Domestic abuse in Bristol: Findings from a 24-hour snapshot

The first snapshot of domestic abuse in Bristol took place on Thursday 10th March 2005. A large range of agencies in Bristol were contacted and asked if they would take part in the snapshot. In total, 33 agencies took part. Participating agencies were asked to complete a form every time they did some domestic abuse related work during the 24-hour period of the snapshot (starting at 00.00 in the morning and ending at 23.59 at night on Thursday 10th March). The snapshot was designed not to measure the amount of domestic abuse that happened during the 24-hour period, but rather to record:

• the impact domestic abuse has on agencies' workloads
• who was seeking help from which agencies for the type of domestic abuse experienced.

The snapshot form asked questions about: the agency details; the person experiencing domestic abuse; the type of domestic abuse; referrals made during the snapshot and; the type of domestic abuse work carried out during the snapshot and its duration. Standardised anonymous unique reference numbers were used to avoid double counting. Agencies were asked to only record information that was already known or easily accessible. It was very important to us that no client/agency relationships were adversely affected by the snapshot.

Funder: Bristol Community Safety and Drugs Partnership (Safer Bristol) on behalf of Bristol Domestic Abuse Forum (BDAF), and funded by Government Office South West.