Weatherall2021

From emcawiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Weatherall2021
BibType ARTICLE
Key Weatherall2021
Author(s) Ann Weatherall, Emma Tennent
Title “I don’t have an address”: Housing instability and domestic violence in help-seeking calls to a support service
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Gender, Helplines, Intimate partner violence, Housing instability, Support services, New Zealand, Institutional talk
Publisher
Year 2021
Language English
City
Month
Journal Feminism and Psychology
Volume 31
Number 3
Pages 424–445
URL Link
DOI 10.1177/0959353520963977
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

Download BibTex

Abstract

Increasing recognition of the long-term negative impacts of gendered violence has led to the establishment of a variety of social support services. Feminist research has examined the barriers that prevent women from accessing these services and the problems women report getting the help they need. However, little is known about what happens in situ when women interact with support services. This paper is a novel empirical investigation of naturalistic social interactions where women seek help with problems resulting from violence at home. We used conversation analysis to examine how problems of housing instability and help-seeking unfolded in recorded telephone calls to a victim support service. We found that the routine institutional practice of asking for an address posed interactional trouble for women who were seeking to leave violence, had left a violent home, or were homeless as a result of violence. When answers could not be provided, callers’ responses included disclosures of violence or challenges to the meanings of address. Our findings point to an interactional burden that women confront in institutional interactions. We suggest institutions should carefully consider how routine practices such as asking for an address might pose unintended problems for service users in vulnerable circumstances.

Notes