Background
On behalf of the federal government and 14 member departments, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) coordinates the Family Violence Initiative (FVI). The FVI promotes public awareness of the risk factors of family violence and the need for public involvement in responding to it; strengthens the capacity of the criminal justice, housing, and health systems to respond; and supports data collection, research and evaluation efforts to identify effective interventions.
Under the FVI, PHAC manages the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, Canada ’s resource centre for information on violence within relationships of kinship, intimacy, dependency or trust. The Clearinghouse has been the fundamental instrument of the federal government’s efforts to address family violence since before the launch of the first FVI in 1988.
Needs Assessment Study
In February 2005, the Clearinghouse initiated a national needs assessment study. The goal of the study was to facilitate strategic and operational changes that will increase the reach and effectiveness of the Clearinghouse, as well as the efficiency of its information development and dissemination activities. The exercise also offered an opportunity to solicit insights from the field on the emerging issues and themes that will warrant attention over the next few years. The resulting input has included suggestions relevant to the Clearinghouse surveillance systems and the procedures it may develop to identify emerging trends and new policy initiatives.
Methodology
The study consisted of two broad phases, with several components in each phase. A general principle underlying each phase was the need for inclusion of key stakeholders and key informants. The study involved the following data gathering components:
- information audits conducted with representatives of the FVI member departments
- assessment of current Clearinghouse reach (the total exposure of products and information distributed to stakeholders)
- stakeholder analysis (description of the client population, especially key intermediaries who may be in a knowledge brokering role)
- external environmental scan and current practice review (14 interviews with organizations involved in information development and dissemination)
- semi-structured interviews with 42 key informants (selected family violence stakeholders) to identify their information needs and priorities, and the issues and themes emerging in the field of family violence prevention
- national survey of stakeholders (with a sample size of 895)
- validation with key informants (interviews to validate the conclusions and draft outcomes of the overall project).
The following key findings and outcomes reflect important areas of consistency across the key informant interviews and survey returns, and are of particular relevance for the next phase of enhancement of Clearinghouse services.
Findings
- The Clearinghouse is familiar to, and frequently used by, a large proportion of those who are working in the health, justice, social services, education, research, and related fields in Canada. It is valued for its role in information development and dissemination at a national level.
- The Clearinghouse is a highly valued partner in the FVI.
- The priority that the FVI places on violence against women and children is validated by the findings.
- The findings show that individual and community needs with respect to family violence are complex and require a multisectoral response in the areas of prevention, early identification/risk assessment and treatment.
- The findings confirm the value of the horizontal management function provided by the FVI, as well as the efforts underway to enhance it.
- The Clearinghouse, as an instrument of the FVI, reflects an appreciation of the social determinants of health that are increasingly recognized by the stakeholders as a fundamentally important aspect of the issue.
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Outcomes
- Expansion of areas of focus to include the highest need sub-populations (youth, older adults, men, boys, Aboriginal people, people suffering mental illness, people with substance abuse problems, persons with disabilities), while maintaining a strong focus on women and children.
- Continued focus on working horizontally across sectors to be effective in prevention efforts in particular.
- Adoption of a broader knowledge exchange framework (given that the findings support a knowledge brokering and networking role that goes beyond the provision of information products and resource material to focus more on “who is doing what and where”).
- Increased visibility and engagement in the development of strategic research, policy and knowledge development activities in the family violence community.
- Facilitation of connectivity and communication among the players in the field so as to complement each other’s work and avoid duplication.
- Re-establishment of the Clearinghouse Advisory Committee.
- Increased promotion and visibility of the Clearinghouse.
- Building of more formal linkages with the FVI Interdepartmental Working Group members to facilitate implementation of more coordinated and strategic research, development and knowledge exchange activities across the FVI.
- Shifting to more of a partnership model for both development and dissemination of information resources.
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