This assignment aims to critically analyse three primary research journal articles that were chosen to assist answering the research question: Does domestic violence/abuse have an influence on affecting a childs’ behaviour and future development?

Domestic Violence is an interest for my current academic development as well as future career of social work as I will be carrying many cases based around this as I discovered though my placement experiences. Through research I found, domestic abuse is currently a rising issue in the UK as statistics from the Home Office (2015) revealed that an estimated 1.1 million female victims have reportedly experienced domestic violence in the past year, this figure has now risen to 1.3 million female victims in the year 2017 and which is currently on the rise too. The reported statistics state the abuse can be sexual/physical, financial or emotional abuse (Home Office 2015). Crime Survey England and Wales (CSEW 2015) report that women are more likely than men to experience intimate violence.

Research is crucial factor of being able to make evidence based decisions in practice, primarily base on all the evidence presented infront of you to make a final decision. This also relates to being able to critically appraise literature by weighing up both advantages and disadvantages of methods, which is an important skill to acquire in practice (Sackett et al 1996). Critical appraisal is the method of carefully and systematically examining evidence such as research journals or articles to judge its credibility, relevance and significance in a particular context, in this case being domestic violence. It allows professionals to use research evidence reliably and efficiently to make decisions that are solely based on evidence (Aveyard and Sharp 2013).

To find the best research articles possible, I conducted a search strategy, which is presented in the form of search strategy table to record my findings, this shows the inclusions/exclusions in my searches on the different databases, this allowed me to identify what phrases could be altered to acquire different results.

My first search result was simple with the terms used, the search included phrases; “domestic abuse” and “effects of childs’ behaviour”. This search brought up a large number of unrelated materials as the figure in the last column of the table indicates, in order to narrow these results down to more relevant sources; I applied search filters for a second search shown in the second column, for this I used the same database; ProQuest. The filters used were more relevant to my research question, filters such as ‘child’, ‘youth’ and ‘violence’ were used to narrow down the results, as well as this, I decided I only wanted to analyse research papers that were conducted in the UK, therefore the filters were narrowed down to UK and English language. I also limited the search to only show peer reviewed articles as this will allow the authenticity to be more validity than if the journals were not peer reviewed (Aveyard 2014), the fact a journal has been ‘peer reviewed’ allows me to know it has been through the process of being checked by a group of research experts in the same field of subject to ensure it meets the necessary standards and its content is relevant before publishing as Sharp (2013) states.

From the search I found three research articles to help answer my research question, these journals are as follows; Keeping the focus on children: the challenges of safeguarding children affected by domestic abuse, Trotter et al (2015). Beyond the Physical Incident Model: How Children Living with Domestic Violence are Harmed By and Resist Regimes of Coercive Control, Katz (2016) and The mental health of children who witness domestic violence, Doos et al (2009). After reading the aims of each I found I had to disregard a previous article and re-visit the ProQuest database to conduct another search in order to find an article that was more appropriate in assisting to answer my research question, this is presented in the last column of my search strategy table.

To enable me to analyse the findings from my chosen research articles I conduced a critical review on each research paper using the CASP critical appraisal tool (CASP 2013), (see appendix 2), from this I will be going into depth with 3 of these questions to appraise the findings from the three papers, these questions being; 3, 4 and 7 from the table.

All three research articles used an appropriate design of methodology to obtain their findings form the research. All three articles used a Qualitative approach of methodology to conduct their research, as well as Doos et al (2009) article which consisted of Quantitative method within the research of the study as well. Trotter at al (2015) used structured interviews and focus groups to obtain their information as well as Katz (2016), who used semi-structured interviews, whereas Doos (2009) used both quantitative and qualitative data to conduct their research, by using face-to-face interviews facilitated with open-ended prompts, as well as using a self-completion interview completed on a computer. Using qualitative data to carry out the study allows researchers to be able to gain a lot more information from the participants (Ross 2012), as they are able to elaborate with their answers instead of restricted to ‘yes’ / ‘no’, for example as Trotter et al (2015) conducted five focus groups between mixed professionals within the community, they initially planned to hold six focus groups but this was minimised to five due to recruitment issues as it is stated within the methods parts of the article.

Allowing a number of mixed professionals to attend these focus groups enables researchers to gain different perspectives of the challenges each professional faced when safeguarding children involved and affected by domestic abuse Range et al (2001), professionals included; health and educational staff. If the researcher selected individuals from similar professionals for the focus groups, this would not allow a mixture of opinion and debate to take place retrospectively, the diversity facilitated the researcher to collect large amounts of data, relatively fast, from the five focus groups that took place (Harre et al 1995). As well as being able to collect large amounts of data relatively easy, using questionnaires have advantages such as being easy to analyse, as it is written/typed information and can be clearly seen and remembered, as opposed to methods of interviewing as Doos (2009) carried out with children and Trotter (2015) used in focus groups, the recording of this information through interviewing may have been misinterpreted or forgotten word for word by the researcher, this may result in unreliable results. Hennink and Hutter (2010) explain how some disadvantages of using questionnaires in research involve not being able to going back to the participants if you have forgotten to ask a particular question, especially if they are anonymous, as well as some questions being ignored if they are not understood by the respondent, which could in result affect the sample. Questionnaires are low cost, but are not suitable for complex research purposes as this again may be misinterpreted by the participants due to ambiguous language (Brennan 2012).

All three articles provided a clear statement as to what the reason for their research carried out were by listing aims of what they set out to find. Trotter et al (2015) set out to find the challenges facing professionals in terms of safeguarding children affected by domestic violence (DV). This article would be useful to answering my research question as it would help to identify if gaps in service provision relate with effects of behaviour of children affected by DV. Katz (2016) aimed to establish whether non-violent coercive controlling behavioural could be central to childrens’ experiences of domestic violence or not. This article would allow me to identify what the link actually is between domestic violence occurring within the family household and this impacting the future development of children. The aim of Doos’ (2009) research was to find if consequences of childhood domestic violence are related with mental disorders of witnessing domestic violence. It is important to clearly state in the abstract or beginning of the article what the study will intend to achieve by listing aims and objectives of the study, this will allow reader to instantly recognise if the article is useful for their purpose (Brennan 2012). Trotter et al and Doos et al clearly identified what their aims of the study were, however I had to do further reading into Katz’s article to find out what the aims of this research was, this was then mentioned in the methods of the research, but only briefly. For the ease of the reader, it would be better to give a brief description in the abstract/introduction of the article stating the aims of the study.

The sample size between the three articles slightly varied. Trotter et al (2016) used the smallest sample size of 23 participants from a mixed profession background, specific figures of each profession were not stated within the article from Trotter et al. It could be argued that the data collected from the opinions and views of these participants may have been biased based on their profession as they may have been more participants from the health sector as opposed to educational staff involved in the focus groups which would not be an equal representative of the views of the challenges faced by practitioners dealing with children affected by domestic abuse (Fischer 2011). More professionals within the educational sector may be in contact with children than health workers are, which is usually the case, as teachers, safeguarding staff within schools tend to see children on a daily basis in proportion to mental health workers and nurses, this may result in educational staff witnessing behaviour from children more often as opposed to others.

The sample size for article 2; Katz (2016), was the highest of the three with 30 participants, who consisted of fifteen mothers and fifteen of their children (mostly aged 10-14) from the Midlands region of England in the UK. It could be argued that half of the data collected, from the children, may not be reliable as some children may not have the maturity and resilience to answer questions for the study in a semi-structured interview as Fischer (2011) explains could be the problem for younger participants, which could also question the credibility of the data collected.

The sample size for Doos (2009) consisted of 29 participants these were children chosen systematically throughout England, Wales and Scotland, which were not large quantity, it could be argued that this has therefore limited the data collected to only being from a small proportion of participants. The participants from the first article; Trotter (2015) consisted of being from within the community. The fact the mixed professionals were from within the community may have affected the participation in the focus group, as these professionals may have known one another from working collaboratively, this may have influenced their input during the focus groups and may have resulted in the professionals holding back some information (Morse 1994).

Ethical considerations to take into account from the research articles have been included in the CASP table (see appendix 2). Trotter (2015) study received ethical approval from the University of Huddersfield, and the study was carried out in accordance to the ethical principles, whilst explaining to the participants the reason for the research as well as ensuring participants were kept anonymous, information was kept confidential and establishing informed consent from the participants. The article goes on to state that those professionals that were interested in participating were contacting directly by the researchers and were explained the purpose of the research and once aware were then presented with a sheet consisting of written information about this in writing. The participants were then required to complete and sign a consent form before taking part in the focus group, Trotter (2015) did not however, state that the participants could opt out after signing the consent form which they may have wanted to do after. Neergaard (2007) explains how ethically, the participants should begiven this choice, however, it is unclear whether or not this was done within the study.

Under the Human Rights Act (1998) and International Convention on Human Rights (1948) underlining the universal principles of human rights, all individuals that participated in the studies have the protection of being able to pull out and discontinue being a participant in the research and this should be protected. This is also underlined in the Data Protection Act (1998) which also states that it is the law that the information of the participants should not be kept longer than necessary and for anything other than the purpose intended and stated. All three research articles sought and obtained parental and participant consent where needed for the studies to take place.

Katz (2016) ensured integrity and quality in the ethical principles of her study as she gained approval by the University of Nottingham’s Research Ethics Committee who reviewed and approved the research, which enhanced the credibility of the study and research, as having it peer-reviewed. Katz (2016) was the only researcher that rewarded participants with a £10 gift voucher as an incentive. The Ethics Guide Book (2015) suggests incentive payments can be unethical as they can be seen as coercive, however instead of Katz using money, she chose to use a gift voucher as a reward which is not as coercive.

All participants gave informed consent through signing consent forms. Katz (2016) also ensured that confidentiality of all participants was maintained (Data Protection 1998) by allowing participants to choose their own pseudonyms, this protected the participants from their identity being recognised and ensured anonymity throughout the study.

Ahead of the study Doos (2009) sent out letters to the selected sample from the database to give individuals the choice to take part in the study, these were sent to the guardians of the children as they were aged between 10-14. The research design and interviewing process was granted approval by The Central Office for Research Ethics Committees of the UK. A downside to the recruitment process of Doos (2009) study was that the letter stated to reply only if they did not want their children to take part in the study, failure to reply meant permission was given to be approached by an interviewer. This then raises an important ethical concern as a result of consent not being truly given in some parts of the recruitment process (The Ethics Guide Book 2015).

All three research articles had an important part in answering my initial research question; does domestic abuse have a major influence on affecting a childs’ behaviour and future development? Substantial information can be gathered form all three research articles in terms of answering my research question in particular from Doos et al’s (2009) study. The variety of participants, in regards to age and profession, allowed a wider range of information to be gathered. From Trotters’ (2015) study it was clear that professions did not talk directly to children or young people in terms of prevention of future difficulties in terms of behaviour, this lack of recognition and awareness usually led to strategies of support not being in place for children as a coping mechanism of being around DV within the household.

In conclusion I found the articles were adequate in answering my research question, the answer being; yes, it partially does. The analysis based on the survey of the sample of children showed that children who witnessed domestic violence did indeed have a greater likelihood than others of developing a behaviour disorder but not an emotional disorder, this correlates with the findings from Trotter et al (2015) as the educational professionals in the mixed focus groups said they often only became aware of domestic abuse when there was a change in behaviour from a child or young person. Research from Katz (2016) showed me that children suffer from a range of coercive behaviours by exposure from perpetrators, mainly fathers, which resulted in the child becoming constrained in situations where their access to resilience building and developmentally learning was limited, which does affect a child’s future development in the long-term, as their cognitive development is limited and fine motor skilled may not be fully enhanced if it is a younger child.  For future development, the findings from Trotter (2015) highlight that professionals should be attentive of warning signs of a child experiencing DV within their home from change in appearance, attitude and mainly a change in behaviour.

Word Count: 2750

Appendix 1 – Search Strategy Table