The WEB Project

Project Details

Women’s Emotional Well-Being (WEB) Project.

The Safer Families Centre is leading the Women’s Emotional Well-Being (WEB) Project. The project aims to improve the capability of primary care to respond to victim-survivors and coordinate referrals for women and their children. Funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), it will be the first in the world to evaluate whether a primary care early intervention can improve the health, safety and wellbeing of families.

What

• We will evaluate the health impact, implementation and economic effectiveness of a novel primary care system response to address domestic and family violence.

How

• A cluster randomised controlled trial of primary care response will be compared to standard general practice care in women regularly attending the practice who are afraid of their partner.
• The study will recruit and follow 1,500 women who attend 15 general practices and report experiencing fear due to a partner or family member's behaviour.
• Participants will be offered a funded appointment (using a simulated Medicare item number) for a family safety assessment plan, referrals to DFV specialists and support from peer care navigators. GPs seeing the women will undertake risk assessment and management of DFV using an embedded clinical decision support tool.
• Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected to assess the intervention's acceptability, adaptability, feasibility and impact on women's sense of support and help-seeking. This will be achieved through comprehensive interviews and surveys conducted before and six months after the intervention as well as an analysis of the costs and cost-effectiveness of the intervention from both a healthcare and societal perspective.

Why

• Improve capability of primary care to respond to victim-survivors and coordinate referrals for women and their children.
• Create lasting positive change and support for women victim-survivors.

Actions

Funded 2024-2028 through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Primary Health Care Grant, we will:

• Implement a Medicare item number for family safety assessment planning using a clinical decision tool for GPs.
• Co-design and deliver a peer care navigator program to support women.
• Evaluate the effect on women’s mental health and sense of safety.

Researchers

The University of Melbourne

Prof. Kelsey Hegarty
Dr Fiona Giles (Trial Manager)
Ms Simone Gleeson
Ms Kitty Novy
Prof Lena Sanci
Prof Laura Tarzia
Dr Cathy Vaughan
Prof Dougie Boyle
A/Prof Patty Chondros
A/Prof Caroline Johnson
Dr Minerva Kyei-Nimakoh
Dr Cath Kaylor-Hughes
Dr Ralph Audehm
Ms Lily Fetter
Ms Lula Dembele
Dr Heshani De Silva
Ms Tracy Murphy
Dr Rim Ghali

The University of NSW

Dr Trish Cullen
Ms Zoe King

La Trobe University

Dr Leesa Hooker
Prof Angela Taft
Dr Bijaya Pokerhal

Deakin University

Prof Lisa Gold
Dr Renee Fiolet
A/Prof Lata Satyen

Sax Institute

Dr Alice Knight

Monash University

A/Prof Jennifer Neil

International Universities

Prof Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis
Dr Rita McMorrow

Collaborators

La Trobe University
UNSW Sydney
Deakin University