Developing an Intake Assessment for Domestic and Family Violence Supported Accommodation

Domestic and family violence often results in women and children needing to find alternative safe housing and, on some occasions, this need to relocate may result in homelessness. Public housing and case management packages are scarce for women and children experiencing long-term homelessness caused by domestic and family violence. The research reported here led to the identification of criteria to enable the prioritisation of housing program resources to women and their children escaping domestic and family violence. A systematic search and scoping review were undertaken to identify social and wellbeing criteria to support intake assessment. The intake assessment criteria were then validated using a two-stage modified Delphi process with academic experts and domestic and family violence practitioner experts, expanding notions of "expert" in the use of the Delphi process. Differences between academic and practitioner expert contributions were identified. Specifically, the practitioner experts questioned the premise of the tool and identified the need for both temporal and geographic components to ensure the safety of the housing for the women and children. The innovative inclusion of expert practitioners in this study created buy-in and enabled social work practice expertise to inform the development of a DFV housing assessment tool.IMPLICATIONSThere is a need for policymakers to gain practitioner buy-in when changing policies and practices. Engaging practitioners within the change processes may include seeking and acknowledging their expert input into the design and development of intake assessment criteria.There is a dearth of valid and reliable assessment tools in social work. While this article focuses on content validity, testing assessment tools for reliability is also required. There are methodological challenges to be overcome when there are finite service resources and small service user numbers.