Montgomery, Jasmine, Lloyd, Janice, and Liang, Zhanming (2024) The Impact of Forced Separations Between Women and Their Pets in Domestic Violence Situations and the Effectiveness of Crisis Response: Protocol for a Conceptual Framework. JMIR Research Protocols, 13. e52067.

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (217kB)

Abstract

Background: Women are at high risk of experiencing trauma, guilt, and stress when forced to separate from their companion animals when fleeing domestic violence. Where little support is available for women and pets to stay together, women may be forced to delay leaving the abusive relationship or leave the pet with the abuser. Forced separation places both women and pets at substantial risk, where pets may be used as a coercive control measure. However, little evidence exists regarding the extent to which Australian services or policies offer support in these circumstances.

Objective: This research aims to increase the understanding and the impacts of forced separation between women and their pets in domestic violence situations. The research will investigate the effectiveness of service responses for both women and animals, aiming to develop a policy framework that guides service improvement with the goal of enhancing outcomes for women and pets fleeing domestic violence.

Methods: This protocol paper describes the process of developing a conceptual framework of 4 studies that include a scoping review, policy analysis, focus groups, and interviews that guide the design of the qualitative research project.

Results: A scoping review of the literature on forced separation from pets in domestic violence, natural disasters, and homelessness situations has led to the development of a conceptual framework that guided the design of the proposed study. The review also confirmed the necessity of the proposed research project in addressing the lack of Australian national frameworks and guidance available for women and pets seeking formal support in domestic violence situations. As of August 2023, supporting organizations have commenced the distribution of the research flyers. Expected data collection will be completed between August and October 2023. The results are expected to be published in June 2025.

Conclusions: Via a systematic process, the importance of the proposed study in improving the understanding of the impact of forced separation between women and their pets at times of domestic violence and the gaps in best supporting both women and their pets has been confirmed. A study design based on the learnings from previous studies and the focus of the current research has been finalized. The impact of the research project in developing an Australian national framework for best supporting women and their pets in crisis situations is anticipated.

Item ID:	86825
Item Type:	Article (Scholarly Work)
ISSN:	1929-0748
Keywords:	Companion animals, domestic violence, forced separation, research protocol, animal welfare, pets, animal abuse, Australia, coercive control, abusive partner, abusive, trauma, support, animal
Copyright Information:	©Jasmine Montgomery, Janice Lloyd, Zhanming Liang. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 25.01.2024. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Research Protocols, is properly cited.
Date Deposited:	20 Aug 2025 03:55
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4499 Other human society > 449999 Other human society not elsewhere classified @ 50% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420699 Public health not elsewhere classified @ 25% 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3009 Veterinary sciences > 300999 Veterinary sciences not elsewhere classified @ 25%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1399 Other culture and society > 139999 Other culture and society not elsewhere classified @ 25% 20 HEALTH > 2002 Evaluation of health and support services > 200202 Evaluation of health outcomes @ 75%
	More Statistics