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 neurodevelopmental disabilities (ID/ND).

In 2022, the first phase of the project was carried out: a study on social workers practice regarding this 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 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, in line with wishes expressed by social workers in phase one. The question is what facilitates and hinders cooperation between social workers in the field of disability and violence support, regarding violence in a close relationship towards service users with ID/ND problems.

During the spring of 2024, the collaboration between the disability and violence fields was studied. During workshops in various municipalities in Sweden, a collaboration meeting was tested using the Risksam manual and opportunities for collaboration were discussed in a subsequent group-interview. By such collaboration, interventions can be adapted to service users with IF/NPF who have been exposed to violence in a close relationship, as the knowledge from each area can be combined. A study of the collaborative meeting found some barriers in the collaboration meeting: a hierarchy based on knowledge of violence and grouping based on those who worked with disabilities or with violence were separated from each other. This was related to a lack of disability perspectives in the discussions and decisions.

In 2025, the group interviews that were held during the workshops will be studied to understand more about opportunities and obstacles for collaboration to support abused service users with ID/ND issues.