Selected Research Projects

Divorce at Midlife.

A University of Michigan interview project led by primary investigator, Professor Elizabeth Armstrong,

See:

Larance, L. Y., Garrison, S., & Seeley, J. L. (2018). Strategically stealthy: Women’s agency in navigating spousal violence. Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work,33(2), 177-192. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109917738067

Trauma-Informed Invention for Women Who Use Force in Victoria, Australia.

A collaborative practice and research project with Baptcare and Berry Street practitioners and Drs. Cathy Humphreys and Margaret Kertesz (University of Melbourne). The practice component of this collaboration involved implementation and clinical support of +SHIFT, the first anti-violence intervention program for women who have used force in Victoria, Australia. Co-designed from an intersectional perspective , +SHIFT paid particular attention to the needs of women from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse populations. The project was funded by Family Safety Victoria.

See:

Kertesz, M., Larance, L. Y. & Isobe, J. (forthcoming). Seeds of healing: +SHIFT antiviolence intervention for women in Victoria, Australia. Qualitative Social Work: Special Issue on Domestic Violence and Abuse Across the Life Course.

Larance, L. Y., & Kertesz, M. (2023). Methodological and ethical considerations when working beyond the victim-offender binary: A brief report on the unintended consequences of the C-ABI. Journal of Family Violence. Special Issue: Ethical governance and integrity in domestic violence and abuse research.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-023-00584-w

Kertesz, M., Humphreys, C., Larance L.Y., Vicary, D., Spiteri-Staines, A., & Ovenden, G. (2019). Working with women who use force: a feasibility study protocol of the Positive (+)SHIFT group work programme in Australia. BMJ Open 2019;9:e027496. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027496

United States Air Force Family Advocacy Program (FAP) Women’s Use of Force Program

The United States Air Force Family Advocacy Program (USAF-FAP) sought implementation of a tailored Vista Program framework and curriculum across more than 70 bases. They were the first branch of the Department of Defense to implement this type of antiviolence programming for women in the military and their families.

See:

Larance, L. Y., Miller, S. L., Collins, P. & Liu, L. (2025). Department of the Air Force Family Advocacy Program: Exploring the impact of an antiviolence intervention program for women. Violence Against Women, 31(2), 475-497.https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012231216714

Survivor Perspectives of Their Abusive Partner’s Battering Intervention Program Contact

In this collaborative research project, Rich Tolman, PhD, Morgan Simpson, and Mary Florence Sullivan and I explored the most frequent criminal legal system (CLS) sanction holding men accountable for their violence against women — court-ordering those convicted of domestic violence to attend a battering intervention program (BIP). However, BIPs’ long-term effectiveness remains in question, with concerns that BIPs are too closely aligned with policing and the courts, contribute to racial disparities in CLS involvement, and may not maximize survivor safety. Therefore, I interviewed women whose abusive partners or former partners were court-ordered to a community-based BIP after harming them. From these interviews, we aimed to understand the broad impact of women’s abusive partner’s BIP contact on the lives of the women and their children. By centering the perspectives of those who have been harmed our work reimagines formal systems’ responses to intimate partner violence.

See:

Larance, L. Y., Tolman, R. M., Simpson, M. & Sullivan, M. F. (2025). Centering survivor voices: A call for holistic survivor-centered systems responsiveness. Journal of Family Violence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-025-00835-y