Social Workers' Conceptualisations of Domestic Violence and Abuse Against People with Learning Disabilities

Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is a critical social, cultural and legal problem in the UK and worldwide. It is known that disabled people, both men and women, are twice as likely to experience DVA as their non-disabled peers. Since disabled people, including people with learning disabilities, may require care and support, it is likely that social work professionals working with adults will encounter people with learning disabilities who are victims of DVA. However, there is a paucity of empirical research studies in this area, leaving social workers with little to draw upon to inform their practice. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore how social workers practising with adults with learning disabilities understand and respond to DVA in their work. A qualitative research project was undertaken with 15 social workers practising with adults with learning disabilities. Semi-structured interviews, alongside vignette interviews, were utilised to gather data which was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study indicate that social workers view victims with learning disabilities as vulnerable due to their individual life experiences, including how perpetrators responded to their disability. Yet the social workers in the sample did not routinely identify structural issues of oppression and how these impacted each victim's position within abusive relationships. Furthermore, the study suggests that social workers are often the professionals tasked with managing risk in cases of DVA where both the victim and perpetrator have a learning disability. The social workers questioned did not feel confident in this role. The conclusion of this study presents recommendations for social workers to improve their interventions with this service user group, suggesting that social workers should be given more support to manage these cases, including specialist training in the area of DVA to enable them to explore how issues of marginalisation impact the experiences of abuse. Finally, the study recommends that policy development should focus on developing pathways and guidance for working with vulnerable perpetrators, to assist social workers, and other professionals, to more effectively work with perpetrators who have a learning disability.