Domestic violence study puts focus on older women in Maritimes

Researchers are seeking participants for a Maritimes study to see how virtual intervention services can help older women in abusive relationships.

Dr. Lori Weeks, a professor at Dalhousie University’s School of Nursing in Halifax, and research co-ordinator Kathleen Allen, with the Muriel Mcqueen Ferguson Centre for Family Violence Research at UNB, are working with the University of P.E.I,. Universite de Moncton and St. Francis Xavier University on a trial of advocacy support for older women experiencing intimate partner violence.

The AIM Study, or Advocacy Program for Women in Midlife and Older, is a threeyear study funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada that involves virtual interventions for women over 50 years old who are living with or in the process of leaving an abusive partner. Weeks said while there are many studies in Canada currently focusing on gender-based violence, theirs is only one of three focused on aging.

“The funding that was made available was to implement interventions based on older people and violence and gender,” said Weeks, who is the study’s principal investigator. “Our team has worked a lot over the years ... to address issues specifically related to aging and violence.”

Participants in the AIM program receive an hour-long intervention followed by virtual social support either by phone or online weekly for 12 weeks, as well as a check-in at three and nine months afterwards. Weeks said the concept, developed in Taiwan for with no specific age group, had “strong outcomes,” and her group has adapted it to specifically target older women in the Maritimes.

“Members of our team did a systematic review during COVID ... looking that interventions that were delivered virtually,” Weeks said. “How can women experiencing violence in relationships receive supports ... when there wasn’t as much access to physically going to a service centre to receive counselling and support?”

Weeks said the virtual support includes discussion of the dynamics of abusive relationships, around aging experiences and safety planning, including digital safety such as erasing browser history.

“We’re really more in that active phase, where someone has already identified that they’re in an abusive relationship, wants some changes to happen, and wants to make plans for the future.”

Applicants will be randomly assigned to either participate in the program or the control group, which will receive basic information about existing IPV resources, Weeks said. She said there are 12 people trained to deliver the program, with English and French available, for people who have “lots of experience” intervening with vulnerable people.

Allen said they have been working with transition houses or other organizations that provide services to victims of violence. Weeks said they are working with experienced staff, but the training has generally involved “sensitizing them to the needs of older women.”

“In domestic violence services, older women have been kind of ignored,” Weeks said. “Our team is really interested in the needs of older women, and not just younger women who have dependent children.”

Weeks said they started applying for the study last summer, including putting the project before the ethics boards of all the universities involved. Since opening applications in September, they have four subjects who have applied, and Weeks said they’re seeking 35 in each of the program groups and control groups.

She said that recruitment is “a really important piece,” saying that women facing violence are a “challenging” group to target, especially older women, because of social pressures. What’s been working for them is partnerships with service providers like counsellors and shelters, she said, including sharing information with clients or receiving permission to hand out contacts.

During the study, Weeks said they will monitor whether the participants’ situations have improved, as well as the way their approach to safety and abuse may have changed. They’ll also be interviewing the participants and staff providing the interventions to get an idea of their experiences and any recommendations, Weeks said.

Weeks said many aspects of domestic violence are the same, but older women may have “even greater barriers” to leaving an abusive relationship or getting help if experiencing violence. She said that shelters may not be geared to older women, noting that privacy or noise may be issues, as well as different healthcare needs for seniors and age gaps with shelter staff.

“There are a lot of issues around a person’s age that can affect their values around relationships and their interest in seeking help and support,” she said. “Leaving a partner, that might mean something very different for someone in their 70s or 80s versus someone in their 20s or 30s, for example.”

She said the group has also done a small qualitative study in rural areas of New Brunswick that show older women “often have a strong and long-standing connection to place,” saying a home might have been in a family for generations. Attachment may involve land, community, or animals, she said.

For more information, call (833) 854-9563 or email AIMstudy@unb.ca.