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Domestic abuse or intimate partner violence is a term that describes a pattern of abusive behaviours, often experienced concurrently and linked to gender-based violence. This study aims to explore through the literature the potential to design effective digital services that work for victims, survivors and those who provide domestic abuse support services.

This study is based on a systems or service design thinking methodology which was adopted during a Scottish Government-funded Technology Enabled Care (TEC) pathfinder project on domestic abuse. This methodology is the basis for the Scottish Approach to Service Design which is based on the Design Council Double Diamond. During the first phase, known as the discovery phase, desk-based research is conducted by the service design team to inform their approach to the later phases (the second half of the first diamond is define whilst design and deliver form the second diamond). Time is spent during discovery to unpack the complexity whilst the approach takes a pragmatic worldview.

Technology has yet to be shown to provide an effective solution to any aspect of the victim or survivors’ experience or support services albeit these are often over-stretched and under-funded even without the Covid-19 pandemic. Digital abuse is increasing with perpetrators adapting new technologies. Digital developments should be grounded on ethical design principles.

This study is the result of the desk-based research during a TEC project considering the potential role of technology in tackling domestic abuse. Limitations include only including evidence from the literature; interviews were conducted but are not reported here. Another limitation is the pragmatic rather than academic nature of the approach; it was to be a foundation for service re-design. So hopefully useful for new practitioners to immerse themselves in the topic area but with no claims to be reproducible as would be the case in a formal review.

All the evidence shows the authors need to keep trying different approaches, different forms of engagement and ways to empower survivors. Could technology support health-care practitioners to consistently use sensitive routine enquiry? Perhaps enable independent domestic violence advisors to attend more multidisciplinary team meetings in local community settings? Meanwhile, digital abuse is increasing with perpetrators adapting new technologies. Technology has not yet provided a digital solution which is practical and meets the needs of the broad intersectional population affected by domestic abuse nor those who provide support. If the future is to be based on digital developments it must be grounded on ethical design principles.

This desk-based review collates the current national and international policy and research literature whilst focusing on digital developments which support those affected by domestic abuse.

Ireland is viewed as the shining base for Catholicism. That image is shattered as survivors revealed the abuse in the Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes, and sexual abuse by priests. This study aims to examine image repair efforts by the Pope during his August 2018 visit.

Examined against the Letter of His Holiness released days earlier, this study evaluates all the Pope's speeches during his visit to Ireland using the image repair theory (Benoit and Pang, 2008) as its theoretical lens.

Pope Francis used the evasion of responsibility strategy to address the Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes scandal and denial, corrective action and mortification for sex abuse crisis.

Addresses call by Ferguson et al. (2018) to examine the consistency and effectiveness of strategies.

Beyond rhetoric, stakeholders would be looking to organizational leaders to provide relief and concrete steps to recover from their pain.

A leader's narratives represent the organization's narratives; thus, insights from this study can help leaders plan what they should say when conducting image repair. It is not just their own reputations that are on the line but, in this case, it is also the reputations of the people they represent

The current study is an exploratory study examining the relationship between the abuse histories of 89 sexual offenders and the constructs of locus of control, sexual attitudes, general empathy, and denial. Of the 89 offenders, 14.6% were sexually abused, 13.5% physically abused, and 9% both sexually and physically abused, with 61.5% having no abuse history. Analyses indicated that motivation to change was higher for abused versus non‐abused offenders, and that those who were sexually abused had significantly more cognitive distortions about children than those who experienced physical abuse. Although no differences emerged in locus of control scores, our findings indicated that physically abused offenders were more able to take on the perspective of others than those who have not experienced physical abuse. The findings provide several avenues to pursue in examining the longstanding effects of abuse in the thinking and cognitions of sexual offenders.

The aim of this paper is to gather information that will be useful to practitioners who are assessing and trying to understand the difficulties of people with intellectual disabilities who may have experienced sexual abuse. In the first part of this paper the research into the effects of sexual abuse on people with learning disability is reviewed. In the second part of this paper, the major clinical implications of these findings are explored. These include the implications for abuse evaluations, identification of individuals at increased risk of disturbance, implications for treatment and provision of psychotherapeutic services.

Despite the introduction of Surrey‐wide vulnerable adults policies and procedures, monitoring figures from the Surrey Adult Protection Committee indicate that abuse is still being under‐reported for different service user groups. This study explored staff knowledge and attitudes towards abuse and the reporting procedure to further understand why abuse is not reported.

Elder abuse has come to be recognized as any act of both commission or omission that causes harm or loss to elderly people. This can include active or passive neglect, violence, sexual or emotional abuse, various kinds of theft, and deprivation of the person’s human rights. Elder abuse has many causes. The Hastings and Prince Edward Council on Aging developed an Elder Abuse Community Response Protocol to help address this problem.

This paper describes the work of the Prevention of Professional Abuse Network (POPAN). Professional abuse is described with an analysis of the contacts the organisation has received. There is also an analysis of the nature of abuse described and the effects of abuse. The paper closes with a description of how POPAN helps clients complain and work towards prevention.

This paper details findings from a research study on elder abuse and neglect undertaken in Russia. A survey of 2881 older people aged 60 years and older who were known to Social Services in four districts of Saratov was undertaken to explore the extent of elder abuse and neglect in these areas. Psychological and emotional forms of abuse were found to be the most prevalent form of abuse across all districts.

People with a learning disability remain at increased risk of abuse and neglect due to a number of factors associated with learning disability per se and the culture in which they live. Understanding the prevalence of abuse within this population allows for appropriate planning and service development. Understanding more about the type and frequency of abuse (and the perpetrators) facilitates prevention of abuse. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

All clients allocated to a psychologist between 2009 and 2011 were included in this survey. The psychologist reported whether the client had experienced any abuse over their lifetime. Information regarding the type of abuse experienced, the relationship to the abuser, and the number of different episodes of abuse was recorded.

Of the 695 clients in the survey 25 per cent had experienced abuse. Of this 25 per cent, 46 per cent were men and 54 per cent were women. In all, 23 per cent of the group who had experienced abuse were referred to the service as a direct result of abuse, whilst 77 per cent were referred for another reason. The most prevalent types of abuse were emotional (27 per cent), sexual (24 per cent), physical (20 per cent), and neglect (12 per cent).

Prevalence rates within this study are broadly in line with the existing literature. However, differences included high levels of emotional abuse, and high frequency of abuse perpetrated by women, and by family members. Psychology services should routinely screen for abuse experiences and be alert to the possibility of abuse from female caregivers.

High prevalence of violence against persons with disabilities (PwDs) has prompted a steady growth of training aimed at equipping PwDs with personal safety skills. This paper aims to examine the efficacy of safety trainings for PwDs.

A search of relevant electronic databases was conducted to shortlist peer-reviewed literature on empirically evaluated safety trainings for PwDs, between January 2010 and August 2020 with the defined inclusion criteria.

Six safety programmes were reviewed. Data analysis revealed key themes related to programme modifications for accessibility; fit of intervention to disability type; PwDs’ learning needs; and the context of disability abuse in designing intervention pathways.

PwDs can benefit from and contribute to safety training, if programmes are adequately modified to support their learning and participation. Future studies can target disability abuse by known persons; different disability groups; and generate longitudinal data to strengthen validity of programme efficacy.