Journal of Gender-Based Violence

Alex Walker, Rachel A. Fenton, Bryony Parry, Emma R. Barton, Lara C. Snowdon, Catherine Donovan, Mark A. Bellis, and Karen Hughes

Click here to access the article

Globally, professionals voiced concern over the COVID-19 restrictions exacerbating conditions for domestic violence and abuse to occur. Yet evidence suggests this also increased opportunities for bystanders to become aware of domestic violence and abuse and take action against it. This article seeks to understand the experiences of bystanders to domestic violence and abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales. The article reports on a study conducted in Wales during a national lockdown in 2021, which reports on the experiences of 186 bystanders to domestic violence and abuse during the pandemic.

Journal of Community Safety and Wellbeing

Alex Walker, Emma R. Barton, Bryony Parry and Lara C. Snowdon

Click here to access the article

This article compares the impact of Phase One and Phase Two of the #SafeToSay. Both phases received a process and outcomes evaluation using social media and website analytics, and a public perception survey. The surveys showed that members of the public felt that #SafeToSay had drawn people’s attention to an important issue and had provided them with some of the information and skills needed to take prosocial bystander action against sexual harassment. However, men had particularly negative responses to some of the social media advertisements in Phase Two. Possible explanations for this have been explored in the article.

Journal of Community Safety and Wellbeing

Emma R. Barton, Lara C. Snowdon, Bryony Parry and Alex Walker

Click here to access the article

This social innovation narrative sets out how the Wales Violence Prevention Unit and Peer Action Collective Cymru coproduced a strategic multi-agency framework for the prevention of violence among children and young people in Wales. The first of its kind to be developed in the United Kingdom, this national framework acts as a guide to strategic action on violence prevention, amplifying the voices of CYP, and providing evidence of “what works.”

Journal of Community Safety and Wellbeing

Samia Addis and Lara Snowdon

Click here to access the article

This review identifies effective practice for the prevention of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence (VAWDASV). The review is underpinned by public health principles which provide a useful framework to understand the causes and consequences of violence as well as prevention. The findings reveal a wealth of literature relating to the prevention of VAWDASV. However, gaps in research were identified in relation to the prevention of trafficking, violence against women, domestic abuse, sexual violence among older age groups, and so-called honour-based abuse other than female genital mutilation.

Journal of Community Safety and Wellbeing

Lara C. Snowdon, Emma R. Barton, Annemarie Newbury, Bryony Parry, Mark A. Bellis and Joanne C. Hopkins

Click here to access the article

This social innovation narrative explores how a public health approach to violence prevention is implemented in Wales during the COVID-19 pandemic by the multi-agency Wales Violence Prevention Unit. The article highlights early trends in monitoring data on the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on violence, including likely increases in domestic and sexual violence and abuse, concerns over the safety of children and young people, both online and in the home, and increased reporting of elder abuse. The article supports the notion of a shadow pandemic, emphasizing the lack of data that routinely measures violence in the home and online that disproportionately affects women, children, and older people, as well as vulnerable and minority populations.