In: Academic murals: Social work research exemplars. MASW reports 2015 (pp. 7-45), edited by Blake Gardiner, Shirley Jülich and Kathryn Hay

"Gaining an understanding of the difficulties that mothers encounter when forced to parent in the context of domestic violence is important, because women with dependents have a delineation of needs which is different from women without dependents. Women with children are more likely to suffer from domestic violence, find it harder to leave, and carry a heavier burden of guilt and shame.

This research project was prompted by a lack of literature that looks specifically at the difficulties mothers face when parenting in the context of domestic violence. It is a qualitative study that
conducts three in-depth semi-structured interviews with social work practitioners to find out how social workers perceived and understood these difficulties, and how they felt that domestic violence might impact on the mothering role.

The findings of this research reveal that participants all strongly agreed that domestic violence does impact the mothering role, and that guilt is deeply imbedded in mothers who expose their children to domestic violence. Mothers were seen to suffer from multiple sources of abuse and were sometimes automatically equated with poor parenting practices because of their exposure to violence. However, mothers were also recognised for their strength, endurance, and ability to parent in times of extreme
adversity." (Author's abstract).

This research report is included in the 2015 MASW research reports monograph. "This monograph has come about due to our reflections that the research undertaken by many of the Master of Applied Social Work (MASW) students is excellent and perhaps of considerable interest to others. Therefore, we decided to collate some of the best research reports from 2015 into a monograph which would enhance accessibility for those interested in the topics and future students seeking inspiration. (From the editors' introduction). Record #5627