annotated bibliography of new zealand research into family violence

Abstract: This thesis presents a qualitative research project that explores children’ssubjective experiences of family violence and identifies any ameliorating factors that helpedchildren to cope. The research is placed within the context of the sociology of childhoodparadigm where children are viewed as social actors in their own right. The study involvedtwo small groups of children, aged between 5 and 12 years, who had lived with familyviolence. The study utilised a variety of methods, namely focus group discussions, one-ononeinterviews, sentence completion tasks, and children’s artwork. All of the children hadparticipated in and completed the 10-week Family Violence Education Programme, run bythe two Women’s Refuges in Dunedin. The results are presented in themes; however, the keytheme of violence is central to the lives of the children, and underpins many, if not all aspectsof their young lives. The study findings show that children are able to participate in researchon topics that are highly sensitive and personal, and the author highlights coping strategiesdeveloped and used by children living with violence. The research concludes withrecommendations for future research, as well as for policy development and professionalpractice in work with children living with family violence.Source: Author’s abstractO’Neill, D. (1997). Men against violence: A poststructuralist critique of the science and practice ofstopping men’s violence to women in an applied community setting. Unpublished doctoraldissertation, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.See: www.nzfvc.org.nz/13166.pubTopic Areas: Intimate partner abuse, Physical abuse, Women, Perpetrators/offenders,Cultural factors, Gender, Social services, Prevention/intervention/treatmentAbstract: This thesis explores and documents the science and process by which theManawatu Men Against Violence collective’s (MMAV) Stopping Violence programmeworks to stop men’s violence to their partners. It also describes some of the changes in anindividual that occur as a result of participation in the programme. The research employedthree data collection methods: participant observation, semi-structured interviewing, andliterature searching. Discourse analysis is the central research methodology, which unifiesand connects all three phases of the research project.A post-structuralist critique of the social science theoretical literature surrounding wife abuseforms the first part of the study. Five discourses were found to be operating in and informingthe field, between them affording a diverse array of theoretical accounts and interventionstrategies. The five discourses were: pathology (where men’s violence against their spouse isseen as ‘abnormal’ and understood as being ‘symptomatic’ of an underlying ‘pathology’);violence as an expression of inner tension; violence as an instrumental power strategy; wifeabuse as a consequence of the broader social system; and violence as a learned behaviour.The second phase of the study involved a participant observation strategy which exploredhow the MMAV works to stop men’s violence in the community. Observations concerningthe discursive content and structure to the programme were made. It was found that MMAVemployed four of the five discourses identified in the scientific literature and omitted one -‘pathology’. Implications of this discursive structure to the programme are discussed.The third phase of the study explored how the MMAV programme impacts upon participant’ssubjectivity. Semi-structured interviews prior to and following participation in a MMAVStopping Violence programme recorded narratives of the men as they accounted for theirviolence, the violence of others in the community, and described their intimate relationships.It was found a change had occurred as a consequence of their participation. The mendemonstrated an enhanced self and social awareness whilst exhibiting a greater sense of selfdetermination and control. The implications of such shifts and continuities are discussed and137