There is an increased awareness that coercive control is both prevalent and harmful to survivors/victims in intimate partner violent relationships, Coercive control is soon to be criminalized in Canada. However, a clear and agreed upon definition of the behaviour remains elusive. This talk will describe the extent and limits of current consensus in how researchers operationalize coercive control in a scoping review of 129 studies, and how different definitions relate to how the problem is understood. We will invite input from the audience on how to reach consensus and what further research is needed.

Speakers include:

• Dr. N. Zoe Hilton, Research Chair in Forensic Mental Health at Waypoint
• Elke Ham, Research Psychometrist at Waypoint and Project Coordinator of ODARA 101.
• Dr. Crystal Giesbrecht, Director of Research at the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan (PATHS)
• Dr. Dana Radatz, Professor in the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Niagara University.
• Dr. Sandy Jung, PhD RPsych, is a full Professor in the Department of Psychology at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Canada.
• Ben Presta, a member of the Waypoint Research Institute from 2024–2026 as a research analyst. At Waypoint, he worked on a project aiming to connect researchers and the public to understand coercive control in intimate partner violence.
• Lena Grajewski, recent graduate from the Honours Bachelor of Counselling Psychology degree at Georgian College.