Platform against violence within the family
Goals: describe the main goals of the good practice | The Platform against violence within the family is an instrument to cross link Austrian aid organisations in five different areas: “violence against children”, “violence against women”, “violence among young people”, violence against elder people" and “gender sensitive violence work with boys and men”. The platform works together with 45 organisations (such as counselling centres, senior citizens clubs,…) in the field of prevention and intervention of violence.
As an Austrian-wide forum for exchange of experiences the main aims are the following:
The platform is divided into 5 sections – one of these is about elder abuse. Main tasks of this section: raising awareness, support and empowerment of family members and care givers.
The platform is funded and financed by the Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth.
History The platform against violence within the family was founded in 1993 on the initiative of the Ministry of family affairs as a tool to prevent violence. The occasion of founding the platform was the lack of cooperation between various aid organizations. Together with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for health psychology, a structure was developed which cross-links a network of experts and NGO’s.
|
Target Group: describe on which group the good practice is targeted (for instance, older people themselves, care providers, family etc.) | Care givers in the private area, family members, older people, public (awareness raising) |
Approach: describe the way in which the good practice is developed and implemented. | The topic of elder abuse is still a taboo, which is rarely recognized by the public. Violence appears often in cases of dependency – e.g. in care situations. The main work of the platform – and in this context the elder abuse branch - is focused on violence within the family. In order to show how things are connected the topic of institutional care will be touched on.
The main concern is to make people aware of the problems of violence by using and communicating a very broad definition. The platform members develop services which support care givers, family, older people, enhance intergenerational dialogue but also raise awareness for the public. The platform partners are from different areas concerning the topic of older people. This diversity is a good basis for networking.
The partners offer a wide range of activities: e.g.: different courses, workshops, conferences and panel discussions for awareness raising, folders and brochures, etc…
The network partners from the nine Austrian provinces in the field of violence against older people are:
BURGENLAND: Caritas der Diözese Eisenstadt KÄRNTEN: Katholisches Bildungswerk Kärnten NIEDERÖSTERREICH: Pro Senectute Österreich / Region Niederösterreich OBERÖSTERREICH: Pro Senectute Österreich / Region Oberösterreich SALZBURG: Bewohnerservice Aigen & Parsch STEIERMARK: GEFAS Steiermark TIROL: Stiftung Nothburgaheim VORARLBERG: Bildungshaus Batschuns WIEN: Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz
|
Who implements this good practice? Mention, if relevant, the organisation or persons who do the work. | The members of the platform themselves and also collaborating partners outside of the platform – different persons and organisations. |
What material is available on this good practice (description, website etc.) | Folders, brochures, concepts - some of the materials can be downloaded as well. Downloads and informationabout violence in the private sphere – also in the other sectors mentioned above - will be available at: www.gewaltinfo.at(End of Nov. 2011)
|
How widely is this good practice used in your country? | Due to the fact that there is a platform partner in each province of Austria, the different actions take place all over the country. |
What are the results, outcomes, experiences with this good practice? Please mention the source(s). | There has been a lot of positive feedback from very different sides and organizations/persons the platform members were in contact with since the platform/the branch “violence against older people” exists. It is hard to give general information on the results and responses because of the great variety of the actions set by nine different partners over years. In general all products were appreciated by experts and practitioners in the field. The events attracted a lot of competent people (mostly the target group are multipliers) willing to transport the ideas and the know-how into their work area. |
Are there effect studies? Please mention the source(s) if the answer is ‘yes’. | There are feedbacks/evaluation measures just punctually – not in a representative, scientific way. Anyway, effects on the prevalence of violence against older people or on detection rates or something like that are rarely possible to be made in legitimate (valid) way in this context. |
What are the success factors? | As Platform partners are located in all provinces of Austria wide spread actions all over the country can be ensured. Platform partners from different areas concerning the topic of elder abuse can offer a wide range of different activities. The activities and products are developed in close contact with different collaborating and/or counselling partners and appreciated by experts and organizations who can use them in their work.
|