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This chapter provides a foundation for the understanding of what is termed intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence is a global phenomenon affecting all genders and relates to acts by a current or ex-partner to another person. Such acts may be physical, emotional, psychological or financial but in most cases will have a detrimental effect on the survivor. It is now much better understood that such acts can directly affect a survivor’s physical and mental health and have long-lasting, life-changing impacts. In this chapter, we aim to provide some context to the issues of intimate partner violence, which are often experienced by women and can occur across all age ranges. We provide the context for intimate partner violence as well as background about the known prevalence, which leads to changes in policy and how different authorities may deal with instances of intimate partner violence. Finally, we provide a case study that shows the complexity of intimate partner violence.

This work was commissioned as per an open tender by Nottinghamshire County Council and was awarded to The University of Sheffield in 2022. The tender was titled: To undertake an evidence-based review and pathway mapping for mental health, counselling and therapy services for domestic abuse survivors.

The use of arts based approaches within research and scholarly activity is relatively new but where used with sensitive topics, or with those whose voices are often not heard within dominant healthcare discourse, it is proving an effective method to engage with groups which are largely neglected within research. Methods: One such approach is by use of creative arts based activities to work with groups or individuals (Leavy, 2015), often using external facilitators or researchers who are accustomed to such approaches and methods. In the field of gender based violence researchers are frequently working with very vulnerable groups or individuals who have experienced traumatic experiences and where using conventional methods of conducting research may not provide an appropriate forum for ‘hearing stories of survivorship’ or where those who have experienced abuse may not feel that they have a voice (McGarry & Bowden, 2017). Results: The study team have gained extensive use of using arts based methods to work with survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse – both in UK and internationally. We will describe the different approaches used by sharing examples of our work over the past 5 years that have been incorporated into healthcare education programmes with digital resources freely available online (McGarry, et al. 2015). Discussion: The overall aim is to present the range of activities involved in this methodology, to share our approach to co-production with survivors of abuse in the development of creative digital educational resources and demonstrate their use in an interactive way with the conference audience. References: Leavy, P. (2015) Method Meets Art: Arts-based Research Practice. New York: The Guilford Press. McGarry, J. and Bowden, D. 2017. Unlocking stories: older women’s experiences of intimate partner violence told through creative expression Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 24, 629– 637 McGarry J., Baker C., Wilson C., Felton A., Banerjee A, (2015). Preparation for safeguarding in UK pre-registration graduate nurse education. Journal of Adult Protection. 17(6), 371-379

This book, written by academics across a range of disciplines, including healthcare and social sciences discusses the increasing use of the arts in healthcare research, which often stems from the recognition that for some topics of investigation, or when dealing with sensitive issues, the usual qualitative or quantitative paradigms are not appropriate. While there is undoubtedly a place for such approaches, arts-based research paradigms (ABR) offers, not only additional study and data-collection tools, but also provides a new and enjoyable experience for those involved. The use of the arts as a medium to improve health and wellbeing was well documented by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2019, with over 3,000 studies conducted around the globe on the value of the arts in the prevention of ill health and promotion of health across the life span. This book examines how the arts, in a variety of forms, can be used by those working directly in healthcare settings as well as those involved in research across all health or patient settings. Covering a range of ABR genres, including literature (such as narrative and poetic inquiry); performance (music, dance, play building); visual arts (drawing and painting, collage, installation art, comics); and audio-visual and multimethod approaches, this user- friendly book will appeal to nurses, researchers in nursing and allied healthcare professions, as well professionals in the social sciences, psychosociology, psychology, literature and arts.