Researchers or practitioners’ opinion of the possibilities for creating virtual safe social spaces for violence prevention interventions for young people

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global concern. Interventions designed to prevent IPV are often participatory in nature, implemented in face-to-face settings and seek to create ‘safe social spaces’. We however do not fully understand how safe social spaces can be created in online spaces. Our study sought to understand the possibility of creating safe social spaces online, supportive of participatory interventions, from the perspective of those developing and implementing IPV prevention interventions. We conducted in-depth interviews with a global sample of 20 researchers and practitioners. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic network analysis. We found mixed results about the possibility of creating safe social spaces online. Researchers and practitioners raised issues such as sharing of devices, the difficulties in developing trust and a sense of community online, challenges in having privacy and confidentiality online and difficulty in reading non-verbal cues as some of the key considerations when creating online safe social spaces. Younger researchers and practitioners were more optimistic about creating safe social spaces online. Our results show that the creation of safe social spaces online is complex and requires further investigation.

Describing an Online Co-development Process of VAWG Prevention Intervention Activities With Young High School Learners, in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

“…This paper describes the online co-development process with learners, which was guided by steps one to four of the 6SQuID process (Figure 1). Prior to the co-development, we undertook a needs assessment with 18 learners via in-depth interviews (Ndungu, Magnolia, et al, 2022), and in-depth interviews with 20 researchers and practitioners in the field of VAWG prevention (Ndungu, Ngcobo-Sithole, et al, 2022a, 2022b, to explore the acceptability and feasibility of delivering VAWG prevention interventions online. In this paper, we report on the co-development process (Objective 3shaded in grey in Figure 1).…”

“…sufficient to promote open discussions on sensitive topics (Ndungu, Ngcobo-Sithole, et al, 2022b;Sipes et al, 2022;Taddei & Contena, 2013). The ease learners found in building rapport could have been for a few reasons.…”

Parents' Experiences with Postpartum Support Groups using Videoconferencing

“…However, there are potential risks associated with online environments, including feelings of judgment and bullying (Denton et al, 2020; Price et al, 2017; Teaford et al, 2019). Ndungu et al (2022) reported it is much easier to bully someone in a chat space rather than face to face and raised concerns about how privacy and confidentiality would affect the ability to build relationships online. Patients' privacy could be compromised by sharing devices which is amplified by the ability to record sessions in an online group, something that is less likely to occur in person (Ndungu et al, 2022).…”

“…Ndungu et al (2022) reported it is much easier to bully someone in a chat space rather than face to face and raised concerns about how privacy and confidentiality would affect the ability to build relationships online. Patients' privacy could be compromised by sharing devices which is amplified by the ability to record sessions in an online group, something that is less likely to occur in person (Ndungu et al, 2022). There can be barriers to psychological safety in online spaces such as how virtual interfaces interfere with presentation and recognition of non-verbal cues, body language, facial expressions, and eye contact (Dale-Tam, 2021).…”

“…These are asynchronous ways of connecting, where one can log in at any time without audio or video features. Less is known about videoconferencing as a tool for postpartum support, and what makes it safe or helpful for new parents (Ndungu et al, 2022).…”