Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is a serious but often overlooked public health issue. It occurs between people who are personally connected like partners and family members, and the term covers physical, sexual, psychological or financial abuse and controlling or coercive behaviour (UK Government, 2021). The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates that 3.9 million adults were hurt in this way between March 2023 to 2024 (Office for National Statistics, ONS 2024). Each of those incidents is potentially deadly and carries immediate and long-term health consequences, placing a significant burden on individuals, families, and healthcare systems.
Health practitioners have an important role in recognising and helping victims of DVA, (Eyuboglu, 2021) but they can lack confidence, skills and understanding. Addressing DVA as a health issue means training health professionals to recognise signs of abuse and embedding routine enquiry in consultations. Early identification, intervention, and cross-disciplinary communication can mitigate health impacts and reduce long-term costs to both individuals and the NHS.
This recent study helps practitioners understand the lived experiences of mothers and daughters who have jointly experienced DVA (King et al, 2023). It addresses a critical gap in the literature by focusing not only on individual trauma, but on relational factors. It demonstrates that DVA is not just about physical or verbal acts; it is about how those acts function within a web of emotional, social, and psychological ties. The authors explore how these dyads make sense of their experiences over time and how their relationships influence recovery, resistance, and growth.
3.9 million adults experienced domestic violence and abuse (DVA) in 2023-2024. What are the experiences of mothers and daughters who have jointly experienced DVA?
Methods
This study uses Narrative Inquiry (Riessman, 2015), a qualitative research approach that centres on lived experiences and explores the ways people make sense of their lives. Narrative Inquiry considers the past, present, and future within the unfolding of stories. It is contextual because stories sit within broader social, cultural, and institutional frameworks.
The following questions were used to structure the research:
- What narratives are constructed and how have they changed over time?
- How have these narratives constructed the abuse and the relationships impacted by the DVA?
- What narratives are shared between caregiver and child and what narratives are kept to the individual?
The researchers conducted interviews with two mother-daughter pairs and then spoke to each participant individually to capture the dynamics of the relationships and individual perspectives. This method recognises the interaction between researcher and participant, and how their relationship shapes how meaning is made.
Results
The findings are shared as interwoven stories that reveal the complexity of trauma and recovery, encouraging practitioners to move beyond simplified assessments and engage with more nuanced understandings of lived experience.
The authors identified three overarching narrative themes:
The Relationship with DVA
- Abuse shaped the dyads’ relational dynamics, often creating cycles of silence, guilt, and protection.
- Mothers and daughters experienced abuse differently but shared a mutual understanding of its impact.
Understanding and Connection
- The role of shared reflection in healing was found to be key.
- Dyads reported that sharing their stories helped them reframe trauma and build trust and empathy.
Right Support at the Right Time
- Timely and appropriate trauma-informed care is vital, yet participants revealed systemic failures in care.
In Narrative Inquiry, researchers often identify multiple layers or types of stories within a participant’s account. These are sometimes referred to as sub-stories and they help unpack the complexity of lived experience.
- There are personal stories, here described firstly as ‘Acts of Resistance’, demonstrations of agency and defiance against abuse. This recognition of people experiencing DVA as resistors instead of merely passive victims is helpful in supporting empowerment and change. Secondly as “Embodied Lives”, a record of the physical and emotional toll of abuse and recovery. When professionals are collaborating with people who have survived DVA it is important to recognise the echo of that trauma and its impacts.
- Interpersonal stories emerge from interactions between the participant and others. They reflect the relationships and shared experiences, here they are grouped under the heading “Mother and Daughter”, and this evolving bond was central to recovery.
- Cultural or Social Stories place the personal narrative within broader societal or cultural contexts. Here critiques of institutional responses to DVA are recorded as “Failure of Services”. Participants criticised systemic gaps, especially in mental health and safeguarding.
Recognising people experiencing domestic violence as resistors instead of passive victims can be helpful in supporting empowerment and change.
Conclusions
This research is an example of how qualitative inquiry can illuminate the nuanced realities of domestic abuse survivors. It underscores the importance of relational contexts in both the experience and recovery from trauma and offers professionals evidence-based ways to understand and help people with lived experience of DVA.
This research shows how qualitative inquiry can illuminate the complex realities of people experiencing domestic abuse.
Strengths and limitations
This research demonstrates strong academic quality through its use of Narrative Inquiry, which effectively uncovers meaning through stories. The innovative dual interview format, (combining joint dyadic and individual follow-ups) captures both shared and private perspectives, revealing how narratives shift in relational contexts. The sample size may seem small, with four participants (2 mother-daughter dyads), but this is standard as Narrative research prioritises depth over breadth. The description of the study design contains enough detail to allow for replicability, and prioritising participants’ voices over predefined constructs offers fresh insights into relational dynamics.
However, there were some limitations to this study. The study would benefit from more varied dyadic configurations. Purposive sampling ensured that the participants all had direct, intergenerational DVA experience but this lack of demographic diversity (all dyads from similar UK contexts) reduces transferability. Using open-ended prompts invites deep reflection, but there is a risk of social desirability bias shaping the data shared in joint interviews. The combination of these factors does optimise the depth of data gathered and offers new insights, but it requires careful facilitation to manage power dynamics between all parties especially considering the sensitivity of the topic.
Effective reflexivity is indicated by authenticity, credibility and self-awareness being demonstrated by the researcher, and by transparency and rigour being part of the methodology. While the research team acknowledge their positionalities as qualitative researchers with DVA expertise, greater transparency around reflexive practices would strengthen trustworthiness. The paper would be enhanced by greater detail on how researcher assumptions were bracketed or how reflexive journaling shaped the analysis of the findings.
This innovative dual interview format captures both shared and private perspectives, revealing how narratives of domestic violence shift in relational contexts
Implications for practice
Impact on Practice
- Practitioners should incorporate joint narrative sessions where survivors and significant others co-construct their stories of resilience and resistance.
- Clinicians should be trained in dyadic narrative techniques and embed routine enquiry about family relationships in DVA assessments, ensuring exploration of intergenerational dynamics.
- Additionally, group programs bringing together parent–child pairs to practice boundary-setting and co-regulation exercises under professional guidance could also help.
Policy Implications
- These findings call for a shift in policy from individual-centred to relationship-centred service models.
- Updating national DVA frameworks to recommend dyad-focused interventions as part of recovery services and ensuring that they use inclusive and survivor-informed language could improve care.
- Dedicated funding for intergenerational support, including family-inclusive therapy, is also essential.
Future Research Directions
By illuminating the power of shared storytelling and mutual resistance, this study opens multiple avenues for further inquiry. For example, longitudinal mixed-methods studies can examine how dyadic narratives evolve over years and predict long-term wellbeing. Especially if they explore diverse dyadic configurations like father–son, siblings, LGBTQ+ partners and evaluate the generalisability of relational healing processes using randomised controlled trials in terms of psychological and relational outcomes. Future research could expand to include:
- More heterogeneous dyads (e.g., father-son, siblings, LGBTQ+ relationships).
- Cross-cultural comparisons to understand how cultural norms shape DVA experiences.
- Longitudinal studies to track narrative evolution over time.
Narrative research could be coproduced with survivors and be designed to offer explicit recommendations for improving services for this underserved population.
Practitioners should incorporate joint narrative sessions where survivors and significant others co-construct their stories of domestic violence, fostering resilience and resistance.
Statement of interests
NA.
Links
Primary paper
King, L. and Rishworth, B. (2023) ‘The experiences of dyads who have jointly been exposed to domestic violence and abuse: Narratives of growth, connection and resistance’, Qualitative Social Work, 22(1), pp. 151–167.
Other references
Charura, D. and Smith, P., (2024) Working Through Relational Trauma: An Exploration of Narratives of Lived Experiences of Trauma and Recovery. In: D. Charura and P. Smith, eds. Relationships and Mental Health. Cham: Springer, pp.99–116.
Eyuboglu, (M) 2021) ‘It’s time to CATCH on: supporting health practitioners to recognise and help victims of domestic violence and abuse’. The Mental Elf, 30th June 2021
Office for National Statistics (2024) Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2024. [online] Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2024 [Accessed 26 September 2025].
Riessman, C.K., (2015) Entering the hall of mirrors: Reflexivity and narrative research. The handbook of narrative analysis, pp.219-238
UK Government. (2021) Domestic Abuse Act 2021. [online] Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/17/enacted [Accessed 26 Sep. 2025].
