Conceptualising domestic violence and abuse within Roma communities through a power and control lens

Although the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women calls for strengthened efforts to document and address how DVA is experienced across diverse global contexts, dominant theoretical models do not always capture the experiences and perspectives of Roma women. To address this gap, this study aims to critically examine the applicability of the Power and Control Wheel and consider its relevance for Roma women in the United Kingdom. Drawing on a feminist understanding of domestic violence and abuse, integrated with the concept of antigypsyism, the study employed a two-phase interpretivist design, including focus groups and expert-by-experience interviews with Roma victim-survivors and specialist practitioners. Challenging individualised understandings of domestic violence and abuse, findings revealed that it is frequently embedded within extended family hierarchies, community expectations and structural inequalities. The unique contribution of this paper reconceptualises our understanding of domestic violence and abuse by introducing an adapted Roma-specific Wheel and adaptation of the original wheel is approved by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (www.theduluthmodel.org).