Citation

Fordham H, Greville H, Moran M, Waters D, Thompson SC. Aust. N. Zeal. J. Public Health 2023; 47(5): e100089.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Public Health Association of Australia, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1016/j.anzjph.2023.100089

PMID

37801858

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To illuminate the enablers and challenges of implementing a communication strategy designed to support Community, Respect, Equality (CRE) and a family and domestic violence (FDV) primary prevention plan in a regional Western Australian town.

METHOD: This research draws on documentation and interviews with members of Leading Lights, an advocacy group arising from a collaboration of local organisations to communicate the goals and priorities of the CRE action plan. Interviews explored how primary prevention messages were promoted to foster supportive community attitudes toward addressing the drivers of FDV.

RESULTS: The initiative fostered a learning community that coordinated public messaging about the drivers of FDV for organisations pledged to the CRE values. The diffusion of messaging was affected over time by inconsistent staffing, discontinuities in resourcing and individual organisational commitment, and concerns about gender equality messaging.

CONCLUSION: The communications strategy increased awareness of the drivers of FDV among the members of the Leading Lights. In turn, this group produced media content that made visible each organisation's commitment to addressing the attitudes and behaviours that enable FDV. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: Community collaborations need time, resourcing, and coordination to sustainably prompt changes in social norms that underpin violence.

Language: en

Keywords

primary prevention; family and domestic violence; gender equality; strategic communication