Understanding Domestic Violence and Abuse: Developing the Power and Control Wheel to support the Roma Community.

SIG Chairs: Dan Allen, Liverpool Hope University and Dr Helen Richardson-Foster, University of Central Lancashire 

Speakers: Professor Michaela Rogers,  The University of Sheffield and Maria Palmai

This combined Special Interest Group event brings together the Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) SIG and the Child Protection in Gypsy Roma and Traveller Communities SIG to strengthen collaborative learning, research, and practice.

This event introduces a Roma-specific Power and Control Wheel, created through collaborative, participatory research with Roma women and child protection practitioners. Throughout 2024/25, Roma adults shared their experiences of DVA to ensure the wheel reflects the lived realities of Roma communities and supports culturally grounded understanding of power and control.

The session highlights how community involvement shaped every stage of the research, with Roma voices steering the themes, language, and priorities of the tool. Participants will learn how the wheel reveals unique patterns of power, control, and community pressures, and how co-production enhances its accuracy.  It also explores how services can apply this learning to challenge discrimination, improve responses, and build greater support with Roma victims and survivors.