Our Domestic Violence Awareness Raising Programme: Evaluations

What we have here is combined evaluation of the above, taking the results from the Customer's Evaluation and a slightly different approach, where participants are asked to write a couple of lines on a post card, detailing what the event meant to them: Thanks to Matt for your help in getting all of this together!

A West Midlands University February 2011: Human Resource Officers – Violence against Women by Men They Know – Domestic Violence and associated factors.

We were asked to run a development session regarding the implications of domestic violence and how it affects people in the workplace. It was an important session because statistics suggest that at least one in four people suffer domestic abuse at some point in their lives – which, for the participants, means that it is statistically probable that victims of domestic violence include people they know, and people they work with. The greater majority of the participants of the event wished to obtain a greater understanding of the issues that relate to domestic violence, not least of which the signs of what to look out for from somebody who may be suffering from it. From this; they would like to be able to listen to and offer guidance and advice to the relevant people. This in turn would help them in their job role as Human Resource Officers, though it was suggested by one participant that disclosures are not common.

Most of the participants agree that almost all of the objectives – both the objectives of the event and their personal learning objectives – had been achieved, one of which commented that the course “has covered all of the areas of domestic violence.” The constructive criticism that we received suggested that there wasn’t enough time to cover every aspect of such a large topic, particularly where it relates to recognising the signals that would point to signs of abuse. It was also specifically suggested that it would be useful to spend some time discussing how, as Human Resource Officers, domestic violence issues should be discussed when a member of staff discloses them. This comment will be taken into account when planning future presentations on this domestic violence; however it is recognised that it relates to the work objectives of this particular group.

We also use evaluations to monitor the quality of the materials used for the event. In this situation, there were some comments made about the case examples that we used, but the statistics that highlight the number of cases and the extent of the problem were seen as the more significant factor in increasing and improving the understanding of domestic violence amongst the participants. We received many comments describing the events and statistics as “eye opening,” expressing their surprise of how common and widespread the situation is. They also recognised the quality of John Dooner as the facilitator for this event, who was described as “Informative, tactful, sensitive to DV issues and [the] group,” and generated an active interest amongst the participants to this difficult topic.

We have some interesting and fair responses from the human resource officers. We have improved the understanding of issues of domestic violence with the people in the organisation who are in a position to act should it arise in the course of their duty. While we had very little control over the time constraints of the event, we ultimately feel that the content was arranged and delivered in the best interests of the people involved, and we hope to see the results of the impact we have made on their perceptions and conduct in issues of domestic violence.

"ONE LINE RESPONSES"

• Having access to the information delivered in this programme can only make me more supportive and effective in my role.
• A thought provoking session for all HR professionals (anon)
• An eye opener for those who think life is perfect
• I think that this course is definitely an eye opener as to what is going on in the real world. I found this course very helpful and informative.
• Very useful and informative
• Very informative, was surprised at the numbers involved.
• Eye opening
• A very eye-opening session! I didn’t realise how common this topic was until I saw the statistics.
• Course provided an excellent overview of the subject and increased awareness of the feelings of the target and why they may behave in certain ways.
• The course increased my understanding of the prevalence and “symptoms” of domestic violence, and how it can impact on ‘target.’
• The percentage of women affected by domestic violence is a real eye-opener. It makes you realise that a large percentage of the workforce are affected. This training helps to give you a greater understanding of how you could support staff who are seeking help from someone.
• It was an eye opener to find out how many women are abused/part of domestic violence and the behaviours of the perpetrators.
• Very thought-provoking and challenging stuff, but a very valuable course.
• A good comprehensive overview into the key issues of this thought-provoking area.
• Very difficult topic – sadly more prevalent than you would anticipate. Thank you.