Harm and Stigma Prevention in Forensic Psychology (HASP-FP)

Project Leads: Prof. Erica Bowen and Dr. Jenny Mackay

This study seeks to understand the interrelationships between childhood adverse experiences, with later life stress, trauma and intimate partner violence perpetration in a nationally representative sample of men and women. Of particular interest is the extent to which childhood benevolent (beneficial) experiences and psychological flexibility (the ability to continue in a course of values aligned action despite negative self-focused emotions, influence this developmental trauma pathway into perpetration.

A secondary question is the extent to which these relationships between variables are the same for men and women. A secondary objective of the study is to validate a broad measure of controlling behaviours on a British nationally representative sample. The findings from this study will inform early intervention and prevention efforts, and additional outputs will include a rationalised set of measures that will later be validated with prison, probation and forensic mental health populations. This project is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Fiona Lerigo (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).

Project Leads: Prof. Erica Bowen, Dr. Jenny Mackay, and Dr. Palwinder Athwal-Kooner

There is growing attention being paid to relational practice, the benefits of working relationally and how to develop relational practice. This large-scale interdisciplinary review of the literature seeks to identify and isolate those behaviours for which there is strong empirical evidence that they facilitate positive change in client behaviours. This review will lead to a number of quantitative and qualitative syntheses, and will lead to the development of practice guidance and CPD training.

Project Leads: Prof. Erica Bowen and Dr. Jenny Mackay

The experience of childhood adversity and trauma within family relationships is known to be associated with the later perpetration of violence and abuse within intimate relationships for a large proportion of offenders convicted of these crimes. There also exists a body of literature which characterises trauma as a relevant situational risk factor for violence and abuse in the intimate relationships of Army veterans. More recently, a small body of literature has documented the traumatising effect that using physical violence can have on the assailant (perpetration-induced trauma). Together these literatures indicate that historic traumatisation and current trauma symptomology may be relevant to the risk of intimate partner violence and abuse.

What is less well understood, and what is important to understand, is whether and how trauma may impact the ability of someone convicted of intimate partner violence and abuse to benefit from rehabilitation efforts, and group-based treatment programmes specifically. This is particularly important to understand given that current evidence documenting the effectiveness of these approaches fails to provide wholesale support for their utility in reducing intimate partner violence and abuse. The aim of this qualitative project is to examine criminal justice workers experiences with, and attitudes and opinions towards, the relevance of trauma to the rehabilitation process and outcomes of this group of offenders.

Project Leads: Dr. Rahmanara Chowdhury

This project involves supporting the Muslim Mind Collaborative (MMC) – a consortium of mental health services supporting the needs of minoritised communities – in order to ascertain and build capacity. The project will seek to hold a series of workshops aimed at capacity building, alongside collecting primary data relating to capacity building needs within member organisations. The project is being carried out in collaboration with Sabah Gilani (OBE) founder of MMC and Vanessa Morris, CEO, MIND - Hackney and Waltham Forest.

Project Leads: Dr.Rahmanara Chowdhury

This was a two year project exploring the understanding of and experiences of abuse in Scottish Muslim communities. The project involved talking to individuals through a number of mediums alongside holding a wide variety of engagement events within communities. The project was carried out in collaboration with Grassroots organisation SACRED (body:mind:space), Maariyah Adam, alongside Mahrukh Adnan Shaukat, and Imam Farooq Mulla. The published report can be found at: https://www.sacredbms.org.uk/research

Project Leads: Dr. Craig Harper and Dr. Rebecca Lievesley

In this William A. Percy Foundation funded project, we are studying the psychological motivators and effects of sex doll ownership. Specifically, we are looking at the psychological characteristics of those who buy sex dolls, as well as studying the effects of ownership on psychological traits and indicators of sexual risk using a longitudinal design. We are also engaged with various stakeholders within the healthcare and law enforcement sectors to understanding their perceptions of sex dolls.

Project Leads: Dr. Craig Harper and Dr. Rebecca Lievesley

In this British Academy funded project, we are seeking to understand how Britons use artificial intelligence (AI) in sexual contexts. This includes using virtual reality, augmented pornography, chatbots, and robots in sexual contexts. We are particularly interested in the psychological drivers of this usage, and the effects that it may have on sexual attitudes and behaviours. We are also engaged with various stakeholders in healthcare, law enforcement, and the adult entertainment industry to understand how they encounter and use AI in their work.

Project Leads: Dr. Rebecca Lievesley and Dr. Craig Harper

In this project we are seeking to understand sexual fantasy use by people who have minimal options for addressing sexual frustration. We are exploring the role of sexual frustration as a treatment need among people who experience attractions to children, and what this means in terms of their risk levels and subjective wellbeing. We are working with healthcare and law enforcement stakeholders on this project, with a view to developing training on how to most effectively work with these clients in therapeutic and abuse prevention settings.

Project Lead: Dr. Jenny Mackay

This project is funded by Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioners, with a research team including Curzon Consulting, Prof Nicola Graham-Kevan at UCLAN and i3Analytics. As a project team, we are into the third and final milestone of evaluating this innovative approach to working with domestic violence perpetrators in a way that we have not seen across the UK before.

Project Lead: Dr. Jenny Mackay

With colleagues in Simon Fraser University, Canada, we are updating two international reviews of the literature related to a) the prevalence of intimate partner violence victimisation and perpetration as reported by men and women, and b) the prevalence of bidirectional intimate partner violence.