Youth Advocates Against Family Violence
Responding to & preventing family violence in the secondary school setting
PROJECT EVALUATION & FINAL REPORT
CONTENTS
1. Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1 2. Background information……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..2 a. About the project partners………………………………………………………………………………………………2 b. Rationale for the project …………………………………………………………………………………………………3 c. About the participating schools………………………………………………………………………………………..8 3. Program outcomes……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..10 4. Purpose and objective of evaluation…………………………………………………………………………………………..11 5. Description of the evaluation plan and design……………………………………………………………………………12 6. Results/findings…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..14 7. Discussion of program and its results………………………………………………………………………………………….23 8. Conclusions and recommendations…………………………………………………………………………………………….25 9. Sources………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..27 10. Annexures……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………27
© Inner Melbourne Community Legal Inc. December 2013
ABN 89 992 917 962 Registration No. A0014248J
Acknowledgments
The project partners would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals and organisations in the development and realisation of the Youth Advocates Against Family Violence Project:
The Victoria Law Foundation Staff and students at St Aloysius College Staff and students at Kensington Community High School Staff and students from the Galileo Program, University High School Staff and students at Simonds Catholic College Amy Webster & Sharon Simon – Partners in Prevention Network Kate Koomen and the Youth Leadership Group, Doutta Galla Youth Services Rex Punshon, Alana Lazdins & Blaine Hattie Leading Senior Constable Nick Parissis The City of Melbourne
1. Executive Summary
Inner Melbourne Community Legal Incorporated and Doutta Galla Community Health Service, with funding from the Victoria Law Foundation, partnered to develop and deliver a pilot project designed to provide community legal education to young people in the secondary school system. The project aimed to address both response and prevention of family violence and the promotion of respectful relationships.
Through the project, twelve sessions were delivered to secondary school students at four schools in the City of Melbourne, and one session was delivered to young people in a community-based setting. Two co-educational state schools and two single-sex Catholic schools (one boys and one girls school) participated in the project.
In total, over 200 young people participated in the program. The project partners worked in close consultation with the participating schools in planning and developing the sessions to ensure that they would have high level ‘buy-in’ from schools and sessions would be adapted to the needs of the student population.
The project was delivered by a lawyer and a youth worker, and focused on: The social and gender context of family violence; The nature and extent of family violence; An overview of Victorian law on family violence and legal options for responding to family violence; Respectful relationships and positive communication skills; and Safe responding and help-seeking in relation to family violence.
As a result of the project, participants are better equipped to identify, respond and advocate about the issue of family violence.
Based on data obtained through the project evaluation, a range of indicators of success have been established.
At the conclusion of the program: o Respondents were readily able to identify the various forms of family violence including physical, sexual, emotional and financial abuse; o 66.1% of respondents indicated that they would know where to go to get help if they or someone they knew were experiencing family violence; o 52.2% of respondents indicated that they felt more confident in responding to a family violence situation since attending the program; and o Respondents were able to identify the attributes that determined healthy and unhealthy relationships, and placed value on pursuing and promoting respectful relationships.
Teaching staff at individual schools were overwhelmingly positive about the value and impact of the project on their students, and expressed an interest in pursuing similar programs in future.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 1 2. Background information
“Youth advocates against family violence” (the Project) is a pilot project by Inner Melbourne Community Legal Incorporated (formerly known as North Melbourne Legal Service) and Doutta Galla Community Health Service (DGCHS) to address and prevent family violence in the inner North-West region of Melbourne by educating young people about family violence through the local secondary school system so that young people have the capacity and willingness to act as gatekeepers of information about family violence, develop respectful relationships, and are aware of support services for family violence.
The project sought to develop, pilot and share a model of community legal education for young people in Victoria through the secondary school system that addresses both response and prevention aspects of family violence. a. About the project partners
Inner Melbourne Community Legal Inc. (IMCL)
IMCL is a not-for-profit community organisation that provides legal assistance to disadvantaged and marginalised people in the City of Melbourne area (North Melbourne, West Melbourne, The Central Business District, Carlton, Parkville and Docklands). IMCL is a free, independent service and focuses on helping the most disadvantaged, including the homeless, those with chronic physical or mental illness, victims of sexual assault, individuals from low or no-income households and individuals from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
IMCL provides legal assistance in the form of information, advice, representation and court advocacy and also carries out preventative legal education for the community. Our education program is designed to help the community avoid or deal with commonly occurring problems before they escalate to the point where traditional forms of legal assistance like advice and representation is needed.
IMCL operates two drop-in clinics each week where members of the community can obtain legal assistance. On alternate Tuesday evenings, specialist legal assistance in family law & intervention orders, and criminal law is provided, and on Friday afternoons a generalist drop in service and fortnightly infringements & debts clinic.
IMCL also operates numerous outreach services targeting specific groups who face barriers in accessing help: Ozanam Community Centre (for individuals experiencing homelessness); Royal Women’s Hospital (for patients of the hospital); Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA House) (for victims/survivors of sexual assault); Central City Community Health Service (for individuals experiencing homelessness); Women’s Information and Referral Exchange (WIRE) (for women experiencing disadvantage).
In the last financial year, IMCL assisted 541 clients, provided 713 instances of advice, appeared in court in 22 cases for clients and ran 21 education sessions. In addition IMCL
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 2 opened 210 casework files where we provided a more intensive level of assistance to clients.
Doutta Galla Community Health Service (DGCHS)
DGCHS is a well-established community health organisation with extensive experience in providing high quality primary community and specialist health services. DGCHS runs programs in treatment, early intervention, health promotion and social support initiatives and aims to address health disparities. DGCHS prioritises access to its services for those in greatest need including the homeless, those with mental illness, public housing residents and new and emerging communities.
DGCHS has provided youth services in the City of Melbourne area since 1997 involving the design and delivery of a range of prevention, support, recreation, sport and primary health services to young people in North Melbourne and Kensington.
The partnership
IMCL and DGCHS have collaborated on various initiatives over the past two years: providing legal information to young men who use the North Melbourne Community Centre sports and recreation facilities, exploration of a school holidays art competition to promote human rights among young people in the North Melbourne public housing area, sharing community consultation opportunities, and exploration of multi-disciplinary health-legal programs to prevent family violence. b. Rationale for the Project
Family violence in the community
Family violence continues to be a major health, legal, social and economic problem for the community. Studies show that more than one-third of Australian women over the age of 15 had experienced physical and/or sexual violence1 . Recent Victoria Police crime statistics for the police division of Melbourne and Yarra show that family incidents almost doubled from 2007/2008 to 2011/20122 .
The effects of family violence are multifaceted and may include social exclusion, economic hardship, and homelessness. A report by VicHealth has found that intimate partner violence is the leading preventable contributor to death, disability and illness in Victorian women aged 15-44 and is responsible for more of the disease burden for Victorian women aged between 15-44 than other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking and obesity3.
1 ABS 2006, Personal Safety Survey, Cat. No. 4906.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, available at www.abs.gov.au 2 Victoria Police crime statistics, data extracted from LEAP between 2007-2012, Victoria Police, Crime Statistics, available at www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=782 3 VicHealth 2004, the health costs of violence: Measuring the burden of disease caused by intimate partner violence. A summary of findings, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Carlton, (reprinted 2010).
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 3 The cohort of early adolescent students and their parents in the inner North-West of Melbourne represent a targeted population group that come from diverse backgrounds, culturally and linguistically, and socio-economically. School-based programs aimed to prevent relationship violence among young people are supported by the best evidence of effectiveness.
Why the project was developed
IMCL and DGCHS developed the project as a way of addressing and preventing family violence and as a response to shared experiences working with communities experiencing social exclusion, particularly communities of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. The project sought to approach family violence in a holistic way, through a dual response and prevention focus, targeting young people in the secondary school system.
In 2012-2013, approximately 52% of clients who accessed IMCL’s services were born overseas. Feedback from the community received by the project partners indicate that family violence is a major problem for CALD communities, with language and cultural barriers combining with a lack of awareness of rights and support services to deny individuals assistance in relation to family violence. IMCL’s legal assistance statistics indicate that family problems, which encompasses family violence, constitute the single largest type of assistance provided to the community. In the past two reporting periods there has been a 44 percent increase in our provision of assistance in relation to family violence (ie, between 2011-2012 and 2012-2013). This statistic is consistent with the greatly increased reporting of family violence incidents to Victoria Police in recent years.
The project sought to address this prevalence of family violence in the inner-North West community, particularly in relation to CALD communities, by focusing on young people as potential gatekeepers of information about family violence for their families, peers and communities. IMCL’s and DGCH’s experiences with the community indicated that children are often used as interpreters and gatekeepers of information for their parents and older family members on a variety of issues.
The project sought to equip young people with the skills and knowledge to share information with their families and peers about family violence and respectful relationships through the combination of technical expertise from a community legal centre and a community health service provider. In addition, young people would receive information and support in how to access assistance from community support services such as DGCHS and legal assistance through IMCL.
The project targeted young people at Year 9 level during a key phase of early adolescence where they may be on the cusp of entering into intimate relationships and sought to engage and support students in the development of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that would enhance their ability and right to be part of positive social networks and connections, including healthy and respectful relationships with peers, family and others in the community. A significant methodology of the project was the attempt to increase
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 4 knowledge of gender inequality with a view to identifying how this inequality contributes to the likelihood of family violence.
Project features and objectives
The project involved educating young people in the inner North-West of Melbourne about family violence (within the framework of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic)) so that young people developed the capacity and willingness to identify family violence and provide friends, family and the community with information about options for responding to family violence and support services in a safe and appropriate manner. The project also sought to instil positive messages in young people about how to recognise and maintain respectful relationships. It was hoped that these messages would contribute to young people being in a position to identify poor modelling within their families and communities, enabling young people to make informed decisions about their own conduct within relationships and reducing the risk of young people themselves becoming perpetrators of family violence.
Project themes and activities included: • the law in relation to family violence; • responding to family violence through the promotion of respectful relationships and awareness of the nature of family violence and responses to family violence; • legal and community support for victims of family violence; and • community responsibility around responding to family violence and building community awareness and capacity around the issue.
An important aspect of the program was that delivery of the sessions was facilitated by both male and female facilitators. As the program content devised sought to address the gender and social determinants of family violence through a feminist framework, it was particularly important that these messages could be reinforced by a combination of female and male facilitators.
The presence of a youth worker in the project sessions enabled a clear pathway for students to seek assistance in the event that the project content caused students to disclose victimisation and/or perpetration of family violence. The project also sought to integrate with each school’s student welfare/wellbeing structures, to ensure that students had appropriate support pathways outside of the sessions.
Working with local schools to deliver the project
The project was delivered through the secondary school system reflecting a multi- disciplinary collaboration between community legal centre, community health service provider and school. Four schools in the City of Melbourne, University High School, Simonds Catholic College, St Aloysius College and Kensington Community High School, participated in the program.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 5 The partnership with local schools aimed to ensure the project reached a broad audience where practice changes were highly achievable. Partnerships with local schools will hopefully build opportunities for knowledge transfer and will strengthen the capacity and willingness of local schools to deliver community legal education to students or otherwise incorporate it into the curriculum by working with local service providers.
The project resources and outcomes can be applied by the project partners and schools in subsequent years and the collaboration with schools in the development, delivery and evaluation of the project will build the capacity of schools to deliver this and other legal education programs in the future.
Primary Prevention in Schools
In recent years, violence prevention and respectful relationship education programs have become increasingly commonplace around Australia. Government at state and federal levels have placed a focus on violence prevention and respectful relationship education in the context of their responses to the problem of family violence4.
In Victoria, VicHealth, on behalf of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD), undertook the ‘Violence Prevention, Intervention and Respectful Relationships Education in Victorian Secondary Schools Project’5 (DEECD Report). The DEECD Report analysed existing programs in the primary prevention/respectful relationship space and established five good practice criteria for school based programs. The criteria are seen as the minimum standards for effective violence prevention and respectful relationship education6: 1. A whole-school approach 2. Program framework and logic 3. Effective curriculum delivery 4. Relevant, inclusive and culturally sensitive practice 5. Impact evaluation
In developing the structure and content for the project, the DEECD good practice guidelines were closely observed. Whilst some of the elements of the criteria were not fully implemented through the pilot project stage, they informed the overall framework and direction of the project structure and the sessions.
Furthermore, research was conducted into ten existing school-based legal education and respectful relationship programs to ensure that the project was conforming to best practice. The research also ensured that the project would learn from other organisations that had established successful programs, as well as utilise existing resources developed by other organisations.
4 State of Victoria (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development), Respectful Relationship Education: Violence prevention and respectful relationships education in Victorian Secondary Schools, November 2009, p. 7. 5 Ibid, see generally 6 Ibid,pp. 27-58
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 6 Project session content
The project sessions were integrated into each school’s existing programs and curriculum, dependent on the individual structure and needs of each school. For the most part, the project sessions were located either in student wellbeing/pastoral care curriculum, or in the health and legal studies curriculum.
The project sessions, which were spread over two one-hour blocks, sought to cover a wide breadth of material, including legal information about family violence and content on respectful relationships. Materials aimed to generate discussion and interaction between presenters and students throughout, and included a number of smaller group activities and mediums such as multi-media clips to engage students.
Given the significant proportion of students from CALD backgrounds at the participating schools, the sessions were designed with culturally sensitivity and relevance in mind. This was primarily informed by the partner organisation’s extensive experience in working with individuals from CALD backgrounds. Whilst cultural differences regarding gender roles were noted and discussed, presenters focused on the fact that family violence occurred across all cultural and socio-economic groups, and reinforced the legal response to family violence in Victoria as the prevailing normative framework.
Session One
The first program session encompassed the following topics and material: An introduction to YAAFV and an explanation of expectations and outcomes from the program; Safety in session and disclosure and rules for operating in a group setting, as well as safety outside of session; Discussion of the social and gender context of violence against women, through use of multi-media clips regarding gender stereotypes and inequality; Discussion of the prevalence of family violence in the community and the link with gender inequality; Discussion of the legal definition of family violence, within the framework of the Family Violence Protection Act (VIC) 2008, and discussion of legal responses to family violence issues; and A scenario based activity where students were required to apply the legal information to various scenarios to determine whether or not a particular situation may constitute family violence.
At the conclusion of Session One, safety messages were reinforced and students were reminded of options for seeking help and support ahead of the next session, in the event that the materials had generated any issues or concerns for them. Students and teaching staff were left with suggestions and contact details for a range of support services, both within the school environment and externally.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 7 Session Two
The second program session included: A re-cap of session one and an opportunity for students to provide comments or questions on anything covered in Session One; An activity focusing on the attributes of healthy and unhealthy relationships, followed by a discussion of these attributes; Discussion of positive communication and how positive communication techniques might be applied in a relationship; An activity whereby students practised positive communication techniques to try and resolve disagreements; Discussion of safe and appropriate responding and when and how young people might consider intervening in particular scenarios, with messages reinforced around safety as the paramount consideration; Discussion of help-seeking strategies and explanation of how a community legal centre or a community health service might assist someone experiencing family violence; and The highlighting of a range of resources and support services available to young people in the family violence/respectful relationship area.
At the conclusion of Session Two, students were reminded that conversations about healthy relationships and respect contribute to the prevention of violence. Students were encouraged to continue those conversations with their peers and families in the future, when it is safe for them to do so. c. About the participating schools
The partnerships with the participating schools were developed through a range of pre- existing working relationships, and a series of consultation meetings with the schools. In the early stages of the project, meetings and engagement was targeted at senior school staff, generally assistant principals, to ensure there was high level buy-in from schools. As a result, it can be said that there was a whole of school approach to the implementation of family violence and respectful relationship education in the school curriculum, despite the fact that the program would be delivered to one year level.
St Aloysius College
St Aloysius College (St Aloysius) is a Catholic girl’s school based in North Melbourne. In 2013, 520 students were enrolled at the school, with 79 enrolled at Year 9 level.
Approximately 30% of students at the school come from a non-English speaking background, with the main countries of birth of students being Vietnam, China, Australia, Greece and Sudan.
The whole of the Year 9 level participated in the program.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 8 University High School
University High School (University High) is a co-educational state school in Parkville covering year levels 7-12. In 2013, University High had 1280 enrolled students, including 200 students at Year 9 level.
Approximately 55% of students at the school come from a non-English speaking background, with the main countries of birth of students being Australia, China and Vietnam.
Students in the school’s Galileo program in Term 3 participated in the project. Both the school and the project agencies would have liked to deliver the project to the entire Year 9 cohort, however this was not possible due to the size of the group and resource constraints.
Simonds Catholic College
Simonds Catholic College (Simonds College) is a Catholic boy’s school in North Melbourne, catering to year levels 7-10. In 2013, 502 students were enrolled at Simonds College, with 86 students enrolled at Year 9 level.
Approximately 60% of students come from a non-English speaking background, with Vietnam, the Philippines, China, Sudan and Kenya the most common countries of birth of students.
The whole Year 9 level participated in the program.
Kensington Community High School
Kensington Community High School (Kensington Community) is a co-educational state school located in Kensington. A small, alternative school, Kensington Community had 100 students enrolled in 2013.
Approximately 5% of students come from a non-English speaking background. Kensington Community aims to provide educational opportunities to students who may have difficulty managing within the mainstream education system.
The school’s Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) students, approximately 15 students, participated in the program.
Doutta Galla Youth Services Youth Leadership Program
In addition to the four schools that participated in the program, a one-off session (based on the content of Session One) was held with the Youth Leadership Group. The Youth Leadership Group runs weekly at the North Melbourne Community Centre and is primarily attended by young people of African-Australian background. There were 15 young people in
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 9 attendance at the session with ages ranging from 14-22 years, 13 young men and 2 young women7.
3. Program outcomes
The Youth Advocates Against Family Violence pilot project involved the program agencies, IMCL and DGCHS, developing partnerships with the secondary schools identified above in order to facilitate the education of Year 9 students on family violence and respectful relationships.
Across four local high schools, 12 sessions were delivered to over 200 students. Each group received two sessions of approximately one hour duration, comprising content discussed above.
In planning the structure of the program and developing the session content, participating schools were consulted extensively to ensure that the program would be appropriate for the needs of each school, and that there was commitment and buy-in from the schools to the realisation of the project. Further, the potential for sensitivity or resistance around the delivery of topics such as gender roles and family violence required awareness and close engagement with each school to ensure that there was a shared agreement of what the program would cover.
As a pilot project, there was scope to make adjustments to content and the particulars of the program dependent on the individual needs of each school. Given the diverse profiles of the four schools, it was essential that the program was attuned to the individual needs of each school community.
One school, Kensington Community High School, determined that delivering the program to students in the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), rather than year 9, would be most effective due to the students’ relative level of maturity within a setting for highly at- risk young people. Another school required that the program fit within its 50 minute period structure, so adjustments were made to the mode of delivery to ensure students received the necessary content.
It was originally envisaged that the program content would be most appropriate for delivery to individual classroom group (between 20-30 students), rather than through a model of large group delivery. However, two schools felt that their students were used to receiving programs in a larger group environment and they would respond well to the content in a large group. Accordingly, the program was delivered successfully to larger streams at both schools, with adjustments made to activities and the mode of delivery to ensure discussion and engagement from students was still possible.
Prior to the commencement of the program sessions, program staff met with classroom teachers to provide an overview of session content and seek feedback on the planned
7 NB – this group was not surveyed prior to or following the session, as they were outside the scope of the original project plan. Observations arising from the session were recorded by program staff and have been included in this section of the evaluation findings.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 10 structure and activities. Program staff also sought to foreshadow any issues of concern with respect to individual students, to ensure that procedures were in place for disclosures and student wellbeing.
Youth Leadership Group session
In addition to the 12 core program sessions, an additional one-off session was held with the Youth Leadership Group through the Doutta Galla Youth Services program. The session was delivered in response to a perceived bias by the young men involved in the group against female participation, manifesting primarily as persistent jesting about minimising the role of young women in the group and the degree to which programs for local young women should be developed. The staff member responsible for the group, as well as YAAFV staff, felt it important to address the potential underlying causes of the attitudes being displayed by the young men and to provide them with the knowledge and skills that would enable them to critically examine their behaviours and potentially convey some of the messages to the communities in which they lived. The session appeared to be well-received and generated a significant level of post-session discussion between YAAFV staff and several of the young people present.
4. Purpose and objective of evaluation
Program impact evaluation is considered an essential element of good practice in school- based primary prevention programs8.
Broadly, the purpose of the evaluation of the program is: to identify the extent to which the program activities lead to the planned outcomes; to identify what led to respective success or failures; and to make conclusions and findings which might inform future projects.
The evaluation sought to measure and document the efficacy of the program for next users, being students at participating schools, and the teaching staff at participating schools. In addition, the evaluation sought to draw conclusions for achieving broader, long-term objectives for change amongst end users, being the whole school community of participating schools, family and peers of participating students, and the inner North-West Melbourne community.
The broader community impact of school-based primary prevention work is characteristically difficult to measure, particularly in the context of a short-term pilot program. Accordingly, the evaluation endeavours to assess the immediate impact of the program on the target audience, and make recommendations as to how future programs might best run. Longer-term follow up with the target audience, whilst desirable, was unfortunately outside the scope of the pilot program.
8 8 State of Victoria (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development), p. 57.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 11 5. Description of the evaluation plan and design
The project evaluation was based around a participatory self-evaluation model. Whilst the majority of the project evaluation occurred at the conclusion of the program, project staff conducted ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the project content throughout the sessions. It was determined that the evaluation methodology needed to be accessible and appropriate for young people and for busy teaching professionals, and also needed to be adaptable, to enable project staff to directly monitor the efficacy of the program sessions as the program progressed. The evaluation design also needed to be resource conscious, given the program staff that would be delivering the sessions were to be responsible for implementing the evaluation. A balance was required between an evaluation plan that did not detract from the delivery of the sessions, but that was adaptable and useful as a tool to monitor and improve the program as it operated.
The evaluation plan was structured around numerous data sources including online surveys with students and teachers, activities within the program sessions, consultation with participating schools, collection of school data, a review of existing primary prevention programs, and community demographic data.
Students
Students were surveyed in the week prior to the commencement of the program, in order to gather data about their awareness of family violence as an issue, the prevalence of family violence experience within the target audience, and knowledge of support services available to respond to family violence incidents. This data was used to assist in the design of the program sessions, as well as measuring the level of pre-program knowledge of the target audience.
Activities within the sessions were utilised as a means of monitoring the effectiveness of the content and reinforcing the key messages of each session, and written responses were then collated in the final evaluation.
In addition, project staff documented direct observations arising from each of the twelve sessions, immediately following each session, to capture the student level of engagement and any interesting observations, comments and outcomes arising from the content. Project staff utilised this process to assess the appropriateness of activities and make changes as necessary.
Students were surveyed at the completion of the program to measure the improvement in their knowledge regarding family violence, including its forms, and support services available, and to assess their learning about respectful relationships.
Teaching staff
A general survey was conducted, which was open to all teaching staff at participating schools, to ascertain their level of knowledge of what family violence is, its prevalence at the current school, their level of knowledge of support services available for students
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 12 experiencing family violence, and to measure their level of confidence in responding to students with family violence issues. The secondary objective of the pre-program survey was to measure the knowledge and confidence of teaching staff in responding to family violence situations in their school, to enable exploration of the benefit of future teacher focused training/professional development in the area of family violence.
Originally it was intended that post-program surveying would take place among teaching staff to measure the impact on their knowledge at the conclusion of the program, however it was decided that there would be more utility in speaking individually with the classroom teacher that was present at each program session to measure their views and experience of the program sessions. The reason for this was that there was unlikely to be significant benefit in further surveying of all teaching staff at the school, as only an isolated group of teachers were directly present from the training, and it was outside the scope of the pilot project to educate teachers more broadly. It was viewed that sufficient feedback to measure teaching staff experiencing of the program would be accessible without further surveying.
Outcomes sought
The outcomes or practice changes which were sought through the program were as follows:
Participants develop a knowledge and understanding of what family violence is under Victorian law (ie. the Family Violence Prevention Act 2008) Participants can identify and locate appropriate support services including social support and legal support Participants place value on idea of respectful relationships and prevention of family violence Participants feel equipped to share information with family, peers and their wider community Teaching staff develop a knowledge and understanding of what family violence is Teaching staff feel confident and equipped to educate students about family violence and respectful relationships Teaching staff feel confident and equipped to provide support and information to students about family violence support services
The outcomes specific to teaching staff were not originally included in the project plan, however it was expanded into the evaluation plan as an additional objective, given that it was decided that gathering data from teaching staff would be useful in planning and developing the project.
Observation about the evaluation design
Overall, the evaluation design was appropriate for a program of the size of YAAFV. In developing and delivering a pilot program, self-evaluation enabled immediate and responsive monitoring of the program content.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 13 The use of online surveys was generally effective in gathering data and reaching a large number of program participants. However, there are obvious limitations to surveying as a means of data collection, especially with young people. Furthermore, the follow up required to ensure that participants were completing the survey was often time-consuming from program staff, and ran the risk of overburdening teaching staff who were asked to pursue completion of the surveys.
Young people at Year 9 level may be better engaged through a combination of surveys, in- person interviews, focus groups or less obvious methods of data gathering. Consideration should be given to limiting the reliance on online surveying in future programs.
6. Results/findings
Student pre-program survey
Schools were requested to have students complete the pre-program survey within one week of the commencement of the program9. In addition to gathering data about the base level of knowledge of students on the topic, the survey was intended to generally introduce the topic to students in advance of the first session.
The survey was completed by approximately 152 students. Response levels to the survey were strong, given approximately 210 students attending the program.
Respondents were aged between 13-16 years old. 98% of respondents were in the Year 9-10 bracket. 58.3% of respondents were female – 41.7% of respondents were male. 89.1% of respondents answered ‘yes’ when asked if they had heard of the term “family violence”. 10.9% answered ‘no’. Respondents were asked to indicate from a list of behaviours which can constitute family violence under the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 whether they thought a particular form of behaviour was family violence. See figure A o 91.2% of respondents recognised physical violence as a form of family violence. o Respondents were least likely to include forms of financial abuse, making threats, yelling at a family member or preventing a family from seeing others in their consideration of what constitutes family violence. Respondents were asked whether they thought they would know where to go for help if they encountered someone experiencing family violence. o 27.1% answered ‘yes’ o 19.4% answered ‘no’ o 53.5% answered ‘maybe’ Respondents were asked to indicate where they might access help to respond to a family violence situation. See figure B o Respondents were most likely to consider accessing police, a school counsellor/student welfare coordinator, or the Kids Helpline.
9 Youth Advocates Against Family Violence, Pre-Program Survey – Students.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 14 o Respondents were unlikely to access a community support or health service, or a community legal service.
FIGURE A
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 15 FIGURE B
Student post-program survey
Following the conclusion of the program, schools were asked to disseminate the post- program survey among students. Primarily, the survey was designed to capture the extent to which the program outcomes were achieved among the participants. It was also hoped that some of the survey questions would reinforce or crystallise some of the learnings from the program for students. The survey also sought feedback from students about the program which will be used by partner organisations to inform future programs.
Approximately 116 students completed the survey. This represents just over half of students who participated in the program. Whilst a stronger response rate would have been desirable, the extent of responses is certainly sufficient to draw conclusions based on the data available.
72.4% of respondents attended both sessions. 10.3% attended session 1 only, and 16.4% attended session 2 only. 3.4% of respondents did not attend a session. Respondents were asked to indicate how much they knew about family violence, both before and after the program. o 72.2% indicated that they knew a little before the program. 18.3% indicated that they knew a lot before the program. o 41.7% indicated that they knew a little since the program. 49.6% indicated that they knew a lot since the program.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 16 Respondents were requested to revisit the list of potential forms of family violence, and indicate which forms they understood to be behaviour that could constitute family violence. See figure C. o Respondents more strongly identified all forms of behaviour as potential instances of family violence, compared to the pre-program responses. o Significant shifts were evident in relation to sexual violence, financial abuse, preventing a family member from seeing others, and causing a child to be exposed to family violence. Respondents were asked whether they would know where to go to help if they or someone they knew was experiencing family violence. o 66.1% answered ‘yes’ o 9.6% answered ‘no’ o 24.3% answered ‘maybe’ 52.2% of respondents indicated they felt more confident in responding to a family violence situation since attending the program. 43.5% indicated that there confidence levels were the same as before. Students were requested to revisit the list of potential support options and indicate which they might go to for help with a family violence situation. See figure D o Respondents appeared likely to contact a more diverse range of support services than they were prior to the program. o Respondents were more likely to seek assistance from community based support services such as health services, legal services or specialist family violence services.
FIGURE C
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 17 FIGURE D
Open ended questions
Respondents were asked to respond to a range of open ended questions about some of the themes explored through the program.
Respondents were asked to highlight something that they learnt which they did not know before attending the program. Key themes which emerged were: That family violence was much more common than expected That family violence was so serious and was the leading cause of death, illness and disability for Victorian women aged between 15-44 That family violence was so broad. Respondents were especially surprised to learn that economic abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse and children witnessing family violence could all constitute family violence That there were a broad range of ways to seek help, including specialist phone help lines to deal with family violence That there are effective ways of dealing with conflict between family members That police or lawyers could get involved That abuse or violence from someone you were in a relationship with may be family violence That family violence could have multiple causes
Participant observations included:
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 18 “Something that I didn’t know before attending the program is that family violence is a lot more than fighting”.
“Something that I didn’t know before attending the program is that children who are being exposed to family violence is a form of family violence”.
“Something that I didn’t know before attending the program is that there is a lot more family violence than I expected”.
Respondents were asked to identify the ideal qualities they sought in a prospective partner and what a respectful relationship was. Common themes centred on respect, trust, equality and caring. Respondents identified the qualities that comprised a respectful relationship.
“A respectful relationship means listening to each other’s point of view, being calm, being equal and not overpowering one another”. “A respectful relationship means harmony, giving each other space, respect and no violence!”.
Respondents were asked to identify qualities which might be indicative of an unhealthy relationship. Students were able to articulate a range of indicators of an unhealthy relationship.
“An unhealthy relationship is one in which you don’t feel comfortable/confident or in which you feel controlled”.
“An unhealthy relationship is one with no trust and imbalance of power when it comes to expressing their opinions”.
“An unhealthy relationship is violence, arrogant and dominating”.
“An unhealthy relationship is not having an equal say”.
Respondents indicated in the feedback section that they would enjoy more interactive activities in the session. One respondent noted that they thought it was important that students were informed about intense situations as it would act as an eye-opener about the issues.
In-session observations and outcomes
Program staff documented key themes and responses of students which emerged from each session, including through reviewing and collating materials from activities.
Program staff made the following observations: Across all sessions, students were strongly impacted by the statistics regarding family violence and the prevalence and seriousness of the issue. Participants in single-sex school groups particularly responded well to receiving the messages regarding gender roles and inequality from presenters of both sexes. It
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 19 appeared important that a male presenter was able to engage young men on what the role of young men was in respect to preventing violence and cultivating their own capacity as ‘good men’. Similarly, young women responded well to messages from a female presenter regarding the role of women in giving voice to the issues of equality and violence prevention. Students were able to identify common gender myths and stereotype and conduct nuanced discussions about the roles of men and women in Australian society. Students across many sessions were very engaged in the discussions on gender roles and masculinity and made astute and pertinent observations on the issue. Students appeared to readily understand the social context of family violence and make linkages between gender inequality, stereotypes and the prevalence of family violence as a community issue. Students appeared to understand and engage with the legal content .Students expressed surprise at the broad range of behaviours that might constitute family violence beyond physical violence. Students across the sessions appeared able to apply the legal content to scenarios and accurately identify whether scenarios might be considered family violence. Students were able to identify the attributes of healthy and unhealthy relationships. Students were generally able to differentiate between an unhealthy relationship and a potential family violence situation, and consider the implications of an unhealthy relationship leading to family violence. Students were able trial positive communication techniques in response to scenarios of conflict or disagreement, as a means of pursing healthy relationships. Students provided insightful and nuanced responses to scenarios regarding helping others and how to safely respond. Students appeared to understand the paramount considerations of safety and the appropriate scenarios for involving teachers or the police or seeking legal assistance with an intervention order.
Teacher survey
Teaching staff across each participating school were asked to participate in a survey during the planning phase of the project. Surveying was extended beyond teaching staff that would be having direct contact with the program. The purpose of the survey was to gather data on the experience and knowledge of teachers regarding family violence issues within their school.
The survey was completed by approximately 25 teaching staff. A broader sample of responses to the survey would have been preferable.
56% of respondents worked with students across all year levels, from Year 7- VCE/VCAL. The remainder were evenly spread across the three year level groups. Respondents were asked how prevalent they thought family violence exposure or experience was for students. o 65% thought it was only marginally prevalent, 15% had never come across it at their current school, 15% thought it was prevalent and 5% thought it was very prevalent.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 20 When asked to estimate the numbers of students they had encountered who may have experienced family violence, 55% respondents answered 1-3 students, and 20% estimated more than 10 students. See figure E 61.1% of respondents indicated that they felt comfortable about how to access support for students experiencing family violence. 16.7% were not comfortable and 22.2% indicated they had not encountered the issue. When asked where they would refer students that were encountering family violence issues, 100% of respondents indicated that they would refer students to the school counsellor or student welfare coordinator. Respondents indicated they would also escalate the matter to senior teachers/principal. o Respondents indicated they would also consider referring students to Kids Helpline, Police and the Department of Human Services. Respondents were unlikely to refer students to a youth service, community health service or community legal service. Respondents were asked to identify which forms of behaviour they considered to be family violence. o Forms of physical and sexual violence, property damage and threats were most likely to be considered family violence by respondents. o As with the student responses, the least common responses included financial abuse, yelling at a family member, and preventing a family member from seeing family or friends. Respondents were asked to indicate how confident they felt in dealing with a student encountering family violence. o Only 5.6% indicated they were very confident. 33.3% were confident. o 50% of respondents were only somewhat confident and 11.1% were not confident. Comments from respondents on their experiences in the area were instructive as to the challenges for schools in supporting students in this area.
One respondent noted: “Family Violence is an exceedingly tricky situation. Our school have referred cases to Department of Human Services but this has not always been successful or helpful. We often face a situation where we try to balance ongoing emotional needs of a student and their long-term well-being with our responsibilities of mandatory reporting. There often does not seem to be any positive outcome for the student no matter which way the situation is approached”.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 21 FIGURE E
Teacher post-program consultation
As already noted, program staff elected not to re-survey teaching staff in relation to their knowledge of family violence or confidence in responding to these issues with students since the delivery of the program.
Program staff sought and received feedback from teaching staff following each session and at the conclusion of the program. Teaching staff provided useful feedback about particular program activities and suggestions as to how activities might be adapted to best engage students.
One teacher contacted program staff following a session to seek assistance for one student regarding where to access legal assistance.
Teaching staff that were present through the program sessions provided positive feedback about the program, with a number noting that the materials were very relevant and helpful for students and identified these topics as a previous gap in the student wellbeing curriculum, which they viewed was particular important for students to be educated about. A number of schools noted that the student response following the program had been very positive.
Schools made the following written comments about the program: The feedback from the students following the YAAFV sessions was overwhelming positive, with many students reflecting that the information conveyed was invaluable
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 22 and expressing a commitment to educating their peers and community about the reality of family violence and how to access support. We feel that the program provides much needed information to our students, empowering them to become better informed about one of our society’s most devastating and costly sources of interpersonal conflict. It is evident from comments made within and around the sessions that many of our students now have knowledge that they did not previously possess and that a significant number found the sessions interesting and engaging. We are pleased with the YAAFV program delivered this year and with the efforts of the facilitators to adapt the material to suit the needs of our students. Teaching staff observed that that the young people engaged well throughout the sessions, particularly in discussions around legal redress for matters involving family violence and the nature of respectful relationships amongst young people.
Three of the four participating schools have confirmed their desire to continue with the program into 2014.
7. Discussion of program and its results
The evaluation of the project has been conducted by reference to the project evaluation plan and project logic model, and the underpinning evaluation questions10. The evaluation questions have not been responded to individually, rather, this evaluation report has sought to address the content of the logic model and questions through the presentation and discussion of the outcomes of the project.
What were the benefits of the project?
The outcomes achieved through YAAFV had broad and hopefully far reaching benefit for a number of audiences. Primary prevention work strives to reach the whole community and create behavioural change at a macro level. However, measuring this is notoriously difficult and requires multi-year resourcing and evaluation. As such, the benefits and outcomes that emerge from YAAFV can be best measured by looking at the impact on the direct participants.
First and foremost, the more than 200 students who received education in family violence and respectful relationships will likely benefit into the future in their own family lives, relationships and interactions with others. Whilst measuring the long-term benefit or behavioural change for the audience was not possible in the scope of the project, at a basic level, participants are better equipped to identify family violence and to seek help in safe responding when they require it since attending the project sessions. The communities and networks of these students have also arguably benefited, as the program sought to educate and encourage young people to become advocates for family violence prevention. Feasibly, many of the young people who participated in this program will have an opportunity to share the information with their families and peers, and continue the conversation around violence prevention into the future.
10 See Program Logic Model & Program Evaluation Plan.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 23
The teaching staff and schools benefitted from the exposure to the program session. Many schools surveyed identified family violence as an issue of concern for their students, which often presented challenges for the schools in managing such issues from a student welfare perspective. Teachers and schools will be better equipped to consider and identify appropriate responses for students, and hopefully will be confident to reinforce the messages about respect and equality that were inherent in the program. Three of the four schools have indicated a desire to continue with the program in 2014, with the fourth school not opting to continue due to apparent constraints in fitting the program into its curriculum. The positive experience articulated by schools about the project will hopefully consolidate the partnerships built between the project agencies and schools, and position the schools to continue with future respectful relationship and legal education programs.
The program agencies, IMCL and DGCHS, have both benefitted from the outcomes of the program. As organisations that are primarily focused on direct service delivery of legal and youth services respectively to the communities of the inner North-West, conducting preventative work is essential. Both organisations work at the response end of the family violence issue, meaning programs that focus on prevention have a direct flow on effect to each organisation’s day to day work, however difficult to measure the success of these efforts is. Furthermore, the program has enabled both organisations to grow and consolidate strong relationships with the participating schools, providing further opportunities for collaboration, referral and engagement in future. In addition, by engaging with young people in the school environment, there will now be improved pathways for these young people to access community legal and health services as they need them, as well as sharing the information with their families and communities more broadly.
Did the project achieve its planned outcomes?
The project undoubtedly reached the key audience that it was targeting, being young men and women, particularly from a CALD background, in the inner North-West.
The evaluation data clearly demonstrated that participation in the project left students with a vastly improved understanding of the nature and extent of family violence, and the legal response to the issue in Victoria. Students demonstrated a nuanced understanding of the forms of family violence under the Family Violence Protection Act11, and the options for addressing family violence through the legal system.
The evaluation data establishes that participants in the program feel enhanced confidence in identifying and accessing appropriate support services and information for responding to family violence or relationship issues.
The data demonstrates that participants felt their level of knowledge was enhanced following attendance at the program sessions. It is anticipated that this will have the effect of better positioning young people to share their knowledge with others when it is safe to do so.
11 Family Violence Protection Act 2008, (Victoria).
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 24
The data very clearly demonstrated that participants could identify the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships, and placed value on achieving healthy or respectful relationships in their own lives.
Whilst the outcomes in relation to teachers and schools were not directly measured at the conclusion of the program, observations and feedback from teachers and schools was indicative that teachers and schools placed value in the program and felt it better positioned their school to respond to and address the issue of family violence in the school environment.
8. Conclusions and recommendations
Overall, it can be concluded that the pilot project was successful in engaging with its target audience, providing high quality information to over 200 young people, building partnerships with schools, and equipping young people with the skills and information to advocate for and respond to the issue of family violence.
In light of experiences through the life of the project and the evaluation data which has been presented in this report, the following conclusions and recommendations are made for the consideration and planning of future projects.
The program agencies should continue to pursue a youth-focused primary prevention program dealing with family violence. The establishment of partnerships with local high schools, and the buy-in from those schools should be consolidated in 2014, to ensure that the successes of the pilot program are not lost and the concept of violence prevention can be embedded in the curriculum of each school.
More protracted programs; potentially of up to 5-10 sessions across a 12-24 month period, should be explored. Whilst a significant amount of material was covered in the two project sessions, presenters believe that students would be better engaged with more nuanced and detailed program content. Further, messages and learnings have the best chance of being consolidated through intensive long-term program delivery12.
The target audience of Year 9 students was appropriate for the session content. The material also appeared suitable for the older audience of VCAL students. Future programs would ideally be directed at students in year 9 upwards, and consider including re-visited programs at Year 11 to further reinforce the key messages.
Future programs should be confident to share direct stories about family violence to young people to engage them in the serious reality of the issues. Programs should endeavour to utilise a broad range of delivery mediums and activities to ensure maximum engagement with young people.
12 State of Victoria (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development), p. 11
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 25 Implementation of a professional development/training module for teaching staff should be explored. The objective of this would be to equip teachers to confidently respond to family violence issues among students, and to ensure sustainability of the program within schools across all year levels.
Exploring expanding the program into community based settings as well as school settings, as was trialled with the Doutta Galla Youth Leadership Group. This has potential to engage a great cross-section of young people from various backgrounds, and may also have application for young adults and families.
Any future program should build in evaluation of a longitudinal nature, so that practice changes among students and school environments can be measured in a multi-year way13. This would provide greater clarity as to the usefulness and success of programs like YAAFV, and provide an opportunity to consolidate and reinforce programs beyond the generally short life of a program.
13 State of Victoria (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development), p. 21.
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 26 SOURCES
ABS 2006, Personal Safety Survey, Cat. No. 4906.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra
Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Victoria).
State of Victoria (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development), Respectful Relationship Education: Violence prevention and respectful relationships education in Victorian Secondary Schools, November 2009.
VicHealth 2004, the health costs of violence: Measuring the burden of disease caused by intimate partner violence. A summary of findings, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Carlton, re-printed 2010).
Victoria Police, Crime Statistics, available at www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=782
ANNEXURES
1. Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Evaluation Plan 2. Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Logic 3. Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – School Survey – Part 1 4. Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – School Survey – Part 2 5. Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Pre-program Survey – Students 6. Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Post-program Survey – Students
Youth Advocates Against Family Violence – Project Evaluation & Final Report 27