When technology is used for harmful purposes – like monitoring, tracking, harassment, or intimidation – it is called tech-based coercive control.

Coercive control is a pattern of abusive behaviour designed to create power and dominance over another person, through intimidation, threats, isolation and control. It commonly occurs in a cycle: tension; incident (abuse); reconciliation; calming; repetition and escalation.

What might begin as harassment via text message leads to restricting movement or communication with family and friends. People subject to coercive control can ‘disappear’ from social groups. It is primarily experienced by women but can occur in any relationship.

Alarmed by an increase in prevalence, the eSafety Commissioner funded Gippsland Women’s Health to lead  a coalition of Victorian regional women’s health networks in an awareness and behaviour change campaign to prevent tech-based coercive control.

Gippsland Women’s Health is the lead organisation for gender equality, women’s health, prevention of violence against women, and family violence leadership in Gippsland (covering six councils across 41,556 sq km, stretching from the Melbourne city fringe to Mallacoota at the NSW border). It is one of six women’s health networks covering regional and rural Victoria, primarily funded by the state government.

Gippsland Women’s Health sought Ellis Jones’ support to bring behavioural science and creative capacity, and navigate a multi-level stakeholder context, with the ultimate goals of awareness, prevention and behaviour change. The project comprised:

• Behaviourally framed research – workshops; online survey – to understand how, when, where and why coercive control is experienced, and what the responses are among victims, bystanders, allies and perpetrators.
• Behaviour modelling to inform development of a campaign strategy and other interventions (e.g. intermediary education and police outreach).
• Behaviour change campaign strategy that adopted social movement principles to mobilise people behind community identity (GWH has very limited investment and needed to rely on take-up by other organisations).
• Creative and narrative concept and suite of creative assets (including a microsite) to positively influence perpetrators, allies, bystanders, victims and health/social worker intermediaries.
• Communications and behaviour change campaign evaluation framework.
• Concept testing with target audiences and coalition partner representatives.

The Stop Tech Abuse campaign is a platform for coalition partners to engage businesses, community groups and regional community members.

• The behaviour change strategy includes typologies and guiding insights, supported by a rich Miro collaboration space, to drive behaviour change over time as GWH takes the message and training forward.
• With layered messaging and tactics, the strategy addresses the complex requirement to address positive male role modelling while raising awareness and understanding of tech-enabled coercive control, and where to go for support.
• Partner packs support large employers and community organisations across regional Victoria to raise awareness of, and address, abuse – safely.

The abuse prevention behaviour change campaign is being progressively rolled-out by GWH and its six coalition partners. In its first month, the YouTube campaign video had reached 315,093 regional Victorians in the target demographics – almost all of them via TV screens in living rooms, a focus for behavioural prompts. This led to a surge in traffic to the website of 139%.

Ellis Jones’ behavioural modelling is also guiding intervention design, including education, advocacy and support for people experiencing coercive control.

Visit the website.