BU takes part in project studying intimate partner violence during pandemic

Researchers from Brandon University (BU) and the University of Manitoba (UM) are working with the Manitoba Status of Women Secretariat to study the experiences of survivors of intimate partner violence who are seeking help during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nadine Henriquez, an Assistant Professor in Nursing at BU, is a co-investigator in the project, which is led by Kendra Nixon of the University of Manitoba. The project is being supported by $24,780 in funding through the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Engage Grants (PEG) COVID-19 Special Initiative.

Henriquez and Nixon are also affiliated with RESOLVE, a tri-prairie research centre on gender-based violence. Nixon, who is an Associate Professor in the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Social Work is the Director of RESOLVE.

“In addition to the physical dangers of the virus, the pandemic is also having a significant social impact, that is not as easy to see or quantify,” says Henriquez. “Many people are under enormous stress and may be trapped in unsafe relationships due to isolation or their socioeconomic situation. Exacerbating this is the increased difficulty of accessing the social services that are in place to help those people. With our project, we hope to learn about the challenges survivors of violence are facing when they seek the assistance of those services.”

On Monday, more than $4 million in federal funding was announced for 172 research projects across Canada through the SSHRC’s PEG program. More than $3 million of that funding will go to 139 projects that are studying the impacts of COVID-19.

Contact