Research Finds Domestic Violence Rises During Emergencies

New Zealand Researcher Dr Rosalind Houghton has completed research highlighting that domestic violence can as much as triple after civil defence emergencies.Her PhD thesis ‘We Had to Cope With What We Had: Agency Perspectives on Domestic Violence and Disasters in New Zealand’ involved a 17-community survey and five community case studies. An increase in domestic violence reporting was found in 11 of the 17 communities surveyed and in all five community case studies.The research focussed on agency perspectives on disasters and domestic violence, and Dr Houghton collected reporting statistics from Women's Refuge for her case studies and interviewed representatives of domestic violence and disaster response agencies.A print copy of Dr Houghton’s thesis will be available for loan via the NZFVC website as soon as possible. The thesis is available online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10063/1159Dr Houghton was recently interviewed on Checkpoint by Mary Wilson of Radio NZ National to discuss her research. This is available at the link below: http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/ckpt/2010/05/25/more_domestic_violence_after_civil_defence_emergenciesFurther coverage of this research is available via TV One website at: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/domestic-violence-rises-during-disasters-research-3566976