A unique survey of domestic life in Bristol has revealed that on one day (10 March) this year, at least 171 people were supported by organisations in Bristol after being subjected to physical, emotional, sexual, or financial abuse.

The 'snapshot', the first of its kind ever carried out in the city, was commissioned by the Safer Bristol Partnership on behalf of the Bristol Domestic Abuse Forum and took place over a 24-hour period across the city.

It was conducted by Professor Marianne Hester and Nicole Westmarland at the University of Bristol and funded by the Government Office for the South West.

A total of 33 organisations supplied information for the survey including Avon and Somerset Constabulary, Victim Support, Next Link, the city's Primary Care Trusts, a range of voluntary organisations and Bristol City Council.

The aim of the survey - which will be repeated next year - is to increase the reporting of domestic abuse by encouraging more victims to come forward, to work with the perpetrators of the abuse and to ensure closer work by the various agencies involved in tackling domestic abuse and helping the victims.

Of the 171 who experienced abuse, 149 (89 per cent) were female and 19 (11 per cent) were male. In most cases (81 per cent) the victim was female and the perpetrator was male, with most (82 per cent) of it taking place within an 'intimate', rather than a 'familial' relationship. In half of these cases, the victim and perpetrator were partners, and in 35 per cent of cases they were married.

Where the relationship was familial, the perpetrator was most likely (52 per cent) to be the victim's child.

Domestic abuse of an emotional nature was most frequently recorded (86 per cent), followed by physical abuse (74 per cent). Nearly four in 10 victims had experienced financial abuse (39 per cent) and one in six had been sexually abused (16 per cent). In most cases (66 per cent), the victim had been experiencing abuse for more than a year.