“A Lightbulb Moment”: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Explore the Challenges and Opportunities for Early Engagement of Australian Men Who Use Violence in Their Relationships

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a common complex social and public health problem. Interventions for IPV male perpetrators are an essential component of an early and effective response. Yet little is known about how to engage men in interventions for help-seeking. Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB), we explored men's perceptions of seeking help for an unhealthy relationship and how they could be supported to recognize their behavior and undertake change at an early stage. We recruited 23 men who were currently attending a men's behavior change program in Australia to take part in focus groups. These were recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. The TPB concepts of behavioral beliefs, perceived control, and subjective norms were found throughout the data. Behavioral beliefs covered four subthemes: self-awareness, self-reflection and agency, the influence of others to change, and needing the right message in the right place. Perceived control was connected to these men's understandings of what it means to be a man. Subjective norms were rarely raised, but there was some indication that men's perceptions of societal norms about men as violent influenced a perceived lack of agency to change behavior. Our findings highlight the complexity of, and challenges in, engaging men who may use violence before they reach crisis point and justice intervenes. Despite this, participating men could find acceptable an appropriately developed and easy-to-access intervention that enhances recognition of behaviors and provides links to supports. Health professionals or researchers developing early interventions targeting these men need to take the engagement challenges into account.

Toward an Ecological Understanding of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence

“…There is a paucity of literature on the individual characteristics of perpetrators of IPSV, although some research has examined traits associated with perpetration of sexual assault (Loh, Gidycz, Lobo, & Luthra, 2005;Tharp et al, 2013) and IPV (Love, Spencer, May, Mendez, & Stith, 2018) more broadly (World Health Organization, 2010). In the IPV context, the role of "hegemonic masculinity" (Connell, 1987) (often referred to as "support for traditional gender roles" or "hyper masculinity") has been acknowledged as being central (Forsdike, Tarzia, Flood, Vlais, & Hegarty, 2018;Peralta & Tuttle, 2013), both as a force that shapes violence-supportive attitudes, and as a trigger for violent acts when it is threatened (Anderson & Umberson, 2001;Gallagher & Parrott, 2011). Peralta and Tuttle (Peralta & Tuttle, 2013), for instance, have highlighted the relationship between IPV perpetration and threats to masculinity in the context of financial insecurity.…”

‘No one teaches us how to deal with this’: General practitioners’ experiences of working with men who use violence in relationships

“…In a recent Australian study, male perpetrators from a men's behaviour change program called for the 'right person' to be asking the 'right questions' to enable self-awareness of behaviour and enact change. 23 GPs could potentially fulfil this role, and are therefore encouraged to move away from the image of a male patient disclosing, 'I'm bashing my wife', and to instead use appropriate language to promote an opportunity for discussion to occur. 16 Engaging perpetrators and getting them to recognise and discuss their use of violence was a particular concern of the participants.…”

Perspectives on Motivation and Change in an Intervention for Men Who Use Substances and Perpetrate Intimate Partner Abuse: Findings From a Qualitative Evaluation of the Advance Intervention

“…Regarding IPA, we focus on research with male perpetrators and female victims, and where male samples are diverse, for example, in terms of ethnicity (e.g., Holtrop et al, 2017) Qualitative Research on IPA/Substance Use Programs: Motivations and Change Processes Several meta-analyses (e.g., Arce et al, 2020;Arias et al, 2013;Babcock et al, 2004;Cheng et al, 2019) have indicated mixed results on the efficacy of perpetrator programs, partially attributable to methodological issues, such as effectiveness being measured in a range of ways. Given this, there have been calls to improve the way that perpetrator programs are evaluated (Akoensi et al, 2013;Hester et al, 2014) as well as calls to better understand how perpetrators change (McGinn et al, 2020) and their motivations to enact change (Forsdike et al, 2018). Qualitative research can add nuance to evaluations by illuminating motivations and change processes.…”

“…Regarding processes of change, a range of qualitative studies has found that men who perpetrate violence have cognitive distortions (e.g., about relationships, responsibility, and blame), which are the products of deeply embedded core beliefs. It is argued that men who have perpetrated IPA use these cognitive distortions to minimize and justify violence (Forsdike et al, 2018;Parra-Cardona et al, 2013). Men report that perpetrator programs have led to them becoming more aware of their own cognitive distortion and core beliefs (McGinn et al, 2020;Parra-Cardona et al, 2013), although it is unclear how far being made aware of these beliefs and distortions led to change.…”