Domestic violence perpetrator programmes : what counts as success ?

Abstract

Whether domestic violence perpetrator programmes ‘work’ is contested by researchers, policy makers and practitioners. Some evaluations have concluded they do reduce violence, whereas others claim they do not and may even make things worse. Much of the disagreement is related to three issues: variations in methodological and analytical approaches; disagreements over the interpretation of data; and differing definitions of what the term ‘works’ means. Whilst there is now extensive literature exploring the methodological questions, rather less attention has been paid to unpicking the latter issue. It is this topic that we address in this briefing note. What does it mean for a programme to ‘work’, to ‘be successful’, to have ‘positive outcomes’, and whose perspectives on these questions should we be mindful of ?