AWARE’s Advocacy and Research department is currently looking for research respondents for a new study on coercive control in Singapore.

What is coercive control?

Coercive control is a pattern of behaviour where a person repeatedly isolates, degrades, exploits, controls, humiliates or frightens another. It can occur on its own or alongside other forms of abuse, e.g. physical or sexual abuse. Rather than a form of abuse, we can think of coercive control as a relationship dynamic that may be evident in various personal relationships, e.g. between spouses, partners, family members, friends, employers-employees.

Examples of coercive control

• Continuously insulting you, resulting in you feeling ashamed, belittled, intimidated or humiliated
• Stalking or monitoring your movements, e.g. tracking you through mobile apps, constantly calling you, turning up at your workplace
• Isolating you from your family and friends
• Threatening you or manipulating you to do things that you don’t want to, e.g. employer threatening to withhold your pay unless you work overtime, your partner threatening to hurt you if you see family members
• Controlling your access to finances and making important financial decisions without your consent
• Policing your lifestyle, e.g. controlling what you wear or who you can or cannot hang out with
• Threatening to take custody of your children or questioning your capacity to parent
• For migrant spouses and migrant domestic workers, your spouse/employer threatening to cancel or not renew your visit pass/work permit, or withholding your passport

If you’d like to see more examples of coercive control, you may refer to this comic series by artist Charis Loke.

Who can participate?

• We are looking for individuals of any gender, aged 21 or above.
• They must have experienced coercive control at the hands of a romantic partner (current or former), a family member or (if they are a migrant domestic worker) a live-in employer. The coercive control must have taken place in the past five years.
• They must be a Singaporean or Permanent Resident (PR), with the exception of migrant domestic workers.
• Ideally, participants should have received formal emotional support (such as counselling, psychotherapy, social services or similar) for coercive control.
• Participants must be willing to participate in an interview that will take around 90 to 120 minutes.

Each participant will be given $100 as a token of appreciation. Interviews are in English. If you’d like to participate but English is not your preferred language for communication, please drop us an email at gec@aware.org.sg.

To register as a respondent, fill out this form.

Confidential and anonymous

Our research is confidential. This means that your personal information, such as your identity, residential status (e.g. citizen or permanent resident) and other information, will be anonymised. We will not contact the other parties involved in any situations described by respondents.

Support for respondents

Referrals to AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC) and Women’s Care Centre (WCC) can be made before or after the interview. Emotional support is available, upon request, during the interview. Participation in the research is NOT a requirement in receiving referrals for help.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What if I’m not sure that my coercive control was severe enough, or that I even experienced coercive control in the first place?

Coercive control takes many forms and includes a wide range of behaviours. Even if you suspect that you have experienced coercive control, please contact us! We will help you determine if you are eligible to participate in the study.

2. Must my experience of coercive control have been documented or reported officially (e.g. via a police report) for me to participate?

You are eligible to participate in this study whether you took official action or not. Coercive control is still not widely understood and many victim-survivors only realise they have experienced abuse long after the situation concludes. As reporting abusive behaviour can be very difficult, we understand that you may not have been in a position to do so.

3. Will others, such as my abuser, find out and retaliate against my participation in this study?

All participants’ interviews and details will be anonymised for their protection. This includes any identifying details of other people or places mentioned, such as the abuser who committed coercive control. There will be no release of confidential and private details. AWARE will not contact any individuals mentioned during the interviews. The audio recording of your interview will be deleted after the report is published, following research protocols. Finally, all the data about the report will remain encrypted to protect your privacy.

4. Do I have to name my abuser?

No. You do not need to use any full names or identifying details when describing your experiences to us. Only discuss what you feel comfortable with.

5. What if talking about my experience of coercive control is stressful or traumatic for me?

We will offer you counselling services before and after the interview. Additionally, at your request, a safety person from AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre can sit in and provide emotional support to you during the interview. Your interviewer will be a woman with experience in interviewing survivors sensitively and confidently.

We understand that being interviewed about past experiences of coercive control can be traumatic. For some survivors, it helps to view this experience as a chance to gain a greater understanding of their lived experiences, and possibly help other survivors.

6. I have other questions or concerns about this study. Who do I talk to?

You can directly email the researchers of the project at gec@aware.org.sg.