Web resource:	https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/227266.pdf
Type:	Report
Title:	Study of the effects of intimate partner violence on the workplace
Authors:	Reeves, Carol A O'Leary-Kelly, Anne M
Keywords:	Workplaces;Measurement
Year:	2009
Publisher:	National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Rockville
Notes:	General Overview:Reporting on a large scale study of three companies across the United States, this document examines the effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on the workplace and the impacts of co-worker and organisational responses on victims’ wellbeing. Objective: This US based research sought to better understand how domestic violence impacts on the workplace. The research follows a number of smaller studies, which indicate that IPV has significant effects on the workplace and is an issue that requires the active engagement of employers. Methods: Phase one of the research examined the prevalence and impact of IPV on 2400 workers employed in three companies (from the health, transport and education industries) across thirty-nine states. It further examined the impacts and costs of IPV for the organisations involved. Phase two of the research, involving 2000 respondents from the same companies, investigated the types and positive effects of social support provided to IPV victims in the workplace, how and when such support is provided and when and to whom victims are most likely to report abuse at work. Data for each phase were collected via web-based surveys, which utilised extensive ‘skip patterns’, allowing researchers to direct respondents to question streams, based on their experiences as ‘current’ or ‘lifetime’ victims of IPV or as victims’ co-workers or superiors. The reliability of the measures used in the study was found to be high. Discussion: The study found that the incidence of IPV reported by employees was high amongst both men and women and that a large number of incidents actually occur in the workplace. While experience of IPV was found to impact negatively on victims’ personal and professional wellbeing, the impacts were different for people who reported currently experiencing IPV compared to those who reported having experienced abuse in the past. Results from phase one also indicate that experience of IPV impacts negatively on employee work outcomes and, therefore, has associated costs for employees. Again, the negative impacts reported by current, compared with lifetime victims of IPV, differed. Results from phase two of the research suggest that organisational responses to IPV have a greater impact on employee well-being and hopefulness than support provided by co-workers but that victims tended to disclose abuse to immediate colleagues, rather than to superiors. The support victims received from co-workers, usually in the form of advice and information giving, had less positive impact than organisational support. Further, co-workers were found to be, at best, ‘sympathetic but reluctant observers’ to IPV, usually responding when confronted with the abuse first-hand. The research found that while victims reported low levels of disclosure to either colleagues or superiors, disclosure usually had positive rather than negative effects. Finally, the level of organisational support offered to IPV victims and victims’ sense of economic self-sufficiency were both found to have a positive impact on their sense of hopefulness. The authors conclude that IPV is a significant issue in the workplace and comprises an area that warrants further research. In addition, given the negative impacts of IPV on both employees and employers, IPV in the workplace is an issue that requires concerted and appropriate organisational responses. Such responses include supporting and accommodating victims as well as developing policies, procedures and training for victims’ co-workers regarding how to respond to and report disclosures of abuse. Finally, the authors also highlight the importance of their findings in relation to the positive relationships between victim disclosure of abuse in the workplace and victims’ sense of economic self-sufficiency with their sense of hopefulness and wellbeing.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/18972
Physical description:	121 p.
Appears in Collections:	Reports

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