Evidence-informed findings and recommendations to enhance service response.
Evidence helps us learn from what has been proven to be successful elsewhere, test and measure our own approaches, and continually learn and improve.
Experts by experience
Research highlighting how perspectives of Lived and Living Experience (LLE) can be integrated into family violence and sexual violence work.
Focus on children and young people
Research examining the impact of family violence and sexual violence on children and young people, offering insights to improve support systems for their wellbeing.
Intimate partner violence
This research delves into the drivers and impacts of intimate partner violence, shedding light on the impacts on individuals and communities, and aiming to enhance workforce knowledge and capacity.
Service responses
Research and reports exploring systemic responses to family and sexual violence, how users navigate service pathways, and how organisations might better work together to provide effective, earlier responses and prevention.
What works
Program evaluations and promising research on approaches to address and mitigate the effects of family violence and sexual violence.
Understanding Child Sexual Abuse
Research to help all professionals better understand CSA, and ideas on how we can work together to provide more effective prevention and earlier intervention.
A literature review of therapeutic intervention with young survivors of violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect | Mary Jo McVeigh, 2025 | Read moreReviews therapeutic approaches for young survivors and highlights a persistent gap between adult centred evaluation and children’s lived experiences.
‘We have a part to play’: How children and young people want adults to engage them in the primary prevention of child abuse and maltreatment | Tim Moore; Morag McArthur, 2024 | Read moreThis article shares the perspectives of children and young people on their role in prevention of abuse and maltreatment.
Seeking help in their own right: Young victim-survivors’ experiences of family violence crisis responses in Victoria | Safe Steps, 2025 | Read more
Windows of opportunity | Family Life, 2024 | ReadThis research combines a literature review with insights from victim–survivors, family safety advocates and family violence professionals to examine strengths, barriers and opportunities in child-focused approaches.
Sources of lived experience in the family violence sector | Safe + Equal, 2022 | Read moreThis research builds on the Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework, aiming to embed victim–survivors’ lived experiences in the family violence service sector, exploring how these can be integrated into family violence work.
Cultivating lived wisdom: Translating experience to expertise | Regional Family Violence Partnership, 2024 | Read moreA report reviewing up to five years of consumer and lived experience participation training programs; national and international contemporary lived experience participation training in the family violence sector; national social services and health consumer participation practice; evidence-informed public facing documents; and interviews with current local providers of lived experience participation training.
Crossing the line: Lived experience of sexual violence among trans women of colour from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in Australia: Key findings and future directions | ANROWS, 2022 | Read moreAn edited summary of key findings from ANROWS research Crossing the line: Lived experience of sexual violence among trans women of colour from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in Australia.
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Tug of war | Jack*, 2025 | Read moreExplores how loyalty conflicts, fear, and pressure shape children’s relationships with adults around them.
Coercive control and situational couple violence in families with child protection involvement: A case-file analysis | Ulrike Marwitz, Daryl J. Higgins and Thomas Whelan, 2024 | Read moreThis study analyses child protection case files to distinguish coercive control from situational couple violence and examines how these patterns shape risk, child safety, and intervention outcomes.
Filicide: Implications of new research for practice | Thea C. Brown; Danielle Tyson; Paula Fernandez Arias, 2025 | Read moreThis article synthesises new Australian research on filicide and outlines key predictors, risk patterns, and systemic gaps identified in coronial and case review material.
Revisiting cumulative harm: Reflecting on new research insights, legislative developments and coronial evidence as a road map for next steps | India Bryce, 2024 | Read moreThis review revisits the concept of cumulative harm through recent research, legislative changes, and coronial findings, making the case that cumulative harm remains an under-recognised driver of poor outcomes for children.
Exposure to intimate partner violence and the physical and emotional abuse of children | Australian Institute of Criminology, 2023 | Read moreThis research report presents findings from a survey of 3775 female carers, focusing on children’s exposure to intimate partner violence and the carers’ experiences of physical and emotional abuse.
The Australian Child Maltreatment Study | The ACMS Study, 2023 | Read moreThis first large-scale Australian study reports on the prevalence of child maltreatment, including child sexual abuse, its association with mental illness and its impact on health risk behaviours and conditions.
Amplify: Turning up the volume on young people and family violence | Melbourne City Mission, 2021 | Read moreThis project seeks to understand the service system gaps for young people who are experiencing family violence in the home or from an intimate partner and aims to map a way forward.
You can’t pour from an empty cup | ANROWS, 2019 | Read moreResearch findings about the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who have both experienced domestic and family violence and had contact with the child protection system.
Insights into intimate partner violence
This research delves into the prevalence and impacts of intimate partner violence, shedding light on the impacts on individuals and communities, and aiming to enhance workforce knowledge and capacity.
Disconnected & Insecure: The intersection between experiences of long COVID and intimate partner violence | MGFVPC and Safe and Equal, 2024 | Read more This report seeks to put the interpersonal safety and support needs of individuals diagnosed with long COVID on the political agenda.
Interventions for perpetrators of domestic, family and sexual violence in Australia | ANROWS, 2021 | Read more Aligned with the National Outcome Standards for Perpetrator Interventions, this research examines how human services (e.g. mental health, alcohol and other drugs, child protection) can be integral to perpetrator intervention systems.
Responding to the new normal: Exploring the impacts of pornography | SASVic, 2024 | Read moreThis discussion paper provides an overview of key issues and literature examining the relationship between pornography and sexual violence.
A life course approach to determining the prevalence and impact of sexual violence in Australia | ANROWS, 2022 | Read more This study presents evidence relating to the prevalence of sexual violence against women in Australia and the impacts of sexual violence across a woman’s lifetime.
Technology-facilitated sexual violence | eSafety Commissioner, 2023 | Read moreThis e-Safety Commission review summarises the nature, prevalence, impacts and responses to technology-facilitated abuse and sexual violence, identifying barriers, enablers and available support in Australia (source: eSafety Commissioner, 2023).
Action Research: Use of family violence by LGBTIQ+ people | CFRE, 2020 | Read moreNational and international research has found that family violence in LGBTIQ+ relationships occurs at rates similar to, if not higher than, heterosexual relationships.
The prevalence of acquired brain injury among victims and perpetrators of family violence | Brain Injury Australia, 2015 | Read more This study is the first in Australia to link acquired brain injury with family violence, highlighting significant service gaps in screening, rehabilitation, recovery and support.
What Helps Children and Young People to Disclose their Experience of Sexual Abuse and What Gets in the Way? A Systematic Scoping Review | McPherson et al., 2025 | Read moreExplores barriers and enablers to disclosure of CSA.
Fractured Systems, Compounded Trauma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Aggregation of Crisis Service Experiences After Child Sexual Assault | Whitehouse et al., 2025 | Read moreThis research examines service responses to children after sexual assault identifies the need for systemic reforms; standardized multi-disciplinary protocols, dedicated family supports, and provider training as well as clinical and supportive supervision to mitigate secondary trauma. Findings underscore the need for trauma-informed systems to prevent compounding harm during this vulnerable period.
Improving responses to young men’s use of intimate partner violence: Towards a best practice approach | University of Western Sydney, 2025 | Read moreThis research seeks to understand how to improve service responses to young men aged 16–25 using intimate partner violence (IPV) in Victoria, Australia.
Harm in the name of safety: Victorian family violence workers’ experiences of family violence policing. Beyond Survival Project Report. | Flat Out Inc., 2025 | Read moreThe research documents evidence from 225 Victorian frontline workers about their experiences of police responses to family violence.
Coordinated Responses – continuing to strengthen collaborative practice | Centre, Safe+Equal, NTV | Read morePromotes collaborative practice by providing practice examples, including questions and tips for specialist family violence victim survivor services, perpetrator intervention services, and child and family services to use MARAM, FVISS and CISS across sectors.
Improving services pathways | Project Respect, 2024 | Read moreThis report explores the barriers faced by women and gender diverse people in Victoria’s sex industry when accessing support services.
Predominant aggressor identification and victim misidentification | NTV, 2024 | Read moreThis discussion paper emphasises the need for family violence interventions to focus on the complexities of people using violence, their behaviours, motives and presentations to improve risk identification, assessment and management.
Gender-based violence and help-seeking behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic | MGFVPC, 2022 | Read moreThis research explores women’s experiences of violence and help seeking during COVID-19 restrictions, and the impact on health for social care workers providing support.
I believe you: Children and young people’s experiences of seeking help, securing help and navigating the family violence system | MGFVPC, 2023 | Read moreThis report presents the key findings and thematic analysis of interviews with 17 children and young people living in Victoria who have had experience of family violence.
Collaboration: A plan for making the difference | The Centre for Non-Violence and Bendigo Community Health Services, 2021 | Read moreA panel discussion about Making the Difference, an initiative of The North Central Victorian Family Services Alliance (NCVFSA) implementing the Safe & Together framework across all family services agencies and specialist family violence services across the region.
How multi-agency responses to family/domestic violence can generate positive systemic change | DV Vic, 2017 | Read moreIn 2016, Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence made 227 reform recommendations, emphasising collaboration between agencies and establishing multidisciplinary responses.
What works?
Evaluation of the FV Refuge to Recovery for LGBTIQA+ People | Refuge Victoria, Thorne Harbour Health & Switchboard, 2025 | Read moreThis evaluation report assesses the effectiveness of a program aimed at reducing barriers for LGBTIQA+ victim survivors in accessing mainstream FV services.
Youth + LGBTIQ Specialist Family Violence Therapeutic Arts | Family Access Network, 2024 | Read moreThis program evaluation report by Caz McLean evaluates the Creative Art Therapy (CAT) Program by Family Access Network (FAN), which provides therapeutic support to LGBTIQA+ young people and pregnant/parenting young people impacted by family violence and homelessness.
What works? A qualitative exploration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healing programs that respond to family violence | ANROWS, 2024 | Read moreThis project aimed to determine “what works” in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healing programs from the perspectives of the people who deliver, use and are impacted by those programs.
Online perpetrator interventions | NTV, 2024 | Read moreThis discussion paper on the latest online Men’s Behaviour Change Programs is informed by interviews with practitioners, conversations with No to Violence members and review of existing literature
The REACH Project | University of Melbourne, SAS Vic & Women with Disabilities Vic | 2024 | Read moreInformed and guided by people with lived experience of sexual assault, this project focused on better understanding of what helps people to recover and heal after sexual violence.
Let’s talk about sex | MGFVPC, 2023 | Read moreThis paper examines practitioners’ views on intimate partner sexual violence in intervention programs and offers recommendations to improve identification, assessment and response.
Prioritising women’s safety in Australian perpetrator interventions | ANROWS, 2020 | Read moreThe growing focus on perpetrator accountability and prioritising the safety of women and children has led to Men’s Behaviour Change Programs (MBCPs) becoming the main intervention for perpetrators in Australia. This project examines partner contact practices with a focus on enhancing safety for women and children.
Pride in Prevention evidence guide | Rainbow Health Australia, 2020 | Read moreSummarises the current available evidence on the drivers of family violence experienced by LGBTIQ communities
Men’s behaviour change programs: Measuring outcomes and improving program quality | ANROWS, 2019 | Read more This research aimed to identify how to improve the quality of Men’s Behaviour Change Programs (MBCPs), how to measure outcomes and how to develop standards and accreditation processes that will improve quality and consistency of practice.
Children and mothers in mind | Kids First, 2019 | Read moreChildren and Mothers in Mind (CMiM)was an Australian-first program designed for mothers and children under four years, who have experienced trauma such as family violence, childhood abuse or sexual assault.
Understanding Child Sexual abuse
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Online child sexual victimization and associated health risk behaviours and mental disorders: Findings from a national survey in Australia | Mathews et al., 2026 | Read more This study investigates whether two types of OCSV – nonconsensual sharing of sexual images, and sexual solicitation by an adult – are associated with health risk behaviours and mental disorders.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Lessons From International Case Studies of Child Sexual Abuse in Early Childhood Education and Care Settings | Woodlock et al., 2026 | Read moreThis article examines six prosecuted CSA cases from high-income countries involving serial offending against children under the age of five to explore how such severe abuse can persist despite regulation and apparent safeguards, and contrary to persistent scholarly claims that child sex offenders do not target ECEC settings.
Co-Occurrence of Child Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence: A Scoping Review | Olejníková L; Dragiewicz M; Woodlock D; Salter M; Banks C, 2025 | Read moreThis article presents findings from a scoping review of articles reporting prevalence data for co-occurring CSA and DV.
Barriers and Facilitators for Sexual Trauma Disclosure in Boys and Men: A Systematic Review | Pilkington et al., 2025 | Read moreA systematic review was conducted to consolidate evidence surrounding barriers, facilitators, and predictors of disclosure likelihood and timing in boys and men following sexual trauma (i.e., sexual abuse, assaults, and coercion).
What survivors of child sexual abuse taught me about child safety, grace and the work of being sorry | Ben Spence, 2025 | Read moreA reflective article drawing on learnings from survivors of child sexual abuse to examine what a genuine apology, relational repair, and survivor-centered safety look like in practice.
Developing Minimum Practice Standards for specialist and community support services responding to child sexual abuse | Amanda J. Paton et al, 2024 | Read moreOutlines the national co-design process used to develop minimum practice standards for responding to child sexual abuse.
‘We have a part to play’: How children and young people want adults to engage them in the primary prevention of child abuse and maltreatment | Tim Moore; Morag McArthur, 2024 | Read moreShares the perspectives of children and young people on their role in prevention of abuse and maltreatment, and offers practical guidance for involving them in meaningful, safe and developmentally appropriate ways across services and communities.
Identifying and understanding child sexual offending behaviours and attitudes among Australian men | 2023 | Read moreThis research measures the prevalence of offending and risk behaviours and attitudes amongst of a weighted sample of 1,945 Australian men over 18 years of age.
Australian Childhood Maltreatment Study | QUT, 2023 Read moreThe ACMS generated the first national Australian prevalence estimates of the five types of child maltreatment, and their associated adverse impacts on health and other outcomes.
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Information provided on this Family Violence Sexual Violence Knowledge Hub is curated to be the most recent and relevant available. The content is continually being developed and will be regularly updated to reflect the latest insights and best practices. While we strive to maintain the accuracy and timeliness of the information, we encourage users to check back frequently for new and refreshed materials.
