Jo Spangaro
Biographic Data
| ID | 1728059 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jo Spangaro |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jo |
| FAMILY NAME | Spangaro |
| SIGNATURE | SPANGARO J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wollongong |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7806-7956 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 59 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
We Get You’
The potential for experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) to have both short and long‐term detrimental impacts on children's developmental well‐being and the relationship between mothers and children is well recognized. Building Resilience in Children (BRIC) is a group work programme based on attachment and strengthening mother–child relationships to reduce impacts of IPV. The findings reported here derive from a larger study evaluating re…
Evaluation of outcomes of the Building Resilience in Children groupwork programme for women and children impacted by intimate partner violence
Children’s experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) are a well-recognised risk factor for harmful consequences. Programmes exist to address these consequences, but few have been rigorously evaluated. Building Resilience in Children (BRIC), is a groupwork programme based on attachment and strengthening mother–child relationships, for mothers and their children, to reduce impacts of IPV. This study explored reported changes to children’s beha…
Screening for coercive control with refugee women accessing settlement services
Despite challenges due to differences in language, interpretation and cultural norms, this study found it feasible to enquire about controlling behaviour with refugee women accessing settlement services, along with other forms of IPV
Applying Ubuntu principles to decolonise social work research
Global social work research has been predominantly influenced by Eurocentric paradigms, leading to the coloniality of knowledge production. This article reflects on the processes and methods used in mixed-methods research – guided by the African philosophy of Ubuntu as the theoretical framework – on intimate partner violence among women in refugee camps in Ghana. The research shows that community stakeholder consultations, use of local languages,…
Identifying and addressing service barriers for children and young people who displayed harmful sexual behaviour
Purpose Services for children and young people who displayed harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) and their families have remained insufficient and siloed in Australia despite growing recognition of this problem. While some research explores service providers’ perspectives on the barriers and gaps preventing young people and families from accessing and engaging with support services, there is poor understanding of service users’ perspectives. This stud…
Identifying and Responding to Intimate Partner Violence in Australian Refugee Settlement Services
‘No university without community’
Although community engagement is now a widely accepted part of universities’ agenda, the evidence of learning environments that allow students to gain new knowledge and skills through authentic partnership and reciprocity with community members remains sporadic. Guided by educational and community engagement scholarship, the study examined the involvement of community members in social work simulations at an Australian university. Based on reflex…
Placement Matching of Children and Young People within Out-of-Home Residential Care
Residential care for children and young people is typically regarded as the least preferred option in out-of-home care by child welfare and protection practitioners. Increasingly, residential care is only used to place young people after multiple unsuccessful placements in kinship or foster care. Consequently, these young people often come into residential care with complex needs and entrenched emotional and behavioural difficulties. Coplacement …
Trajectories to Suicide Following Intimate Partner Violence Victimization
Purpose Intimate partner violence (IPV) is known to increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Despite the urgent need to increase women’s safety and wellbeing, trajectories to suicide are not well understood and few studies have tested potentially important mediators, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), that could help to improve risk stratification and clinical responses. Methods This study used baseline data from a prospe…
Indigenous People’s Experiences and Expectations of Health Care Professionals When Accessing Care for Family Violence
Although many Indigenous peoples demonstrate resilience and strength despite the ongoing impact colonization has on their peoples, evidence suggests poor experiences and expectations of health care professionals and access to health care. Health care professionals play an essential role in responding to family violence (FV), yet there is a paucity of evidence detailing Indigenous people’s experiences and expectations of health care professionals …
Relationship-Based Practice in Therapeutic Residential Care
This article draws on the lived experiences and perspectives of young people and practitioners in therapeutic residential care to examine what constitutes relationship-based practice. Eight young people and twenty-six practitioners across three residential care services in Australia participated in this qualitative study. Framework analysis identifies that personalised engagement, a delicate balance between care and control, and perseverance thro…
Validity of the ACTS intimate partner violence screen in antenatal care
The four-item ACTS tool (using the frequency scale and a cut-off of one on any item) is recommended for written self-administered screening of women to identify those experiencing IPV to enable first-line response and follow-up
Practitioners’ experience of implementing therapeutic residential care
Gender-based violence and its association with mental health among Somali women in a Kenyan refugee camp
Background In conflict-affected settings, women and girls are vulnerable to gender-based violence (GBV). GBV is associated with poor long-term mental health such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Understanding the interaction between current violence and past conflict-related violence with ongoing mental health is essential for improving mental health service provision in refugee camps. Methods Using data collected…
Research challenges in evaluating gender-based violence response services in a refugee camp
This article presents a case study of research in Dadaab, Kenya to highlight some of the relevant challenges encountered while conducting gender-based violence research in humanitarian settings. A longitudinal mixed-methods design was used to evaluate a comprehensive case-management intervention in the refugee complex near the border of Kenya and Somalia. We present an overview of both expected and unexpected challenges during preparation and imp…
Disability, violence, and mental health among Somali refugee women in a humanitarian setting
A large proportion of refugee women seeking GBV response services have disabilities, and refugee women with a disability are at high risk of poor mental health. This research highlights the need for mental health and disability screening within GBV response programming
Interpretative phenomenological analysis of young people's lived experiences of therapeutic residential care
Concerns of maltreatment and poor outcomes persist in residential care despite numerous government inquiries and recommendations. Young people in residential care continue to be the most vulnerable and marginalized group in the out‐of‐home care population. Young people's voices are also underrepresented in research. Existing studies predominantly focus on service evaluations in which individual voices of young people are overshadowed by adults' p…
Yarn about it’
Aboriginal women globally are disproportionately affected by intimate partner violence (IPV) and face additional barriers to help-seeking. It is crucial that interventions for IPV are made safe for Indigenous women, given inflated rates of statutory intervention and widespread institutional racism. As part of a larger study of antenatal IPV screening, we interviewed 12 Aboriginal Australian women about the perceived impact of an antenatal IPV rou…
Made Me Feel Connected”
Intimate partner violence (IPV) routine screening is widely implemented, yet the evidence for pathways to impact remains unclear. Of the 32 abused women interviewed 16 weeks after antenatal IPV screening, 24 reported positive impact, six reported nil positive impact, and two reported negative impact. Using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), key conditions for positive impact were care in asking, and support and validation from the midwife. L…
Coming out of the Therapy Closet
“Coming out” is a process that same-sex attracted people undergo if they choose to acknowledge it to others. Minimal research exists examining the coming-out experience for same-sex attracted women in counselling settings. This qualitative study addressed the gaps in existing research by exploring counsellors’ perceptions of factors influencing same-sex attracted female clients to disclose their sexual orientation to a counsellor. Semi-structured…
Mind the gap
A comprehensive national response to violence against women with disabilities is long overdue in Australia. Work to date suggests that the issue is endemic yet largely invisible. Responses at the national level are hampered by the lack of information regarding violence against women with disabilities due to under‐reporting and inadequate capture of the prevalence of this violence. This article explores approaches to collecting data regarding viol…
Deciding to tell
Mechanisms underpinning interventions to reduce sexual violence in armed conflict
Sexual violence is recognised as a widespread consequence of armed conflict and other humanitarian crises. The limited evidence in literature on interventions in this field suggests a need for alternatives to traditional review methods, particularly given the challenges of undertaking research in conflict and crisis settings. This study employed a realist review of the literature on interventions with the aim of identifying the mechanisms at work…
The Intersection of Trauma, Racism, and Cultural Competence in Effective Work with Aboriginal People
The consistent failure of initiatives aimed at addressing discrepancies between Australia's Aboriginal and non Aboriginal citizens point to a need to address responses to Aboriginal people by mainstream service providers. This practice paper draws on the experience of Aboriginal and non Aboriginal practitioners in the trauma field to consider the limitations and potential of “cultural competence” as a construct for working with Aboriginal and Tor…
Who tells and what happens
Routine screening of women for intimate partner violence (IPV) has been introduced in many health settings to improve identification and responsiveness to hidden abuse. This cross-sectional study aimed to understand more about how women use screening programmes to disclose and access information and services. It follows women screened in ten Australian health care settings, covering antenatal, drug and alcohol and mental health services. Two samp…
The Intersection of Trauma, Racism, and Cultural Competence in Effective Work with Aboriginal People
The consistent failure of initiatives aimed at addressing discrepancies between Australia's Aboriginal and non Aboriginal citizens point to a need to address responses to Aboriginal people by mainstream service providers. This practice paper draws on the experience of Aboriginal and non Aboriginal practitioners in the trauma field to consider the limitations and potential of “cultural competence” as a construct for working with Aboriginal and Tor…
Deciding to tell
Who tells and what happens
Routine screening of women for intimate partner violence (IPV) has been introduced in many health settings to improve identification and responsiveness to hidden abuse. This cross-sectional study aimed to understand more about how women use screening programmes to disclose and access information and services. It follows women screened in ten Australian health care settings, covering antenatal, drug and alcohol and mental health services. Two samp…
Practitioners’ experience of implementing therapeutic residential care
Gender-based violence and its association with mental health among Somali women in a Kenyan refugee camp
Background In conflict-affected settings, women and girls are vulnerable to gender-based violence (GBV). GBV is associated with poor long-term mental health such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Understanding the interaction between current violence and past conflict-related violence with ongoing mental health is essential for improving mental health service provision in refugee camps. Methods Using data collected…
Interpretative phenomenological analysis of young people's lived experiences of therapeutic residential care
Concerns of maltreatment and poor outcomes persist in residential care despite numerous government inquiries and recommendations. Young people in residential care continue to be the most vulnerable and marginalized group in the out‐of‐home care population. Young people's voices are also underrepresented in research. Existing studies predominantly focus on service evaluations in which individual voices of young people are overshadowed by adults' p…
Relationship-Based Practice in Therapeutic Residential Care
This article draws on the lived experiences and perspectives of young people and practitioners in therapeutic residential care to examine what constitutes relationship-based practice. Eight young people and twenty-six practitioners across three residential care services in Australia participated in this qualitative study. Framework analysis identifies that personalised engagement, a delicate balance between care and control, and perseverance thro…
Made Me Feel Connected”
Intimate partner violence (IPV) routine screening is widely implemented, yet the evidence for pathways to impact remains unclear. Of the 32 abused women interviewed 16 weeks after antenatal IPV screening, 24 reported positive impact, six reported nil positive impact, and two reported negative impact. Using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), key conditions for positive impact were care in asking, and support and validation from the midwife. L…
Coming out of the Therapy Closet
“Coming out” is a process that same-sex attracted people undergo if they choose to acknowledge it to others. Minimal research exists examining the coming-out experience for same-sex attracted women in counselling settings. This qualitative study addressed the gaps in existing research by exploring counsellors’ perceptions of factors influencing same-sex attracted female clients to disclose their sexual orientation to a counsellor. Semi-structured…
Mind the gap
A comprehensive national response to violence against women with disabilities is long overdue in Australia. Work to date suggests that the issue is endemic yet largely invisible. Responses at the national level are hampered by the lack of information regarding violence against women with disabilities due to under‐reporting and inadequate capture of the prevalence of this violence. This article explores approaches to collecting data regarding viol…
Eleven obstacles to translating research into policy on gender-based violence
English This article presents an ‘insider’s’ perspective on research utilisation after eight years of policy experience working on gender-related violence in New South Wales, Australia. It considers why policy makers do not always make good use of research and is based predominantly on personal reflection. Eleven different obstacles are described that relate to issues including timeframes, the local relevance of overseas research, access to data,…
The Elusive Search for Definitive Evidence on Routine Screening for Intimate Partner Violence
Routine screening for intimate partner violence (IPV) has been introduced in many health settings to improve identification and responsiveness to IPV. The debate about the level of evidence required to warrant routine screening continues. Three assumptions have impeded progress in measuring the impact of screening. The first is that routine screening is a test only which does not of itself have an impact on patients. The second is that it can be …
Who tells and what happens
Routine screening of women for intimate partner violence (IPV) has been introduced in many health settings to improve identification and responsiveness to hidden abuse. This cross-sectional study aimed to understand more about how women use screening programmes to disclose and access information and services. It follows women screened in ten Australian health care settings, covering antenatal, drug and alcohol and mental health services. Two samp…
The Intersection of Trauma, Racism, and Cultural Competence in Effective Work with Aboriginal People
The consistent failure of initiatives aimed at addressing discrepancies between Australia's Aboriginal and non Aboriginal citizens point to a need to address responses to Aboriginal people by mainstream service providers. This practice paper draws on the experience of Aboriginal and non Aboriginal practitioners in the trauma field to consider the limitations and potential of “cultural competence” as a construct for working with Aboriginal and Tor…
Mechanisms underpinning interventions to reduce sexual violence in armed conflict
Sexual violence is recognised as a widespread consequence of armed conflict and other humanitarian crises. The limited evidence in literature on interventions in this field suggests a need for alternatives to traditional review methods, particularly given the challenges of undertaking research in conflict and crisis settings. This study employed a realist review of the literature on interventions with the aim of identifying the mechanisms at work…
Mind the gap
A comprehensive national response to violence against women with disabilities is long overdue in Australia. Work to date suggests that the issue is endemic yet largely invisible. Responses at the national level are hampered by the lack of information regarding violence against women with disabilities due to under‐reporting and inadequate capture of the prevalence of this violence. This article explores approaches to collecting data regarding viol…
Deciding to tell
Coming out of the Therapy Closet
“Coming out” is a process that same-sex attracted people undergo if they choose to acknowledge it to others. Minimal research exists examining the coming-out experience for same-sex attracted women in counselling settings. This qualitative study addressed the gaps in existing research by exploring counsellors’ perceptions of factors influencing same-sex attracted female clients to disclose their sexual orientation to a counsellor. Semi-structured…
Yarn about it’
Aboriginal women globally are disproportionately affected by intimate partner violence (IPV) and face additional barriers to help-seeking. It is crucial that interventions for IPV are made safe for Indigenous women, given inflated rates of statutory intervention and widespread institutional racism. As part of a larger study of antenatal IPV screening, we interviewed 12 Aboriginal Australian women about the perceived impact of an antenatal IPV rou…
Made Me Feel Connected”
Intimate partner violence (IPV) routine screening is widely implemented, yet the evidence for pathways to impact remains unclear. Of the 32 abused women interviewed 16 weeks after antenatal IPV screening, 24 reported positive impact, six reported nil positive impact, and two reported negative impact. Using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), key conditions for positive impact were care in asking, and support and validation from the midwife. L…
Research challenges in evaluating gender-based violence response services in a refugee camp
This article presents a case study of research in Dadaab, Kenya to highlight some of the relevant challenges encountered while conducting gender-based violence research in humanitarian settings. A longitudinal mixed-methods design was used to evaluate a comprehensive case-management intervention in the refugee complex near the border of Kenya and Somalia. We present an overview of both expected and unexpected challenges during preparation and imp…
Disability, violence, and mental health among Somali refugee women in a humanitarian setting
A large proportion of refugee women seeking GBV response services have disabilities, and refugee women with a disability are at high risk of poor mental health. This research highlights the need for mental health and disability screening within GBV response programming
Interpretative phenomenological analysis of young people's lived experiences of therapeutic residential care
Concerns of maltreatment and poor outcomes persist in residential care despite numerous government inquiries and recommendations. Young people in residential care continue to be the most vulnerable and marginalized group in the out‐of‐home care population. Young people's voices are also underrepresented in research. Existing studies predominantly focus on service evaluations in which individual voices of young people are overshadowed by adults' p…
Validity of the ACTS intimate partner violence screen in antenatal care
The four-item ACTS tool (using the frequency scale and a cut-off of one on any item) is recommended for written self-administered screening of women to identify those experiencing IPV to enable first-line response and follow-up
Practitioners’ experience of implementing therapeutic residential care
Gender-based violence and its association with mental health among Somali women in a Kenyan refugee camp
Background In conflict-affected settings, women and girls are vulnerable to gender-based violence (GBV). GBV is associated with poor long-term mental health such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Understanding the interaction between current violence and past conflict-related violence with ongoing mental health is essential for improving mental health service provision in refugee camps. Methods Using data collected…
Indigenous People’s Experiences and Expectations of Health Care Professionals When Accessing Care for Family Violence
Although many Indigenous peoples demonstrate resilience and strength despite the ongoing impact colonization has on their peoples, evidence suggests poor experiences and expectations of health care professionals and access to health care. Health care professionals play an essential role in responding to family violence (FV), yet there is a paucity of evidence detailing Indigenous people’s experiences and expectations of health care professionals …
Relationship-Based Practice in Therapeutic Residential Care
This article draws on the lived experiences and perspectives of young people and practitioners in therapeutic residential care to examine what constitutes relationship-based practice. Eight young people and twenty-six practitioners across three residential care services in Australia participated in this qualitative study. Framework analysis identifies that personalised engagement, a delicate balance between care and control, and perseverance thro…
‘No university without community’
Although community engagement is now a widely accepted part of universities’ agenda, the evidence of learning environments that allow students to gain new knowledge and skills through authentic partnership and reciprocity with community members remains sporadic. Guided by educational and community engagement scholarship, the study examined the involvement of community members in social work simulations at an Australian university. Based on reflex…
Placement Matching of Children and Young People within Out-of-Home Residential Care
Residential care for children and young people is typically regarded as the least preferred option in out-of-home care by child welfare and protection practitioners. Increasingly, residential care is only used to place young people after multiple unsuccessful placements in kinship or foster care. Consequently, these young people often come into residential care with complex needs and entrenched emotional and behavioural difficulties. Coplacement …
Trajectories to Suicide Following Intimate Partner Violence Victimization
Purpose Intimate partner violence (IPV) is known to increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Despite the urgent need to increase women’s safety and wellbeing, trajectories to suicide are not well understood and few studies have tested potentially important mediators, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), that could help to improve risk stratification and clinical responses. Methods This study used baseline data from a prospe…
Identifying and Responding to Intimate Partner Violence in Australian Refugee Settlement Services
Evaluation of outcomes of the Building Resilience in Children groupwork programme for women and children impacted by intimate partner violence
Children’s experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) are a well-recognised risk factor for harmful consequences. Programmes exist to address these consequences, but few have been rigorously evaluated. Building Resilience in Children (BRIC), is a groupwork programme based on attachment and strengthening mother–child relationships, for mothers and their children, to reduce impacts of IPV. This study explored reported changes to children’s beha…
Screening for coercive control with refugee women accessing settlement services
Despite challenges due to differences in language, interpretation and cultural norms, this study found it feasible to enquire about controlling behaviour with refugee women accessing settlement services, along with other forms of IPV
Applying Ubuntu principles to decolonise social work research
Global social work research has been predominantly influenced by Eurocentric paradigms, leading to the coloniality of knowledge production. This article reflects on the processes and methods used in mixed-methods research – guided by the African philosophy of Ubuntu as the theoretical framework – on intimate partner violence among women in refugee camps in Ghana. The research shows that community stakeholder consultations, use of local languages,…
Medicine (20 works) · Psychology (20 works) · Intimate Partner and Family Violence (17 works) · Domestic violence (15 works) · Poison control (15 works) · Political science (14 works) · Suicide prevention (13 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (12 works) · Environmental health (12 works) · Nursing (12 works)