Centering Community Needs in Intimate Partner Violence Research

Research can often feel abstract and removed from on-the-ground work. This can leave students and community members alike wondering about the role of research in their daily lives. The Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) has been working to address this disconnect by supporting students to work directly with community partners on community-driven initiatives.

One such opportunity was taken by third year PhD student Laureen Owaga (PhD Advisor: Professor Paula Barata) for her Applied Social Psychology practicum. With the support of CESI’s Community Engaged Learning Manager, Lindsey Thomson and her practicum supervisor, Dicle Han, Laureen worked with the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto (ACT) as part of an ongoing research project around the effects of COVID-19 on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) survivors in the Toronto area.

Centering community needs was of utmost importance to Laureen, who had previously viewed research as "extractive relationships where researchers from different parts of the world will go to communities and study something […] and rarely give back or even report their findings back." During her studies at the University of Guelph, Laureen learned about community engagement, but this type of research had remained largely theoretical. Laureen's practicum with CESI and with Woman ACT gave her the chance to "do [community engaged research] in practice."

Dicle Han, Research and Policy Manager at Woman ACT, noted their love of working with CESI and students from the University of Guelph, because "[our organization] can actually get great results" in a shorter timeframe than what would normally be possible for nonprofits, who are often limited by the resources they have at their disposal.

Laureen's work focused mainly on knowledge mobilization, and she also reviewed the existing literature and personal narratives IPV survivors shared within the larger research project. Laureen was able to learn a new method of review, called a realist review, which provided what she termed a "holistic" understanding of systemic barriers faced due to the pandemic and centred the personal experiences of IPV survivors. The experience was invaluable, according to Laureen, because it helped her learn how to apply "soft skills" that she had been exposed to through her university program.

Part of Laureen's practicum also focused on making this research accessible to public audiences. For example, Dicle noted that because of ongoing work with CESI and the University of Guelph, Woman ACT was able to identify "five different issues" to look further into: legal issues; housing security; employment; sabotage; and economic security. Staying true to the principles guiding community engaged research, these issues, as well as other identified factors from Laureen's work, needed to be accessible to the public.

Laureen noted that her practicum and work with Woman ACT led to her own critical reflection on what "information will mean to the different audiences and the impact it might have" outside of academic conferences and papers. Instead, Laureen thought about ways in which the research could lead to both "changes, like policy changes" and also be shared with "survivors of sexual assault or people who are working in these areas."

The work that Woman ACT has been doing in partnership with the University of Guelph has wide implications for policy makers and members of the public interested in creating lasting change around Intimate Partner Violence. By working directly with community partners, students can identify and target key community needs of IPV survivors and tailor presentations to relevant audiences. For example, this research identified key areas of improvement for service providers working with IPV victims, including, but not limited to: increased funding and granting at the policy level, increased emergency and response funds, and further opportunities for capacity building. With the support of CESI, according to Dicle, Woman ACT was able to receive clear and transparent guidance on knowledge mobilization activities, in ways which allowed for further intervention and work to be done with IPV survivors.

These research opportunities, provided with the support of CESI, give students like Laureen the ability to "actually do community engaged research in practice." By bringing the community and emerging researchers together, practicums and other community engaged learning opportunities supported by CESI offer paths forward which increase critical collaboration between various stakeholders, and provides avenues of knowledge flow between and within diverse groups.