A $695,772 research study aims to improve the financial empowerment of Intimate Partner Violence survivors in Canada

Dr. Stephanie Baird, Assistant Professor in the King’s School of Social Work, is the co-recipient of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and WAGE Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative grant for a collaborative research study, Economic Abuse in Canada: Assessing the Prevalence and Addressing the Needs of Intimate Partner Violence Survivors. 

The study is the first in Canada to assess the prevalence of economic abuse as a form of intimate partner violence (IPV) among women on a national scale. It will also look at how service providers currently address the needs of women who have experienced economic abuse.

“Economic abuse includes specific forms of control by a partner such as economic exploitation, economic control, and employment sabotage,” says Dr. Baird. “This Canada-specific knowledge will ensure that the experiences of economic abuse are fully understood within Canada, so that service providers can recognize and respond effectively to economic abuse and its consequences.”

The four-year research project is being led by Dr. Kristina Nikolova, Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Windsor. It brings together a team of university researchers and community organizations, including co-applicants Dr. Baird and Dr. Sarah Tarshis, Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at McGill University, the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto, Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health (Kitchener) and Battered Women’s Support Services (Vancouver). The Canadian Center for Women’s Empowerment and the Rural Development Network will also collaborate on the project.

Abusive partners use a range of tactics to interfere with or restrict survivors’ financial freedom or workforce participation. “This can have long-lasting effects on financial security, education, and employability,” says Dr. Tarshis. Financial factors are one of the primary reasons that survivors are unable to leave abusive relationships, she notes.

American studies have found that four out of five women experiencing IPV also experience economic abuse. “Until recently, this form of abuse was rarely screened for and it has been omitted from many policy and criminal justice initiatives,” says Dr. Nikolova. “This leaves social service agencies to support survivors of economic abuse without guidance from Canadian research or policy.”

The team’s ground-breaking study aims to address the significant gap in knowledge on the prevalence of economic abuse in Canada, with the goal of improving the ability of social, legal, and criminal justice services to support IPV survivors.

Research will be carried out in several phases, and will include the translation and testing of an economic abuse scale in French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi, Punjabi and Arabic, as well as a national survey of Canadian women. “We’re aiming to recruit 10,000 women across Canada,” says Baird. In addition, the research team will interview survivors of IPV and lead focus groups with service providers from various legal and social service settings.

Dr. Baird says the team’s findings will be shared at community organizations, academic conferences, and in peer-reviewed journals.

At King’s, Dr. Baird teaches courses including Introduction to Social Work Practice and Communication Skills, Trauma and Trauma-informed Practice, Critical Reflection and Appraisal of Social Work Practice alongside Dr. Laura Béres who developed the course, and Advanced Practicum and Integration Seminar. In addition, she sits on the Admissions Committee and Field Committee at the School of Social Work.