Savera UK’s groundbreaking research with the University of Liverpool has received enough downloads to rank within one of the top 10 percent of papers published in the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling*, according to publisher Wiley.

‘Honour’-based abuse: A descriptive study of survivor, perpetrator, and abuse characteristics, was published in September 2022 and examines survivor, perpetrator, and abuse characteristics in anonymised cases of HBA and harmful practices such as forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM), provided by Savera UK.

The paper found that emotional/psychological abuse and coercive control were the most common characteristics of ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) and harmful practices.

Savera UK CEO and founder, Afrah Qassim, said: “The fact that this paper has ranked within the top 10 percent of papers downloaded from this issue of the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling supports the reason that we instigated this research in the first place – to create a baseline for HBA data.

“The lack of data around HBA and harmful practices has always been a challenge for organisations like Savera UK working with survivors and those at risk. 

“This paper provided a starting point to allow better understanding of the prevalence of different abuse characteristics and improved insight into HBA in the UK. It has also been the foundation for further research that we have undertaken in partnership with the University of Liverpool which we hope to see published in coming months.” 

To learn more about this paper and Savera UK’s upcoming research with the University of Liverpool, check out this blog.

*Among work published in an issue of Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling between 1st January 2022-31st December 2022, up to 12 months after publication