Andrew Bickerdike

Research suggests that screening for family violence among mediation clients has not been very effective, and there is also significant disagreement as to what constitutes best practice for screening in this context. This article discusses the research on these issues, including family law reforms to address family violence, the prevalence of alleg...

This article reports on a qualitative study of barriers and access to healthcare for same-sex attracted parents and their children. Focus groups were held with same-sex attracted parents to explore their experiences with healthcare providers and identify barriers and facilitators to access. Parents reported experiencing uncomfortable or anxiety-pro...

Family mediation is mandated in Australia for couples in dispute over separation and parenting as a first step in dispute resolution, except where there is a history of intimate partner violence. However, validation of effective well-differentiated partner violence screening instruments suitable for mediation settings is at an early phase of develo...

Increasing numbers of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults are entering into parenthood. Previous studies indicate many of these parents receive little or no support from their families of origin due to family members' negative attitudes toward homosexuality. This study looks at the extent to which LGB parents report a lower sense of connectednes...

Relationship education and couple counseling services have been targeted to groups differing in severity of marital problems. However, there is evidence that couples seeking these services may be more similar than previously thought. We examined profiles of couples attending both services across eight community relationship service agencies in Aust...

Central to Government’s strategy for separating families is the management and resolution of disputes away from courts and litigation processes wherever this is achievable. A key group of players in facilitating this vision are workers within the wide range of women’s services. This study surveyed workers at a number of Victorian women’s services t...

This article explores lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) parents’ sense of connection to their families, friends, and communities. The study compares LGBT parents who live in inner metropolitan areas with those living in outer metropolitan and regional and rural areas. We also look at experiences of discrimination and being out about se...

There is little published data on the prevalence of psychological distress among individuals and couples seeking counselling and mediation services from non-government organisations (NGOs). This national cross-sectional study establishes the prevalence of psychological distress among clients seeking family and relationship counselling and mediation...

Family law reforms in Australia require separating parents in dispute to attempt mandatory family dispute resolution (FDR) in community-based family services before court attendance. However, there are concerns about such services when clients present with a history of high conflict and family violence. This study protocol describes a longitudinal...

This paper reports on findings from the Work, Love, Play (WLP) study, an Australian/New Zealand study of same-sex attracted parents. There were 88 fathers who responded to the WLP survey. There was a diversity of contexts in which these men had become parents and were currently parenting: 34 (39%) had become parents while in a previous heterosexual...

This article reports on findings from the Work, Love, Play study, an Australian/New Zealand study of same-sex attracted parents. There were 48 parents in this study who identified as bisexual. There was a diversity of contexts in which people in this sample were parenting: heterosexual relationships, same-sex relationships, coparenting with ex-part...

Background Healthy couple relationships are fundamental to a healthy society, whereas relationship breakdown and discord are linked to a wide range of negative health and wellbeing outcomes. Two types of relationship services (couple counselling and relationship education) have demonstrated efficacy in many controlled studies but evidence of the ef...

Drawing on models of the divorce adjustment process, conflict theory, and previous research, a number of hypotheses were derived about the influence of divorce process variables on disputant behavior in mediation and mediation outcome. Premediation levels of attachment, anger, and sadness were assessed in 112 couples and the mediation sessions of f...

In this article we present findings from the Work, Love and Play (WLP) study: a survey completed by 445 same-sex attracted parents across Australia and New Zealand. Comparisons of household division of labour are made between a sub-sample of WLP participants, who were currently cohabiting with a same-sex partner (n = 317), and 958 cohabiting opposi...

While families headed by same-sex couples have achieved greater public visibility in recent years, there are still many challenges for these families in dealing with legal and community contexts that are not supportive of same-sex relationships. The Work, Love, Play study is a large longitudinal study of same-sex parents. It aims to investigate man...

This paper describes the diversity of family forms within a sample of 455 families parented by same-sex couples and same-sex attracted sole parents from Australia and New Zealand. Around one-third of this sample had conceived at least one of their children while in a previous heterosexual relationship. The remaining two-thirds had conceived at leas...

Central to Government's strategy for separating families is the management and resolution of disputes away from courts and litigation processes wherever this is achievable. A key group of players in facilitating this vision are workers within the wide range of women's services. This study surveyed workers at a number of Victorian women's services t...