IRIS National Report 2020: 7 useful things you may not know about our programmes

We are delighted to announce that our 2020 National Report is ready! Every year, IRISi collects and analyses data related to the IRIS programme to produce a complete report that shows exactly what has been achieved and what can be improved. Click here or over the image to see the document.

An important number to start with: Up to March 2020, a total of 20,544 women were identified and referred by IRIS trained clinicians as being affected by Domestic Abuse (DA), which enabled them to access support.

This report also includes early findings from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on IRIS services and to our service users.

“Between April 2019 and March 2020, IRIS programmes have received 4,943 referrals, totalling 20,544 referrals since the first site was commissioned in 2011. This number only reinforces how efficient the IRIS programmes are because it shows that, after being trained, clinicians’ awareness of Domestic Abuse signs and symptoms increase considerably and they feel confident to ask women whether they are affected by DA. As a result, what once was almost an invisible disease for general practice starts to be seen – which increases the number of referrals and most importantly enables women to access the support they need”, explains Medina Johnson, Chief Executive of IRISi.

Here are 7 useful things you may want to learn about what the IRIS Programme does and can achieve.

#01 IRIS Expansion

Since March 2019, 7 new sites have commissioned IRIS.

#02 IRIS Sites

From November 2010 to March 2020, IRIS programmes have fully trained more than 1,000 general practices in 48 sites across the UK. Currently IRIS is commissioned in a total of 34 sites.

#03 IRIS Trends

The number of referrals is one of the main measures of success of the IRIS programmes. The broad trend is an increasing number of referrals from each site over time, suggesting no reduction in the value of IRIS even after 10 years. This means the intervention is sustainable over time.

#04 IRIS Service Users

Women referred via the IRIS programme provide demographic information. We know, for example: The mean age of service users was 39.5 years; 57.2% of service users classified themselves as White British, 13.7% of service users as Asian, and 10.3% of service users as British (other). 59.1% of service users reported experiencing mental ill health, generally experiencing depression and/or anxiety.

We collect information about the women referred via their local IRIS programme. We know, for example:

The average age of service users was 39.5 years; 8% were aged 60 and above
57.2% of service users classified themselves as White British, 13.7% of service users as Asian, and 10.3% of service users as British (other). Less than 5% classified themselves as Black/Caribbean.
59.1% of service users reported experiencing mental ill health, generally experiencing depression and/or anxiety.

#05 Types of abuse

We also know that the most frequent type of abuse experienced by IRIS service users was emotional abuse (68.9%), followed by physical abuse (59.3%). But, unfortunately, a lot of them have experienced more than one type of abuse.

We also know that the most frequent type of abuse experienced by IRIS service users was emotional abuse (68.9%), followed by physical abuse (59.3%). Almost all women have experienced more than one type of abuse.

#06 Relationship with perpetrator

The vast majority of perpetrators (90%) were current or former partners/spouses. Current partners and spouses (50%) were more likely to be the perpetrator than ex-partners and ex-spouses (40%).

#07 Early findings on Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic brought a massive change, since we managed to adapt from a fully face-to-face IRIS programme to a fully remote programme in only 3 months, but data already confirms that we did it properly. Only 16.7% of clinicians felt somewhat or very unconfident identifying and asking about domestic violence and abuse (DVA) during telephone/video consultations after being trained by IRIS Programmes online sessions.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought about an important change in care services. We adapted from a fully face-to-face IRIS programme to a fully remote programme in only 3 months. And data already confirms that we did it properly. Only 16.7% of clinicians felt somewhat or very unconfident identifying and asking about domestic violence and abuse (DVA) during telephone/video consultations after being trained by IRIS Programmes online sessions.

Soon, we will go deeper into how IRISi and the IRIS programme have adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic during Look Beyond – our annual campaign focusing around the role that healthcare professionals play in the identification and referral of victims and survivors of DVA.

We would like to thank IRIS partner organisations, local IRIS teams, funders and commissioners for their support and flexibility.

Partners

AVA

AVA is an expert, groundbreaking and independent charity working across the UK.

Their vision is a world without gender based violence and abuse. They aim to inspire innovation and collaboration and encourage and enable direct service providers to help end gender based violence and abuse particularly against women and girls.AVA’s work is focused around those areas where they can make the best contribution to ending violence and abuse. They do this by making sure that survivors get the help and support they need in the here and now, through providing innovative training that has a proven direct impact on the professional practice of people supporting survivors of violence and abuse

developing a range of toolkits, e-learning and other material that supports professionals to provide effective and appropriate support to survivors of violence and abuse

using our influence and networks to ensure survivors voices are heard. We work closely with AVA in many areas including the Pathfinder project

https://avaproject.org.uk

SafeLives

SafeLives are a national charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse, for good. We combine insight from services, survivors and statistics to support people to become safe, well and rebuild their lives. Since 2005, SafeLives has worked with organisations across the country to transform the response to domestic abuse, with over 60,000 victims at highest risk of murder or serious harm now receiving co-ordinated support annually. SafeLives are members of the Pathfinder consortium.

http://www.safelives.org.uk/about-us

IMKAAN

Imkaan is a UK-based, Black feminist organisation. We are the only national second-tier women’s organisation dedicated to addressing violence against Black and minoritised women and girls i.e. women and girls which are defined in policy terms as Black and ‘Minority Ethnic’ (BME). The organisation holds nearly two decades of experience of working around issues such as domestic violence, forced marriage and ‘honour-based’ violence.

They work at local, national and international level, and in partnership with a range of organisations, to improve policy and practice responses to Black and minoritised women and girls. Imkaan works with it’s members to represent the expertise and perspectives of frontline, specialist and dedicated Black and minoritised women’s organisations that work to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. Imkaan delivers a unique package of support which includes: quality assurance; accredited training and peer education; sustainability support to frontline Black and minoritised organisations; and facilitation of space for community engagement and development. They are a part of the Pathfinder Consortium.

https://www.imkaan.org.uk

The University of Bristol CAPC

The Centre for Academic Primary Care (CAPC) is a leading centre for primary care research in the UK, one of nine forming the NIHR School for Primary Care Research. It is part of Bristol Medical School, an internationally recognised centre of excellence for population health research and teaching.

A dedicated team of researchers at the Centre work on domestic abuse projects and IRISi is a co-collaborator and partner on some of these projects including ReProvide, HERA and DRiDVA.

The Health Foundation

The Health Foundation is an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK. The Health Foundation’s Exploring Social Franchising programme aims to generate a deeper understanding of the potential of social franchising models for scaling effective health and social care interventions within the NHS.

We are one of four project teams participating in the programme to develop a social franchise to enable the sustainable spread of our intervention, the IRIS Programme. We receive funding and support from the Health Foundation, including technical expertise on social franchising, and attend programme learning events. The Health Foundation has also commissioned a programme-wide evaluation to support understanding of the use of social franchising in the UK health and care system. We and our franchisees will support the evaluation through co-designing data collection requirements, providing access to data as requested, hosting site visits and attending learning events.

https://www.health.org.uk

STADV

Standing Together Against Domestic Violence is a UK charity bringing communities together to end domestic abuse. They bring local services together to keep people safe

Most public services weren’t designed with domestic abuse in mind, and they often struggle to keep people safe. Poor communication and gaps between services put survivors at risk.

STADV aim to end domestic abuse by changing the way that local services respond to it. They do this through an approach that they pioneered, called the Coordinated Community Response. The Coordinated Community Response brings services together to ensure local systems truly keep survivors safe, hold abusers to account, and prevent domestic abuse.

Their model of a coordinated local partnership to tackle and ultimately prevent domestic violence is now widely accepted as best practice. They are also a part of the Pathfinder consortium.

http://www.standingtogether.org.uk

Spring Impact

Spring Impact is a not-for-profit social enterprise born out of the frustration of seeing social organisations constantly reinventing the wheel and wasting scarce resources. Spring Impact uses a combination of tested commercial and social principles and extensive practical expertise to support organisations to identify, design and implement the right social replication model to scale their social impact.