SYNOPSIS:According to the World Health Organisation, family violence affects one in four adult women in their lifetime and research shows this has an annual incidence of 8%. There is growing evidence of the health effects caused by family violence ranging from fatal (homicide, suicide, maternal mortality) to non-fatal (physical health, mental health, chronic conditions, reproductive health issues, and negative health behaviours). Negative impacts of family violence on children are wide ranging and profound.

Today’s Grand Round will explore these impacts and appropriate responses to family violence in a paediatric context.

SPEAKER:Professor Cathy Humphreys holds the Alfred Felton Chair in Child and Family Welfare, a chair which is now supported through the Sector Research Partnership, a collaboration with the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare and a consortium of 14 Victorian community sector organisations which are driving research in the children, youth and families area. Her research in the domestic violence area includes projects on: substance use; mental health; child abuse; multiagency working and reform. A three year action research project, Talking To My Mum developed activity books to strengthen the mother-child relationship. More recently research projects have focused on the domestic violence policy reform in Victoria, Australia; and a the development of differential pathways to services for children living with family violence.  Engaging men who use violence in relation to their fathering is a new ARC program of research. She has published more than 65 refereed journal articles including a recently published book with Lesley Laing and Kate Cavanagh: Domestic Violence and Social Work, Critical and Reflective Practice, Sage, London, 2013.