People affected by ViolencE

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People affected by ViolencE

• Can Community Services Promote Equality and
  Social Inclusion?

Dr Karola Dillenburger, Ms Montse Fargas, Mrs
Rym Akhonzada School of Sociology, Social Policy
Social Work, Queens University Belfast
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Background

• Violence has affected most people in Northern
  Ireland with over 3,600 people killed and more
  than 40,000 injured since 1969.
• In the 1970s, psychiatrists argued that people
  affected by community violence generally reacted
  with astonishing resilience to the continuing
  violence (Fraser, 1973) and early studies that
  showed a different picture were largely ignored.
• In those early years of the Troubles, there was a
  lack of structured support for those affected.

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Aims of the PAVE Project

• Overview categorisation of services offered to
  people affected by the Troubles
• Exploration of the effectiveness of some of the
  most commonly used services in regard to
  achieving their set aims/goals

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Phases Methodology

• PHASE 1 - Survey on 49 core-funded voluntary
  groups categorisation of services provided by
  them
• PHASE 2 - Administration of the PEIT-Q 3
  standardised Qs (GHQ, BDI PDS) to group members
  in 2 assessments in order to explore the
  effectiveness of the services.

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Categorisation of the services provided by the
groups

• Psychology-based
• Philosophy-based
• Education-based
• Community-based

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Why these services?
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Elements of Exclusion/Inclusion

• Economical
• Educational
• Health
• Political
• Empowerment
• Access
• Belonging
• Safety
• Participation
• Better Health

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Community Services sector

• How do these services decrease the exclusion gap?
• Increase opportunities for participation
• Remove barriers
• Increase opportunities for personal development
  and social support
• Increase access to resources and programs for
  excluded groups

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Characteristics of service users (BLA n50) (EEA
n24)

• 35 women 15 men most of them aged over 50
• Some living in the country (n17), inner city
  (n16) or small towns (n16).
• 9 of the respondents had no qualification, 11 had
  GCSEs further education qual. 33 were not in
  paid employment.
• 50 claimed to have a fair state of health and
  26 good health, although 70 had seen the doctor
  at least twice in the last 6 months.
• Most of the participants (n31) thought that they
  coped fairly well.

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The experience of Trauma

• Lost an immediate family member (partner,
  son/daughter, parent, etc.)
• Injured/ disabled
• Witnessed a violent event
• Intimidated
• Relative/close friend killed
• Injured family member
• Caring somebody injured

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Research outcomes

• In the BLA, participants scores in the 3
  psychological measures were very high, showing
  poor psychological general health, high levels of
  depression and post-traumatic symptoms. But in
  the second assessment, findings pointed towards
  an overall improvement in all 3 measures.
• Improvements were related to protective and
  vulnerability factors (e.g type of traumatic
  event, frequency of events, physical health) and
  to certain services more so than others (e.g.
  befriending, support groups, youth work,
  reflexology counseling)

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Next steps

• To see if the services offered by the groups do
  make a difference on the psychological wellbeing
  of those who avail of them, more 3 months-time
  assessments will be carried out.
• Semi-structured interviews with some group
  members will be carried out to find out in more
  detail which services / activities they find they
  are making them feel significantly better.

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Discussion

• Voluntary groups or victims groups have become a
  viable alternative to other forms of treatment
  and help
• These groups aim to reduce the isolation of their
  members, empowering them to help themselves and
  improve coping with the consequences of the
  Troubles.

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Discussion

• The service users seem to be in need of some kind
  of social support which is provided in form of
  befriending and support groups as well as advice
  and information on life matters and needs.
• By and large, the members share similar
  experiences and concerns and feel that they are
  not understood well by others and that their
  issues are not addressed properly by the
  government.