Domestic, family, and sexual violence (DFSV) is a widespread public health and human rights issue that disproportionately affects structurally marginalised communities. Mainstream justice responses—focused on policing, criminalisation, and incarceration—frequently do not meet the needs of victim-survivors. Transformative justice (TJ) offers community-led, non-carceral responses that promote harm reduction by seeking to reduce the harms of criminalisation, prevent further violence, promote healing and accountability, and transform the structural conditions that lead to violence. This scoping review maps the characteristics and applications of TJ in the context of DFSV. Led by victim-survivors of DFSV, this review followed Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology and the PRISMA-ScR checklist. Peer-reviewed and grey literature published between 2005 and 2025 was sourced from eight databases and Google. Sources were included if they described the characteristics of TJ in non-carceral contexts. Sixty-one sources met the inclusion criteria. Data were extracted using a customised tool and synthesised thematically. Most included sources originated in the United States and were situated outside academic publishing, reflecting TJ’s community-based origins. TJ was consistently defined as an abolitionist approach rooted in community accountability, survivor autonomy, and structural transformation. Core principles included anticarceral and feminist commitments, trauma-informed care, and relational accountability. Goals focused on building safety within communities, creating justice processes not reliant on punitive measures, and transforming systemic conditions. Practices included pod mapping, transformative education, and knowledge-building activities such as storytelling and creative expression. The literature highlighted tensions around scalability, consistency, and engagement with state systems. TJ is an evolving field that remains resistant to formal institutionalisation and centres the leadership of those most affected by violence and criminalisation. Its relevance to harm reduction lies in its focus on preventing violence and criminalisation while building community prevention capacities. Research, policy, and practice should prioritise investment in grassroots infrastructures and the leadership of victim-survivors and marginalised communities. The reviewed literature argues that applications of TJ resist being reduced to static models or assimilated into carceral frameworks. Rather, their potential is founded on collective support and sustained political organising, and the long-term work of community transformation. This review followed a pre-specified protocol developed by the research team in accordance with JBI methodology (Peters M et al. in E. Aromataris (eds) Joanna Briggs Institute: South Australia, 2015) and PRISMA-ScR guidelines (Tricco AC et al. in Ann Intern Med 169:467-673, 2018). The protocol is registered on the Open Science Framework (2025) doi: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/FTSR4.

Background Epistemic justice requires that people hold meaningful authority over knowledge that concerns them. For criminalized women who use drugs, this authority is denied: overlapping credibility deficits across drug use, criminalization, and domestic, family, and sexual violence (DFSV) domains render their knowledge illegitimate, their accounts not credible, and their definitions of the problem absent from research. Existing lived experience frameworks have not extended to this population; involvement remains consultative rather than authoritative, reproducing the hierarchies such frameworks aim to disrupt.Methods This paper draws on We Keep Us Safe, a co-designed research project led by criminalized women with lived experience of DFSV and drug use. Drawing on interviews (n = 21) and workshops (n = 3) with criminalized women and men who use drugs, it reflexively accounts for the project's design, governance, and conduct.Results Five lessons emerge: credibility deficits operate as research design problems; shifting decision rights to lived experience researchers transforms what research can produce; risk governance embedded in research structures can reproduce harm; co-design generates analysis and knowledge inaccessible through conventional methods; and lived experience leadership carries costs institutions rarely resource.Conclusion This paper offers a methodology through which DFSV research can move beyond tokenistic inclusion toward genuine epistemic authority.

BACKGROUND:Young people with intellectual disabilities experience persistent disadvantages in post-school outcomes. This study examined trends in post-school outcomes for young Australians with intellectual disabilities over a 10-year period, relative to peers with other disability types or no disabilities. METHOD:Using data from four waves of the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (2012-2022), outcomes were examined for 20-29-year-olds with intellectual disabilities. Outcomes across five domains were examined: school completion, further education, labour force participation, income and government support. RESULTS:Analyses showed a persistent pattern of inequality across all domains. While secondary school completion improved, these gains did not translate to further education or employment - gaps widened in both areas. Economic inequality, including low income and reliance on government support, remained unchanged. CONCLUSION:Despite major policy investment, outcomes remain poorer for this group. Greater focus on inclusion and coordinated cross-sector support is required to address entrenched inequities.

Women with disability experience significantly more violence and abuse than their nondisabled peers. Efforts to implement, evaluate, and scale-up strategies to prevent violence against women are rapidly expanding, but we know less about “what works” to prevent violence against women with disability. While secondary and tertiary prevention aim to identify violence early and prevent further occurrence, this review focuses on primary prevention. In the disability services sector, primary prevention is sometimes referred to as safeguarding and covers a range of activities that aim to address the underlying determinants of violence to prevent it from happening in the first place. The aim of this review is to identify and synthesize research on evaluated interventions addressing the primary prevention of violence against women with disability and explore evidence about their quality and effectiveness. A systematic search across the bibliographic databases of Medline, CINAHL, Embase, and PsychInfo for peer-reviewed literature published in English on or after January 1, 2010, yielded 483 papers of potential interest. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria and were considered for review. Data were extracted and the quality of the studies was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Most studies reported outcomes from pre- and post-test research designs and received a weak rating of quality. Although interventions targeting awareness, knowledge, and skill development showed evidence of effectiveness, there is a distinct lack of program development that draws on known risk factors for violence such as the intersection of ableism and gender inequality.

Public experts emerged as vital media figures during the COVID-19 pandemic, influencing political discourse and health interventions. Our study, based on qualitative interviews with public experts who engaged with Australian media, sought to understand their unique experiences and motivations in a pandemic context. Despite significant negative repercussions such as receiving abuse from the public and dealing with difficult journalists, public experts reported positive experiences, such as having a translatable public health impact, reducing community anxiety, and making research accessible outside of academic environments. This study shows the importance of gaining a deeper understanding of these essential contributors to science communication, particularly in the context of post-normal science during a crisis.

Background: Young people with an Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) often face ineffective and exclusionary post-school transition practices, leading to poor mental health in early adulthood.Objective: This scoping review aimed to map existing literature on mental health for young people with IDD during the post-school transition period including how IDD and mental health are characterised in this context and the extent to which community members with lived experience are included in the design and/or production of research.Methods: In collaboration with a co-researcher, we used the JBI framework and PRISMA guidelines in accordance with a published protocol. A tiered search was conducted in PsycINFO, Medline, ERIC, Web of Science, and Family and Society Studies Worldwide.Findings: The search identified 28 articles that met the inclusion criteria. Articles were published between 2011 and 2023 and conducted across four countries. Thirteen applied a quantitative study design, eight were qualitative, three used a mixed-methods design, and the remaining were reviews. Most articles focused on autism. The majority discussed mental health in terms of its impact on transitioning from school or as a co-occurring condition.Conclusions: There is a growing body of literature highlighting the challenges young people with disabilities face when transitioning from high school. However, there is a notable gap in the representation of diverse IDD populations and mental health emerged variably, often as an incidental finding rather than a primary focus.

Objectives Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a complex issue affecting Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia. We evaluated the effects of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health First Aid (AMHFA) training course on assisting an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person engaging in NSSI, including the effects on stigmatising attitudes, confidence in ability to assist, and intended and actual assisting actions. Design Uncontrolled trial with precourse and postcourse measurement (n=49) and 6-month follow-up (n=17). Setting Participants attended courses that were run in Queensland and Victorian communities and through one national organisation. Participants Participants were 49 adults who worked directly with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Intervention The 5-hour ‘Talking About Non-Suicidal Self-Injury’ course was delivered by accredited AMHFA instructors and teaches people how to support an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person who is engaging in NSSI. Primary and secondary outcome measures The outcome measures were stigmatising attitudes, confidence in ability to assist, and intended and actual actions to assist a person engaging in NSSI. Results Improvements were observed in stigmatising attitudes, with significant changes from precourse in both the ‘weak-not-sick’ (postcourse p<0.0623; follow-up p=0.0058) and ‘dangerous/unpredictable’ (postcourse p<0.0001; follow-up p=0.0036) subscales. Participants’ confidence in ability to assist increased significantly both postcourse (p<0.0001) and at follow-up (p<0.0001). Despite a high level of endorsement for the nine recommended assisting actions at precourse, significant improvements (p<0.05) were observed in endorsement for six and four of the assisting actions postcourse and at follow-up, respectively. Course content was rated as being somewhat (3.4%), mostly (13.8%) or very (82.7%) culturally appropriate by participants who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Conclusions The results of this uncontrolled trial were encouraging, suggesting that the Talking About Non-Suicidal Self-Injury course was able to improve participants’ attitudes, confidence and intended assisting actions.

Background:While workers' compensation schemes aim to assist and support injured workers, there is some evidence that the process of pursuing a compensation claim may be extremely stressful for workers. This research aimed to compare hospital admissions for self-harm among workers' compensation claimants and non-claimants.Methods:A retrospective case-series design, this study used hospital admissions data for 42,567 patients (2011-2018) to estimate rates of hospital admission for intentional self-harm and 'self-harm and probable self-harm' (due to intentional self-harm, poisoning, or undetermined intent) and compare these between workers' compensation claimants and non-claimants. Rates were stratified by gender and calculated for each age group.Findings:For males, there was no observable difference between claimants and non-claimants for admission due to intentional self-harm. For female claimants, the incidence rate for admission for intentional self-harm was higher than non-claimants (rate ratio (RR) 2.4, 95%CI 1.8-3.2, risk difference (RD) 47.7 per 100,000 person-years). For the combined category of 'self-harm and probable self-harm', the incidence rate was elevated in both male (RR 5.8, 95%CI 5.0-6.6, RD 167.7 per 100,000 person-years) and female workers' compensation claimants (RR 3.4, 95%CI 2.8-4.2, RD 114.8 per 100,000 person-years) relative to non-claimants.Interpretation:Female workers' compensation claimants appear to have elevated rates of admission for intentional self-harm and 'self-harm and probable self-harm' compared to non-claimants. Male claimants appear to have increased rates of hospital admission for 'self-harm and probable self-harm'. This suggests that the process of pursuing workers' compensation may be associated with increased risk of self-harm, and highlights a need for further research.Funding:Suicide Prevention Australia Innovation Grant.

Accurate news media reporting of scientific research is important as most people receive their health information from the media and inaccuracies in media reporting can have adverse health outcomes. We completed a quantitative and qualitative analysis of a journal article, the corresponding press release and the online news reporting of a scientific study. Four themes were identified in the press release that were directly translated to the news reports that contributed to inaccuracies: sensationalism, misrepresentation, clinical recommendations and subjectivity. The pressures on journalists, scientists and their institutions has led to a mutually beneficial relationship between these actors that can prioritise newsworthiness ahead of scientific integrity to the detriment of public health.

Purpose People released from incarceration are at increased risk of suicide compared to the general population. We aimed to synthesise evidence on the incidence of and sex differences in suicide, suicidal ideation, and self-harm after release from incarceration. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science and PubMed between 1 January 1970 and 14 October 2021 for suicide, suicidal ideation, and self-harm after release from incarceration (PROSPERO registration: CRD42020208885). We calculated pooled crude mortality rates (CMRs) and standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) for suicide, overall and by sex, using random-effects models. We calculated a pooled incidence rate ratio (IRR) comparing rates of suicide by sex. Results Twenty-nine studies were included. The pooled suicide CMR per 100,000 person years was 114.5 (95%CI 97.0, 132.0, I-2 = 99.2%) for non-sex stratified samples, 139.5 (95% CI 91.3, 187.8, I-2 = 88.6%) for women, and 121.8 (95% CI 82.4, 161.2, I-2 = 99.1%) for men. The suicide SMR was 7.4 (95% CI 5.4, 9.4, I-2 = 98.3%) for non-sex stratified samples, 14.9 for women (95% CI 6.7, 23.1, I-2 = 88.3%), and 4.6 for men (95% CI 1.3, 7.8, I-2 = 98.8%). The pooled suicide IRR comparing women to men was 1.1 (95% CI 0.9, 1.4, I-2 = 82.2%). No studies reporting self-harm or suicidal ideation after incarceration reported sex differences. Conclusion People released from incarceration are greater than seven times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. The rate of suicide is higher after release than during incarceration, with the elevation in suicide risk (compared with the general population) three times higher for women than for men. Greater effort to prevent suicide after incarceration, particularly among women, is urgently needed.

Gender norms are essential barometers of gender equality; inequitable gender norms are indicative of core inequalities in society that undermine the health of many groups. Fundamentally embedded in the gender system, prescriptive and restrictive gender norms have been shown to have deleterious effects on the health of women, men, girls and boys, as well as gender and sexual minorities. Gender norms are mutable, and there is potential to target and transform harmful and inequitable gender norms to drive gender equality. Gender-transformative approaches are needed, but a necessary first step is to identify and benchmark restrictive and inequitable gender norms, monitor change and progress, and highlight areas where interventions can be targeted for greatest effect. Efforts to do this are currently stymied by a lack of fit-for-purpose data. Routinely collected, population representative data on gender norms is urgently needed. This is vital to supporting and progressing gender equality and will contribute substantially to lifting population health.

In March 2020, the Australian government introduced a raft of public health initiatives to curb the rising cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) including closing schools and work from home orders. As a group of female academics, we were immediately attuned to the potential of COVID-19 to dilute progress made towards reducing the academic gender gap. This study emerged in response and comprised a rapid gender impact assessment of Australian universities' organisational responses to COVID-19. Our aim was to understand the nature of university policy responses and the extent to which they considered differential impacts for men and women. We searched for relevant communications pertaining to COVID-19 policies from all Australian universities published up to June 2020. Our final sample comprised 79 documents from 29 universities. Information collected was in relation to five key policy domains: support for higher degree research students, leave arrangements for staff, working remotely, managing staff and academic promotion. Overall, little attention was paid to how gender might impact on the need for, or access to, policies in response to COVID-19. Findings showed a reliance on existing workplace mechanisms including access to leave and flexible working arrangements. While the ability to work flexibly is considered a key enabler of gender equality, these approaches have been in place at Australian universities for decades but have, on their own, been inadequate to redress entrenched inequalities. While there is potential for social disruptions brought about by the pandemic to act as a catalyst for change, this will not happen without policies that are transformative in their approach to equality and inclusion.

Objectives Maternal adversity during pregnancy has been shown to be associated with some health outcomes in the offspring. This study investigated the association of maternal adversity during pregnancy and DNA methylation with offspring cardiovascular (CV) health. Design Longitudinal observational cohort study Setting All pregnant residents in county Avon (∼0.9 million), UK, were eligible to participate if their estimated delivery date was between 1 April 1991 and 31 December 1992. Participants Mother–offspring pairs enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children cohort at seven (n=7431) and 17 years of age (n=3143). Primary and secondary outcome measures Offspring CV health primary measures were heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP) and secondary measures were pulse-wave velocity and carotid intima–media thickness. Results Overall, there was no association between maternal adversity scores (number or perceived impact) and primary CV measures (Perceived impact; HR: 0.999-fold change 95% CI 0.998 to 1.001; systolic BP (SBP): 1.000-fold change 95% CI 0.999 to 1.001; diastolic BP: 1.000-fold change 95% CI 0.999 to 1.002). Some small offspring sex effects were observed and there was also a small association between methylation of some CpG sites and offspring BP measures. Conclusions We found little evidence to support the overall association of maternal adversity during pregnancy and DNA methylation with offspring CV measures. Offspring sex-specific and age-specific associations require further investigation.

Objective: In Victoria, Prevention and Recovery Care Services have been established to provide a partial alternative to inpatient admissions through short-term residential mental health care in the community. This study set out to determine whether Prevention and Recovery Care Services are achieving their objectives in relation to reducing service use and costs, fostering least restrictive care and leading to positive clinical outcomes. Methods: We matched 621 consumers whose index admission in 2014 was to a Prevention and Recovery Care (‘PARCS consumers’) with 621 similar consumers whose index admission in the same year was to an acute inpatient unit and who had no Prevention and Recovery Care stays for the study period (‘inpatient-only consumers’). We used routinely collected data to compare them on a range of outcomes. Results: Prevention and Recovery Care Services consumers made less subsequent use of acute inpatient services and, on balance, incurred costs that were similar to or lower than inpatient-only consumers. They were also less likely to spend time on an involuntary treatment order following their index admission. Prevention and Recovery Care Services consumers also experienced positive clinical outcomes over the course of their index admission, but the magnitude of this improvement was not as great as for inpatient-only consumers. This type of clinical improvement is important for Prevention and Recovery Care Services, but they may place greater emphasis on personal recovery as an outcome. Conclusion: Prevention and Recovery Care Services can provide an alternative, less restrictive care option for eligible consumers who might otherwise be admitted to an acute inpatient unit and do so at no greater cost.

Media reporting of violence against women (VAW) has the potential to contribute to improving the community's understanding and response to this social problem. However, journalists are not immune to gender biases and myths concerning VAW. Both can affect how the subject is framed. We look at an Australian training programme implemented to improve VAW news reporting practices such as including social context, family violence experts and help-seeking information for survivors, challenging myths and avoiding perpetrator exoneration and victim-blaming. We compare journalists' reporting before and after training and also compare the trained reporters' content with a matched comparison sample written by untrained journalists to see if training translates into best practice reporting. We conclude that reportage practices have improved overall in recent years and that the training model, in which participants were selected to take part, appears to be effective in improving some key elements of best practice reporting, but some areas of concern remain. We recommend more targeted programmes with curriculum additions to better address some reporting deficiencies we identify.