Family, domestic and sexual violence data in Australia

Notes

1. A Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC) client is identified as experiencing family and domestic violence if in any support period during the reporting period the client was formally referred from a non-SHS family and domestic violence agency to an SHS agency, ‘family and domestic violence’ was reported as a reason they sought assistance, or during any support period they required family or domestic violence assistance. The SHSC reports on clients experiencing family and domestic violence of any age, including both victims and a smaller number perpetrators who may be assisted by SHS agencies. Current data do not allow for victims and perpetrators to be reported separately.
2. Data for 2011–12 to 2016–17 have been adjusted for non-response. Due to improvements in the rates of agency participation and SLK validity, 2017–18 data are not weighted. The removal of weighting does not constitute a break in time series and weighted data from 2011–12 to 2016–17 are comparable with unweighted data for 2017–18 onwards.
3. Support period counts may differ from previous publications due to an improvement in methodology, which has resulted in a small decrease in the number of support periods.
4. Data have been extracted from the SHSC data cubes which have undergone confidentialsiation. Due to this process, figures may differ from those published in annual SHSC reports.
5. From 2017-18 to 2018-19, there was a three per cent decrease in the total number of Victorian homelessness clients and a 10 percent decrease in family violence clients following years of steady increases in these numbers. The decrease was primarily due to a practice correction in how some family violence agencies were recording clients. In addition, during 2018-19, a phased process to shift family violence intake to non-SHS services began, which may result in an overall decrease in the number of SHS family violence clients over the coming years. Caution should be used when comparing Victorian client numbers over recent years.
6. Main language spoken at home total excludes clients who only had a support period(s) starting before 1 July 2019, when the main language data item was introduced.
7. Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) clients are identified as having a current mental health issue if they are aged 10 years or older and have provided any of the following information:
   • They indicated that at the beginning of support they were receiving services or assistance for their mental health issues or had in the last 12 months.
   • Their formal referral source to the SHS was a mental health service.
   • They reported ‘mental health issues’ as a reason for seeking assistance.
   • Their dwelling type either a week before presenting to an agency, or when presenting to an agency, was a psychiatric hospital or unit.
   • They had been in a psychiatric hospital or unit in the last 12 months.
   • At some stage during their support period, a need was identified for psychological services, psychiatric services or mental health services.
8. The identification of clients with problematic drug and/or alcohol use may be current or recent; referring to issues at presentation, just prior to receiving support or at least once in the 12 months prior to support. SHS clients aged 10 and over are reported in the SHSC with problematic drug and/or alcohol use if, at the beginning of or during support, the client provided any of the following information:
   • recorded their dwelling type as rehabilitation facility
   • required drug or alcohol counselling
   • were formally referred to the SHS service from an alcohol and drug treatment service
   • had been in a rehabilitation facility or institution during the past 12 months
   • reported problematic drug, substance or alcohol use as a reason for seeking assistance or the main reason for seeking assistance.
9. SHSC clients living with a disability reported that they have a limitation in core activities (self care, mobility and communication) and always or sometimes needed assistance with one or more of these core activities. These clients are described as having severe or profound core activity limitation, or as living with disability.
10. The proportion of clients living with disability is calculated for all clients who experienced family and domestic violence, including those with “not stated” responses to disability questions.
11. People presenting alone are defined as any client whose presenting unit type is recorded as ‘lone person’ by a SHS agency in their first support period in the financial year. Data for presenting unit type may not be comparable across age groups due to differences in interpretation of presenting units and how they are recorded. This issue mainly concerns young children and presenting unit type ‘lone person’.
12. Presenting unit type is not necessarily the same as living arrangement.
13. For more information see Methods, Glossary and Data sources.

Source

AIHW Specialist Homelessness Services Collection data cubes 2011-12 to 2020-21