Family violence does not stop at eighty

A Report on Gandhi Nivas in South Auckland

Second of many Parts

Mandy Morgan and Leigh Coombes

Data

Gandhi Nivas provided data on 113 cases from December 2014 until December 2015 for matching to New Zealand Police data which covered all New Zealand Police records until January 6, 2016.

Gandhi Nivas cases involved 103 unique individuals.

Six men had been provided services by Gandhi Nivas on two occasions each, and one man had been provided services on three occasions.

Data from six men was not included in the analysis of New Zealand Police recorded occurrences because it could not be matched to Police data for persons of those names. Thus for the demographic description of those receiving services from Gandhi Nivas, there are 103 unique individuals included, and for the analysis of New Zealand Police recorded occurrences there are 97 cases included.

Demographic Analysis

Age

Age of clients was calculated at December 31, 2015 from birthdate. Where there is a discrepancy between Gandhi Nivas and Police data, Gandhi Nivas data is used, with two exceptions where the current year was entered as birth date in error. In one of these cases, Police data was not available.

Thus 102 unique individuals were included in the demographic data on age. The oldest client is 84 years of age and the youngest is 15. The mean age of clients is 37.5 years. The median age is 37 and the mode is 38.

The distribution of client ages, grouped by decades forms a part of this article.

While the range of client ages extends from mid-teens to mid-1980s, the distribution shows that a majority of clients referred for services (54%) are between 20 and 40 years old. Additionally, more men in their middle age are using services than either younger or older men.

It is evident that Gandhi Nivas provides accommodation for men of all ages, and that close networking with and referrals to Sahaayta’s culturally specific counselling services that provide for individuals, couples, youth, families and the elderly is necessary to meet the needs of men at very different stages in their lives.

Complex ethnicity

Ethnicity data was provided for 102 of 103 clients. Ethnicity categorisation is complex. Ten of the ethnicity categories provided in the data are identical with nationality. Several other categories are identical with regions.

There were six cases with multiple specifications of ethnicity (e.g. one person listed as Pākehā-Māori-Samoan). While another 21 persons were categorised broadly (e.g. European, Indian), 64 others were categorised more specifically (e.g. Indian/Mangalorean).

For the purposes of analysis, we have used the broadest categorisations available to provide consistency and protect client confidentiality. The broadest categorisations vary from Tangata Whenua (Māori) to nationality (e.g. Indian) to global region (Middle Eastern).

Where multiple identifications have been provided, we have used the most specific (i.e. any person identified as Māori has been included as Tangata Whenua).

We have retained the category of Fijian Indian, since this categorisation includes sufficient persons for confidentiality to be protected, and is less amenable to broad categorisation by nationality or global region.

We have included Pākehā in the category European because we did not have sufficient information to distinguish between New Zealand born and immigrant European categorisations of ethnicity.

(To be continued)

Editor’s Note: Gandhi Nivas is an initiative to ‘complete’ the approach to minimise, if possible eliminate totally, family violence among South Asian families. The following report, commissioned by Massey University looks at the concept, practice and challenges that face the collective effort in South Auckland. The following report, with minor modifications to suit our readership will appear as a serial in Indian Newslink. In this first part, the authors provide a background to family violence in New Zealand.