VISA: Violence In close relationships and the Social service's Adapted work

The VISA project aims to develop knowledge about how the social services' existing work with violence in intimate relationships can be developed in the form of an adaptation for people with intellectual and/or neuropsychiatric disabilities (IF/NPF).

In 2022, the first phase of the project was carried out: a study on how social workers work with the problem today. It found major differences in practices between those working with disability issues and those working with victims of violence. The challenges that were described were mainly at an organizational level, around the dual competence and collaboration.

Read the VISA project's first publication here: "Social work practices with victims of violence among people with cognitive disabilities".

Now the second phase of the project is underway, which examines collaboration between social workers in disability and violence support. This is in line with the needs and wishes that emerged from the first study. The question is what facilitates and hinders cooperation between social workers in the field of disability and violence, respectively, regarding violence in a close relationship against people with cognitive disabilities.

In the spring of 2024, this collaboration will be studied with social workers from the disability and violence fields within the same social administration. With the help of the RISKSAM manual, the collaboration will be tested and evaluated in workshops in different municipalities. The workshops constitute a qualitative data collection and also hopes to awaken new thoughts about the support for victims of violence within disability support for the participants. Good cooperative work can benefit the work in each area, as abused persons with disabilities are clients in both fields. The collaboration can increase the common competence to identify, assess risk and support these clients, which today is a challenge for the organizations. Collaborative efforts that combine the skills from these two areas have the potential to find individual-adapted routes to protection, support, and reporting.

We are looking for participants for the workshop study. Read more and submit an expression of interest here: Read more and submit an application of interest.

The third phase of the project aims to evaluate an adapted version of the RISKSAM manual in social workers' professional activities.