Understanding and responding to ongoing intimate partner abuse

Section A
Introduction: Coercive Controlling Violence (CCV) was introduced into UK law in 2015 as a form of intimate partner violence. Since then, statutory and non-statutory services have been grappling to apply legislation into practice, and meet the needs of survivor-victims.

Aims: This study explores the needs of CCV victim-survivors and how professionals and services are currently responding to them.

Method: A systematic search and narrative synthesis explores the current literature base between 2010-2024. Psycinfo, Web of Science and ASSIA were systematically searched with (N=14) studies included in the review.

Results: Findings of this review focused on experiences of women remaining in a CCV relationship, professionals experiences of identification with victim-survivors and responses to CCV, risk factors, entrapment and the mental health impact of CCV. Implication for clinical practice are discussed and recommendations provided.

Conclusion: The findings show that CCV remains ill-defined and misunderstood by services leading to variation in service responsiveness for victim-survivors. The insidious and pervasive nature of CCV makes identification and intervention challenging for services and can entrap victim-survivors in intimate partner violence. Victim-survivors of CCV have unique psychosocial needs based within their intersectionality that may further perpetuate entrapment.

Section B
Introduction: Ongoing Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a challenging issue for clinical psychologists, who need safety and stability for effective interventions. As an increasing need for better mental health care for IPV victim-survivors grows nationally, this study explores survivor-victim experiences of professionals and services to consider how support can be helpful or unhelpful in escaping abuse.

Methodology: A social constructionist qualitative modified grounded theory was used to explore nine participant interviews. Participants included eight women, and one non-binary person, who had a diverse range of journeys out of IPV.

Key findings: An emergent process was found where the validation of reality was found to be a turning point where professionals can influence entrapment or recovery. Four categories, sixteen subcategories and three phases of (1) Entrapment, (2) Turning point and (3) Recovery, were identified with a cross-cutting process of the socio-cultural context.

Implications: The findings suggest that there is a greater need for more research and adjustments to clinical practice in responding to ongoing IPV psychologically. In particular coercive control and mental health needs that arise from IPV are vital issues that mental health services and clinical psychologists are in a position to respond to.