs between 2010 and 2012.
Healthy Workplaces – Preventing Violence Against Women Evaluation
Gillian Fletcher and Sue Dyson
This three year program evaluation will work alongside a large organisation funded by VicHealth to introduce strategies to prevent violence against women in the workplace. The intervention will commence early in 2012, and we will use a constructivist approach to the evaluation in partnership with the selected workplace.
9 May 2012