Promoting health and wellbeing through alleviating domestic violence: a mixed-method study to address domestic violence in the UK Muslim population an

Domestic violence (DV) affects 8.5% of females and 4.5% of males in the UK annually, equating 1.4 million woman and 700,000 men (ONS, 2015). The impact of DV within the life of an individual, and as a wider ripple effect within society, has been described as a journey of survival (Smith, 2003) which has profound impacts on the health and wellbeing of individuals, their families and communities. The human and emotional costs are estimated to be £26 million per day (Coy & Kelly, 2011)
Research demonstrates the potential success of tailored interventions within the criminal justice system in making significant individual transformations (Lambrick & Glaser, 2004), followed by a positive ripple effect to the health and wellbeing of individual communities and society as a whole.
This study will address DV in the UK Muslim community. The UK Muslim prison population has risen to 15% in 2016 compared to 8% in 2002 and is the third largest religious cohort within the prison setting. Domestic violence is known to occur in the Muslim community, but current research of DV within the Muslim community is minimal and narrowly focused, e.g. on constructs of abusive personalities (Dutton, 1994), perpetrator gender consequences (Caldwell, 2012), and childhood contributory factors (Dutton & White, 2012). Within research in the sexual violence field (Blagden, Winder & Gregson, et al, 2014), studies conducted with religious perpetrators tend to focus on those from a Christian denomination (Eshuys & Smallbone, 2006). Similarly, present DV interventions programmes do not target the specific religious and cultural contexts of DV in the Muslim community.

Aim: To improve understanding of the occurrence of domestic violence in the Muslim community and its impacts on health and wellbeing to inform preventative interventions and desistance strategies for perpetrators
To increase knowledge and understanding of community views of the nature, occurrence and health and wellbeing impacts of DV in the Muslim community, and the processes through which these views are formed
To increase knowledge and understanding of perpetrator views of the nature, occurrence and health and wellbeing impacts of DV in the Muslim community, and the processes through which these views are formed
To understand the impact of current DV treatment programmes and potential contributors for reducing recidivism and encouraging desistance
To make recommendations for enhancing effectiveness of preventative intervention programmes for DV in the Muslim community.

As a partial inside researcher with proven experience of working in the field, and having gained the support of Imams interviewed to date for my MSc project, I have a strong foundation upon which this research can be developed. The qualitative data from the community will take place within the East Midlands; the data collection with perpetrators will be conducted in HMP Whatton and HPM Stafford. The research will consist of two studies and will use a mixed methods approach:
Conclusion
Information dissemination of how research findings translate into improving health and wellbeing at both an individual and collective level, between professionals, practitioners and voluntary sector including faith based organisations.
Inform current policy and practice in regards to treatment programmes, with increased presence of protective factors based on the GLM model indicating greater treatment effectiveness and potential for positive change.
Findings/recommendations for practice to be further disseminated through relevant conference presentations and journal publications.