Clearinghouse report on family violence data sources released

A report by the New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse assessing the suitability of national administrative data sets to measure family violence trends has been released. The Families Commission has also published a four page summary report on the key points.

Commissioned by the Families Commission, the report Family Violence Indicators: Can national administrative data sets be used to measure trends in family violence in New Zealand was authored by Janet Fanslow and Pauline Gulliver.

The report says clear and consistent definitions are needed to describe the behaviours that constitute family violence, and also the relationship between the perpetrator and victim. 

Recognising there is no single administrative data source that can provide a complete measure of family violence, the report assesses data from four key government agencies to determine possible outcome indicators and evaluate whether these meet criteria for good outcome indicators.

The report provides four key recommendations on:

• recommended provisional indicators;
• the need for theoretical and operational definitions of family violence;
• data quality improvements;
• the need for the development of a public health surveillance system for family violence.

It concludes,

"This project has shown that although there are some useful administrative data sets in New Zealand, none could currently be considered a reliable source of data for monitoring trends in family violence in the community over time" (p. 78).

The Families Commission is considering the recommendations and next steps. 

Media:

Better Family Violence Evidence Needed, Families Commission, 05.03.2014