Preventing Family Violence: The Evaluation of a Group for Men who are Violent towards Their Partners

This paper reports the results of an evaluation of a group for men who are concerned about their violent behaviour towards their partners. The Group techniques have been developed and refined over a five-year period. Data were collected from the participants and their partners in three interviews: Before the Group started, when it had finished and at a six-month follow-up. Participants also completed a feedback sheet after each session. The main measure of the Group's effectiveness, before and after measure of incidence of violence, indicated that the Group was successful in reducing physically violent behaviour. The evaluation also showed that the group was effective in encouraging participants to express anger, frustration and fear more openly and to reassess their beliefs about sex roles and personal rights within intimate relationships.