Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/22525
Record ID: cdc758ff-332a-41e9-b587-890ee6768d9f
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.589
Type: Journal Article
Title: Content analysis of responses to The Line, an Australian primary prevention of violence against women campaign on Facebook
Authors: Molnar, Lena
Hendry, Natalie Ann
Topic: Primary prevention
Children and young people
Data and statistics
Population: LGBTQ communities
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Culturally and linguistically diverse communities
Children and young people
Rural and remote communities
Categories: Prevention
ANROWS Completed Register of Active Research projects
Year: 2022
Publisher: Wiley Online Library
Abstract:  Abstract
Issue addressed
Primary prevention of violence against women (PVAW) strategies and campaigns aim to address and challenge violence-supportive behaviour and normative social structures to intervene before violence happens. Towards this aim, from 2014 to 2019, The Line was a public Australian Commonwealth-supported PVAW campaign on social media that targeted young people. This study explores how young people discussed PVAW-related themes on the campaign's Facebook page.

Methods
Social media scraping tools were used to collect 346 941 comments on The Line's Facebook page from 2014 to 2017. In this study, 3663 comments included three high frequency, PVAW-related key terms, ‘violence’ (1430 comments), ‘gender’ (1602 comments) and ‘consent’ (631 comments). These were identified and were thematically coded.

Results
Young people's comments indicated high support for violence prevention but varied in how they understood gendered violence and factors that contribute to it, and instead, some argued that the campaign should not ignore men. Some young people who engaged with The Line on a long-term basis and spoke to its aims, proposed interpretations from their experiences, and challenged the campaign to progress.

Conclusions
This study demonstrates that young people influence each other by adopting and disrupting PVAW knowledge in a publicly funded social media campaign.

So what?
Public PVAW social media campaigns can encourage young people to discuss gendered violence online. However, successful campaigns need ongoing support to develop conversations with target populations that allow diverse audiences to build their knowledge.
Notes: 

The research has concluded and the output has been added to the ANROWS library. Please visit https://www.anrows.org.au/register-of-active-research/ for more information on the RAR.

BACKGROUND

While forming the important parts of identity and relationships, young people in Australian are digitally embedded in their social practices, with the eSafety Commission reporting in 2018 that 76 percent stay in touch with loved ones through social media. Indeed, young people are not alone in seeking peer advice and support online about how to prevent violence in their relationships. However, despite recommendations from the fields of feminist criminology, young people's engagement with social technology for primary prevention has yet to be given voice. The current research speaks in parallel with these concerns as they reflect the efforts practised by young people in Australia who use social technology as part of their practices of primary prevention.

AIM

Broadly, this doctoral thesis seeks to examine the nature of young people’s engagement with primary prevention of violence against women (PPVAW) content through social technologies.

METHODS

Stage 1 is a systematic social media content analysis of a digital PPVAW campaign targeted towards young Australians aged between 12 and 21 called “The Line”. This stage involved a systematic content analysis of discussions to identify how participants of this digital environment over the period 2014 to 2017 used PPVAW language online.

Stage 2 of the research design involves a series of focus group discussions with young people who interact with PPVAW campaigns and programs with local service providers and social technology. Young people who participate in these focus groups contribute campaign content that they have used or created to share PPVAW knowledge.

SIGNIFICANCE

Currently, PPVAW literature features a number and depth of evaluations of training tools and education programs in schools and university settings as these cohorts are easily accessible; however, these evaluations rarely feature qualitative reflections of the participants. Their recommendations for further research and environments for PPVAW practice encourage the exploration of young people's use of social technologies. Similarly, a significant amount of research from feminist media studies has been able to describe a rich use of social technologies by young people for political activism, empowerment and violence prevention.

 

FUNDING BODY


RMIT Global Urban and Social Sciences/Our Watch Industry Partnership


PROJECT START DATE


September 2017


EXPECTED COMPLETION DATE


November 2021

URI: https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/22525
Appears in Collections:Journal Articles

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