A community mobilisation program to prevent violence against women in metropolitan Melbourne: a qualitative evaluation of first year implementation

Abstract

Background <br/ >Gender-based violence (GBV) is disproportionately experienced by women and perpetrated by men. In Australia, one in three women have experienced physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse by an intimate partner since the age of 15 (Webster 2016). Primary prevention approaches such as community mobilisation (CM) prevent violence from occurring in the first place through program activities that mobilise communities to take action against the gendered drivers that underpin GBV (eg: men’s control of decision making and stereotypes constructions of masculinity and femininity). CM is a promising prevention approach (Ellsberg et al. 2015) and program workers have been identified as key catalysts to mobilising change (Louth, Mackay & Goodwin-Smith 2018; Nandi & Schneider 2014). However, little is known about the experiences of program workers or the implementation of CM approaches in metropolitan contexts in Australia.<br/ ><br/ > Methods <br/ >This qualitative evaluation explored the enablers and barriers to the supportive capacity of program workers who design and/or facilitate CM activities. Nine workers from the Taking Action in our Community (TAC) program in metropolitan Melbourne (Australia), were purposefully sampled to act as informants in this qualitative descriptive study. Semi-structured interviews with the informants were conducted and analysed using inductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke 2006).<br/ ><br/ > Results <br/ >Leveraging resources, making connections and feeling empowered were key themes that enabled program workers to support communities to take action. A perceived agenda, the one-off nature of the program and identifying impacts were key themes that posed barriers to program workers in their role supporting communities to take action against GBV.<br/ ><br/ >Conclusion <br/ >This is the first study of a CM program that prevents GBV against women in an Australian metropolitan context. It presents insights into the enablers and barriers to the supportive capacity of program workers who design and facilitate CM activities. These findings serve as lessons learned that may strengthen future implementation of CM programs in similar metropolitan contexts around Australia. Future qualitative inquiries should explore program impacts on community members and future quantitative studies should evaluate program diffusion and effectiveness of CM programs implemented in Australian metropolitan contexts.