Our Research

Current Projects

Project Thumbnail

Whole of family approaches for addressing family violence: An Aboriginal lens on the Safe & Together Framework

This project is exploring whole of family approaches to addressing family violence when there are intersecting issues of alcohol and other drug use, mental health and child protection. The Project will explore Aboriginal expertise on holistic approaches to this work whilst at the same time ...
DICE 'ROLE': Disrupting Child Sexual Exploitation – Researching Onset of Young People’s Lived Experience with Coerced ‘Self-produced’ Material

DICE ‘ROLE’: Disrupting Child Sexual Exploitation – Researching Onset of Young People’s Lived Experience with Coerced ‘Self-produced’ Material

This project focuses on how children and young people are being coerced to ‘self-produce’ Child Exploitation Material (CEM). This qualitative study will utilise an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to hear from children, young people and relevant professionals so they can identity the various pathways leading children ...
Project Thumbnail

BPD Community Relational Support

Abstract: This project aimed to explore relational support as an area of learning and intervention contributing to more positive relationships, recovery, and wellbeing for people with lived experience of BPD. This study focused on family, friends and carers of someone with BPD as a priority ...
The SHEBA project, Safe at Home, Experiences, Barriers and Access

The SHEBA project, Safe at Home, Experiences, Barriers and Access

Abstract: The SHEBA project (Safe at Home, Experiences, Barriers and Access) draws on a strong partnership between researchers (University of Melbourne and University of NSW), Victorian Community Sector organisations providing family violence services (McAuley, Good Shepherd Australia and New Zealand, In-Touch, Centre of Non-Violence) and ...
Project Thumbnail

Stop It Now!

Abstract: Stop It Now! is an early intervention program that operates in North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the Netherlands, and has also previously operated on a small scale in Queensland, Australia. The central aim of the Stop It Now! service is to ...
Power to Kids: Process & Outcomes Evaluation

Power to Kids: Process & Outcomes Evaluation

Abstract: The Power to Kids program seeks to strengthen prevention and early intervention efforts in response to sexual exploitation, harmful sexual behavior and dating violence in residential care. This is achieved through: upskilling carers about sexual health and safety knowledge; building carers capabilities to prevent, ...
KODY: Researching an all-of-family program in family violence & substance misuse

KODY: Researching an all-of-family program in family violence & substance misuse

The KODY research project (Kids First (Caring Dads) and Odyssey House Victoria (Kids in Focus) surrounds the innovative KODY intervention which aims to address the combined impact of harmful behaviours, drugs and alcohol on family relationships. The KODY program takes an all-of-family approach incorporating a ...
The DAHLIA-19 Project: Domestic Abuse Harnessing Learning Internationally under COVID-19

The DAHLIA-19 Project: Domestic Abuse Harnessing Learning Internationally under COVID-19

DAHLIA-19 is examining policy and practice responses in 4 upper or upper/middle income countries with established DA services where different strategies have been introduced. In each country, a team of academic researchers works with major partner organisations to ensure that the study can draw on ...
ESTIE: The Evidence to Support Safe and Together Implementation and Evaluation Project

ESTIE: The Evidence to Support Safe and Together Implementation and Evaluation Project

ESTIE is an action research study that is simultaneously investigating and developing practitioner and organisational capacity to drive improvements in collaborative and holistic service provision for children and families living with DFV where parental issues of mental health and/or alcohol and other drug use co-occur ...
Project Thumbnail

Intersection of animal and domestic and family violence

Perpetrators of family violence often threaten to abuse or harm family pets and animals as a way to exert control. This project is focused on building the evidence-base around connections between domestic violence and harm to animals. Our work includes contributing to the evidence through ...
RSS Logo

Respecting Sexual Safety in out-of-home care: An action research project

The Respecting Sexual Safety action research project aims to co-design and implement prevention strategies targeting harmful sexual behaviour, child sexual exploitation and dating violence for children and young people living in out-of-home care. Three prevention strategies are being trialled and evaluated in four residential houses ...
Thumbnail for MAEVe

Safe And heard about Risk And safety – the SARA project

The aim of the SARA project is to explore how children experiencing domestic and family violence (DFV) can act as consultants to research projects and how they wish to be talked to by professionals about risk and safety. The study has two objectives: (i) develop ...
Thumbnail for MAEVe

MAEVe: Melbourne research Alliance to End Violence Against Women

The Alliance involves a collaboration with GP Practice and Primary Care with Professor Cathy Humphreys from Social Work and Professor Kelsey Hegarty from General Practice as co-leads. It strives to make a difference to the lives of women and children affected by abuse and violence ...
Project Thumbnail

Worried About Sex And Pornography Project – WASAPP

The aim of the WASAPP project is to synthesise current evidence and generate new evidence about secondary prevention of harmful sexual behaviour, and to apply that evidence to the co-design of a Stop it Now! service or online website response to young people worried about ...
Logo For Positive Shift Project

Women who use force – Evaluation of Positive Shift

While the dominant pattern of domestic and family violence (DFV) is male violence perpetrated against women, there are some women who use force against adult members of their families. The majority of these women are themselves victims/survivors of DFV. At times women are wrongly identified ...
Thumbnail for kNOwVAWdata

kNOwVAWdata: Measuring Violence against Women in the Asia Pacific

Reliable, comparable data on violence against women are essential to prevention and response efforts, however technical capacity to collect data about violence against women safely and accurately is limited. In light of this, UNFPA in partnership with the University of Melbourne, ANROWS, and Australian Department ...
Project Thumbnail

Keeping Safe Together: Working with families who have experienced family violence – Evaluation project

Keeping Safe Together (KST) program offers a whole of family case management approach for families who have been impacted by family violence and want to stay together. Program staff work with mothers, fathers and children individually through both accountability and therapeutic lenses. The evaluation aims ...

PhD Projects

Project Thumbnail

A systemic approach to advancing cross-sector collaboration between family violence and substance use service

This PhD project is an action research study that investigates systemic ways to improve cross-sector collaboration between substance use and family violence services. This project is nested within the KODY research. Researchers: Van Callaly, Cathy Humphreys, Margaret Kertesz, Jennifer Davidson, Anne-Marie Laslett Project Dates: 2021-2024 ...
DICE: Disrupting child sexual exploitation

DICE: Disrupting child sexual exploitation

Abstract: The DICE project builds upon the work of Power to Kids as well as other multiagency initiatives such as the work of the Victorian Office of Professional Practice (Enhanced Response Model and Sexual Exploitation Protocol), to address the need for further development of a ...
Project Thumbnail

“It happens to clinicians too”: An Australian prevalence and impacts study of domestic and family violence against health professionals

This PhD project is investigating the prevalence of domestic and family violence (DFV) in the lives of health professionals, and the impact of DFV on clinical work with survivor women patients. Researchers: Ms Elizabeth McLindon, Professor Cathy Humphrey and Professor Kelsey Hegarty Funders: The Sidney ...
Project Thumbnail

The socio-cultural factors of adult family homicide

The research examines the socio-cultural factors of adult familial homicide in Victoria. The project aims to examine the role that socio-cultural factors can play for both the deceased and the offender and within intimate partner and other (non-intimate) family relationships. It is intended that the ...
Logo for Fathering Challenges

Investigating a model of reparation among university students and domestic violence perpetrators: understanding the psychological underpinnings

Understanding the psychological process of reparation and self-forgiveness has been an area of increased research interest over the last decade. Theoretical and empirical models have linked guilt, shame, self-oriented and other-oriented empathy, conciliatory behaviour and self-forgiveness together but there is a lack of clarity around ...
Project Thumbnail

Co-designing a decision-making tool to assist GPs and practice nurses in the decision to report child abuse

General practitioners (GPs) and practice nurses (PNs) are mandated to report suspicion of child maltreatment in Australia. However, the decision to report child maltreatment is emotionally difficult for GPs and practice nurses. My project aims to co-design a decision-making tool to improve decision-making involving mandatory ...
Project Thumbnail

Implementing a Novel Approach to Knowledge Translation with a Research Network – The Share Project

Despite ten years of growth in knowledge translation research there is still a gap between research findings and applying this knowledge in practice. Recently, there has also been a rapid expansion of domestic violence research, however there remains a lack of evaluation of their knowledge ...
Project Thumbnail

Cloaked in Strength – An exploration of Aboriginal mothers’ experiences of family violence and the role of cultural practice as a tool of engagement, resilience and resistance.

The Cloaked in Strength study aims to explore Aboriginal mothers’ experiences of family violence using possum skin cloak making as a tool of engagement, resilience and resistance. It is built upon the core premises of Indigenous research: relationality and accountability, place, reciprocity and reflexivity. The ...

Past Projects

Thumbnail for STACY

Safe and Together Addressing ComplexitY focusing on children – STACY for Children

STACY for Children (2019-20) involved two studies that investigated whether there was emerging evidence that the Safe & Together™ Model leads to better outcomes for children and families living with DFV and parental issues of alcohol and other drug misuse and/or mental health problems. Study ...
Thumbnail for STACY

STACY: Safe and Together Addressing ComplexitY

The STACY Project aims to investigate and develop practitioner and organisational capacity to work collaboratively across services providing interventions to children and families living with domestic and family violence (DFV) and where there are parental issues of mental health (MH) and alcohol and other drug ...
Thumbnail for Invisible Practices

Invisible Practices: working with fathers who use violence

Invisible Practices was an action research project that involved the domestic and family violence-informed Safe & Together™ Model that capacity built participating organisations in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and WA in working with fathers who use violence. A multi-disciplinary, interagency Community of Practice (CoP) was established ...
Thumbnail for Caring Dads

Caring Dads – Evaluation Project

Kids First (formerly Children’s Protection Society), in partnership with UnitingCare ReGen, Anglicare Victoria and IPC Health, are currently trialling and developing the Caring Dads program in Victoria, with a view to delivering the program across the state. In late 2016, our team was contracted to ...
Project Thumbnail

RCUS: Reaching Children through Universal Services – Evaluation Project

This project is an evaluation of the Reaching Children Through Universal Services (RCUS) project (one of 26 Family Violence Therapeutic Interventions demonstration projects funded by DHHS across Victoria). As RCUS is a newly implemented demonstration project, the aims of this evaluation are to document the ...
Project Thumbnail

CMIM: Children and Mothers in Mind – Evaluation Project

Children and Mothers in Mind (CMIM) is a group program for mothers and pre-school children who have experienced family violence in the past. Developed as Mothers in Mind by the Child Development Institute (CDI), Canada, the Children's Protection Society piloted Mothers in Mind in 2016-17 ...
Project Thumbnail

EVA: Evaluation, Violence, & Abuse – Building the Evidence

The EVA project is a 12-month evaluation capacity building initiative for family violence service providers in Australia. The project is a collaboration between Drummond Street Services and University of Melbourne to develop family violence specific evaluation resources, establish and develop a Community of Practice for ...
Thumbnail for PATRICIA Project

PATRICIA: PAThways and Research Into Collaborative Inter-Agency practice – Collaborative work across the child protection and specialist domestic and family violence interface

This project explored the relationship between statutory child protection and specialist domestic and family violence services in order to discern the elements that facilitate differential pathways and appropriate integrated service system support for the safety and well-being of women and children living with and separating.  ...
Project Thumbnail

Tilting Our Practice: A Theoretical Model for Family Violence in Child Protection Practice

This project developed a theoretical model to frame child protection practice where there are children living with family violence, in partial fulfillment of the Victorian Royal Commission recommendations for child protection workers. The integrative approach taken by the researchers builds on the foundations of The ...
Logo for Fathering Challenges

Fathering Challenges: Reparative, Responsive, Responsible fathering where there is domestic and family violence

This ARC Linkage project is aimed at improving the parenting experience of children whose fathers have used domestic and family violence (D/FV) and brings together: researchers from The University of Melbourne, University of South Australia and Curtin University; a consortium of 23 NGOs (see list ...
Logo for Fathering Challenges

Voices from young people living with fathers who use violence (a sub-project from Fathering Challenges)

The Young People’s Voices Project sought the perspectives of young people aged 9-21 years who have experienced family violence about what makes a good father, the impact of having a father who uses violence on his children as well as how/whether a father who uses ...