The aim of the study was to identify the prevalence and perceived helpfulness of a variety of protective strategies that were used by female survivors of domestic abuse and to explore factors that may have influenced strategy usage. Forty participants were recruited from a voluntary sector domestic abuse service, commissioned by an outer London local authority in the United Kingdom, in early 2014. The measurement tools used were the Intimate Partner Violence Strategies Index (IPVSI) and the Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (CAADA) Domestic Abuse, Stalking and "Honour"-Based Violence (DASH) Risk Assessment Checklist. The average age was 33 years ( SD = 7.9, range = 20-57); half reported to be of Asian ethnicity, 37.5% White, and 12.5% Black or Mixed ethnicity. The average DASH score was 9.8 ( SD = 13.2, range = 0-18), and an average of 18 ( SD = 6.7, range = 1-29) protective strategies were utilized by each participant. All of the most commonly used strategies were from the placating category. Although safety planning strategies were rated as the most helpful by all participants, placating strategies were also rated as helpful by two thirds of participants. Stepwise multiple regression showed that placating was the only significant predictor of DASH score (β = .375, p < .05) and accounted for 14% of the variance of DASH score. Findings showed that women utilized a diverse range of protective strategies with placating strategies being most intensely used and rated as helpful. However, placating strategy usage could be a risk factor as opposed to a protective factor. This study has also demonstrated that greater placating strategies were used by White than South Asian women, and women who were employed used more formal strategies. This research has extended the knowledge base of protective strategies that professionals can draw from to underpin decisions and interventions when working with domestic abuse survivors.

The study measures the digital divide between digital/internet users and non-digital/internet users and the intersectional impact of multiple identities, i.e. gender, race and social status, on older adults in the UK. The analysis interviewed 9,246 adults aged fifty-five plus years in 2012 and 8,484 in 2014 in the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing. The digital health divide was evaluated both by CASP-19 (quality of life, QoL) and UCLA-Loneliness Scale with the intersectional effect of respondents’ multiple identities and digital/internet use. The results suggested a reduction in the digital divide amongst elders in the UK. Generalised estimating equations found that, amongst regular internet users having good social status, white females attained good QoL and little loneliness (CASP-19: β = 2.921, p &lt;0.001; Loneliness: β=–0.631, p &lt;0.001); and white and BME (black and minority ethnic) males both scored low on the loneliness scale (white: β=–0.809, p &lt; 0.001 BME: β= –0.549, p &lt;0.05). BME females with poor social status despite regular internet use got lower QoL and greater loneliness scores (CASP-19: β=–3.107, p &lt;0.05; Loneliness: β=0.935, p &lt;0.001), showing inequalities in their health outcomes. The intersectional perspective of cumulative disadvantages can help social workers better understand how the multiplicative effect of multiple identities socially excludes the vulnerable adults. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Ben Chi-pun Liu, ???Intersectional impact of multiple identities on social work education in the UK???, Journal of Social Work, Vol 17(2): 226-242, March 2017. ?? 2016 The Author(s). DOI to the published version: 10.1177/1468017316637220. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.Summary: The study reviews the records of 671 social work students and graduates including the seven intakes from the first cohort in 2003/2004 to the intake in 2010/2011 to examine the interacting effect of learning difficulties, ethnicity and gender on the completion of social work training at a university in the South East of England. Findings: Among the students, 79.9% of them were female, 50.1% were black, 27.9% white, 10.7% Asian and 11.3% other ethnicities. A majority of students did not report any disability. Among those who did (n ?? 84), 52.3% (n ?? 44) reported a learning difficulty.The percentage of students who have successfully completed the training is 76.4%, a completion rate that is comparable to the UK???s national figure. Having controlled the confounding variables, hierarchical logistic regression identified the risk factor for dropoutfrom undergraduate social work programme as black female students with learning difficulties (odds ratio ?? 0.100, 95% confidence interval ?? 0.012???0.862, p < 0.05). Findings suggested that students with multiplicity of identities, i.e. being black and female and with a learning difficulty, have a lower probability to complete the programme successfully. Applications: Strategies for tackling the intersecting disadvantages of race, gender and disabilities in social work training should embrace three principles: providing continuous support, focusing on how the support is provided and addressing contextual and structural barriers

Objectives: To examine the difference in gender and its impact on selected quality-of-life (QoL) domains of Social Production Function theory among older adults in England. Method: Based on an annual national adult social care service user survey conducted in the United Kingdom in 2016. QoL was assessed by a single-item construct, and independent variables were home design, access to information and local area, self-rated health, perceived pain/discomfort, perceived anxiety/depression, activities of daily living, use and satisfaction of formal and informal care, and demographic variables. Results: A total of 28,955 respondents aged 65+ years were interviewed. Multinomial logistic regression analysis found four interaction effects for predicting a very good/good QoL: (a) Female receiving non-co-residing informal care (odds ratio [OR] = 1.501, p < .01), (b) female feeling safe (OR = 1.499, p < .01), (c) female feeling satisfied with social contact with people (OR = 1.465, p < .05), and (d) female being helped in the use of time (OR = 1.370, p < .05). Conclusion: Findings suggest gender differences in QoL as men and women are heterogeneous with different health and disease patterns, health-/help-seeking behaviors, roles and responsibilities, and levels of resilience, needs, risks, and access and control resources. Practitioners should adopt a gender-specific assessment and personalized interventions to promote gender equality, empowerment, and long-term sustainable development for an aging society.