Family violence and the health of mothers and children

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Intimate Partner violence is a major public health problem and a violation of human rights.  Worldwide almost one in three of children have experienced violence between their caregivers by the age of ten. While preventing and responding to violence requires a multi-sectoral approach, the healthcare sector has an important role to play. (World Health Organisation)

• Intimate partner violence is common in the general population – reported by one in three families
• Impacts for women commonly recognised but less focus on the impacts for their children
• A third to a half of children with poor outcomes at age 10 had been exposed to violence
• Child access to services is through family – few mothers had raised the violence they were experiencing with health professionals, including psychologists/counsellors.

“Strengthening the capacity of health professionals to recognize and respond to family violence and building stronger evidence for effective and timely interventions involving the health sector are critical priorities for safeguarding the health of future generations.”

Deirdre Gartland is a Senior Research Fellow at Intergenerational Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia. Deirdre's research interest is women and children’s health and resilience, with a particular focus on social adversity. Her research over the last 3 years has focused on the impact of intimate partner violence on maternal health and child outcomes, and building the evidence needed to better support families experiencing violence. She has recently published a measure of child resilience and is working with Aboriginal and refugee background communities to measure and describe child resilience.

The Judith Lumley Centre lunchtime seminars are free and open to all.  Held on the first Wednesday of every month from February to December. These seminars showcase the work of national and international academics/researchers.

Find out more about the School of Nursing and Midwifery and the Judith Lumley Centre