Family violence, which includes child abuse, intimate partner violence and elder abuse, is a problem of national and global significance. Robust evidence about the scale and consequences of the problem is needed to inform policy and practice, including information on high-risk groups, and risk and protective factors. In this article, the methods utilised for collecting data for NZ's 2019 Family Violence Survey are described, along with a summary of the characteristics of the population-based sample obtained. The 2019 NZ Family Violence Survey will provide prevalence estimates of violence exposure for women and men across a wide range of types of violence across the lifespan. This article provides a basis for understanding who was included in the study sample, and for enabling understanding and interpretation of future study findings.

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Food security (FS) during infancy is associated with lifelong outcomes. New Zealand is a developed economy that reports poor childhood nutrition-related health statistics, particularly among minority children, yet has no measure of FS applicable to infancy. The objective was to develop an FS index for New Zealand infants and examine its association with demographic covariates and health outcomes. Within a large (n = 6853) nationally representative cohort, variables describing infant food consumption, breastfeeding, and maternal food-related coping methods were collected from mothers during late infancy. An FS index was derived using confirmatory factor analysis. Associations were assessed by logistic regressions and described using odds ratios (OR) and ≥95% confidence intervals (CI). Fifteen percent of the cohort was highly FS, 43% tenuously food insecure (FIS), and 16% highly food insecure (FIS). Infants from minority ethnic groups had lower odds of being food secure, as did those born to the youngest mothers, mothers who smoked, or those who lived in low-income households. FIS infants had higher odds of morbidity. Interventions to improve infant FS should focus on improving dietary quality, and should give particular consideration to minority infants. We identified that FIS shows wide ethnic and socioeconomic inequity, and is associated with poorer health. The most important driving factors of FIS included poor quality weaning diets, as well as poverty and its proxies. Any interventions to improve infant FS should focus on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption to recommended intake levels, and should give particular consideration to minority infants.

Background There is limited information about what influences help-seeking following experience of intimate partner violence (IPV). This study investigated determinants of formal and informal help-seeking by those who had experienced lifetime physical, sexual or psychological IPV. Methods A cross-sectional population-based New Zealand study conducted from 2017 to 2019 recruited 2,887 participants (1,464 women and 1,423 men) aged 16 years and older. Face-to-face interviews were conducted. Of these, 1,373 participants experienced physical, sexual or psychological IPV. Two series of logistic regressions were conducted: 1) comparing those who sought help with those who did not, and 2) comparing those who had not sought help with those who sought informal help only, or with those who also sought formal help. Results Of the 1,373 participants who reported experience of physical, sexual or psychological IPV 835 participants (71.3% of women and 49.0% of men) sought some form of help. In both genders self-reported physical and mental health or work-related IPV impacts were significantly associated with help-seeking. Experiencing only one form of IPV was associated with lower odds of seeking formal help by women (Adjusted odds ratio = 0.38; 95%CI = 0.15, 0.92 for physical/sexual only and AOR = 0.37, 95%CI = 0.22, 0.64 for psychological only) compared to those experiencing concurrent types of IPV. Conclusion and implications Although there were gender differences in help-seeking, for both women and men the experience of greater impacts associated with IPV exposure increased the likelihood of help-seeking. Agencies providing services for people who are experiencing IPV need to be equipped to identify and respond to multiple forms of IPV, and prepared to address the suite of impacts experienced.

Introduction: This study aims to determine the prevalence rates of nonpartner physical and sexual violence in men and women with different disabilities compared with those in people without disabilities.Methods: Face-to-face interviews were conducted in 3 regions of New Zealand (2017−2019), and 2,887 randomly selected respondents participated (1,464 women, 1,423 men). Respondents provided information on the disability types (physical, intellectual, psychological, none) experienced and on the experience of physical and sexual violence since age 15 years. Analysis was conducted in 2020−2021.Results: More people with disabilities reported nonpartner physical and sexual violence experience than those without disabilities. For women, 15.4% of those with disabilities experienced lifetime nonpartner physical violence, and 11.1% experienced lifetime nonpartner sexual violence. For men with disabilities, 56.2% experienced lifetime nonpartner physical violence, and 5.6% experienced lifetime nonpartner sexual violence. Women and men with psychological disabilities reported the highest prevalence rates of nonpartner physical and sexual violence. The main perpetrators of nonpartner physical violence for women with disabilities were parents and relatives (59.7%), whereas for men with disabilities, strangers (59.3%) were the main perpetrators. Among people with disabilities who reported nonpartner sexual violence, 43.5% of women and 60.0% of men never sought help.Conclusions: This is one of the few studies globally reporting on the prevalence of nonpartner violence in both men and women with different disability types. It contributes information on the gender and relationships of those who perpetrated the violence. Findings highlight the need for violence prevention and intervention programs that are inclusive of and responsive to those with different disability types.