Tūtohi spotlights Women's Refuge data at leadership summit

Tūtohi Data & Insights Manager Jillian Pennington presented the keynote at HINZ’s 2024 Digital Leadership Summit, speaking about what Women’s Refuge data can teach us about the importance of different perspectives and what this means for the digital health sector.  

The research brought to light the stories and voices that have gone unseen in the mainstream discourse around family violence – especially driving home the essential role that the health sector has to play in treating the impacts of family violence.  

In the digital health context, it’s important to recognise the risks for victims of family violence, such as forcing or restricting access to healthcare services and providers, misuse of health information, or manipulation of records.  

Actions for digital health key players to consider embedding: 

• Remember that once access is granted, victims cannot retract it ​without risking​ further violence​ 
• Include the voices of lived experience in design 
• Don’t treat family violence as an edge case 
• Ask yourself what control could mean in other contexts, including family violence 
• Understand the risk of manipulated records or practitioners to a victim’s legal protections or health entitlements​ 
• Consider how digital health records could put victims at risk – but also where and how they could improve health outcomes 

The full resource ‘Health at What Cost? The Role of Health Practitioners in Treating Family Violence’ can be accessed from Women’s Refuge.  

We acknowledge the important work of Women’s Refuge, and encourage all those working in digital health across Aotearoa to take steps towards implementing the recommendations they have provided.