Responses to domestic violence often focus on short term risk reduction, failing to address the many medium and longer term challenges facing victim-survivors.
Community-based research by the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU) at London Met has exposed the limitations of such approaches, changing understanding and providing a route to craft new interventions that are needs rather than risk based.
The work of Prof. Liz Kelly, Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs and Prof. Renate Klein at CWASU demonstrates the significance of coercive control, including through economic abuse in constraining the capacity of victim-survivors to rebuild their lives.
This research led to legislative change: the term ‘economic abuse’ is defined in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, drawing on Dr Sharp-Jeffs’ academic definition. CWASU’s work has also led to policy change in the UK banking and finance sectors and the Greater London Authority social housing allocation.
CWASU has provided a new model for intervention in domestic violence, informing the crucial work of a number of organisations including Women’s Aid England, Welsh Women’s Aid and Standing Together. The independent award-winning charity Surviving Economic Abuse was established in 2017 as a direct outcome of research at London Met.
Building on decades of expertise, research at CWASU continues to benefit survivors of domestic and economic abuse.
