Suggestions to improve outcomes for male victims of domestic abuse: a review of the literature

Abstract

Male victims of domestic abuse (DA) face a number of barriers to seeking help from their abusive relationships. Though available research has focussed primarily on exploring many of these challenges, few suggestions have been made on how to reduce or resolve them. It is necessary to establish a comprehensive plan to affect change at multiple levels in society in order to improve outcomes for this under-served population. This paper begins with a literature review examining in detail the many reasons why male victims of DA may refuse to seek help in an abusive relationship. Using the main key words, male victims combined with several common phrases related to the phenomenon of abuse including domestic abuse, domestic violence, and intimate partner violence, the review revealed several common reasons that male victims of DA refuse to seek help. These reasons include refusal or reluctance to view their experiences as abuse, hesitancy to identify with victimizing language, lack of available supportive services, embarrassment, shame, loss of masculinity, fear of being judged or disbelieved by others, fear of police response, and devotion to their family. Based on this review, a list of suggestions by the author is provided for changes that can be made to counter these barriers and improve male help-seeking. These suggestions are comprised of four broad themes: increasing public awareness, addressing the unique needs of male victims of DA, improving training for service providers, and increasing funding for services targeted to male victims of DA. A section exploring some of the unique concerns of gay, bisexual, and transgender men is included. International trends in the development and provision of services for male victims show that while increasing attention is being given to this vulnerable population, there are still significant gaps in available supports.

Trends and correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization in Rwanda: results from the 2015 and 2020 Rwanda Demographic Health Survey (RDHS 2015 and 2020)

“…Male victims of IPV violence have been severely neglected in public policy, but they are not uncommon; they can also be victims, but they are less likely to report it [7]. As revealed in prior studies [8][9][10][11], the reasons for men's reluctance to report IPV in Rwandan context may include "refusal to view their experiences as abuse, hesitancy to identify with victimizing language, lack of available supportive services, embarrassment, shame, loss of masculinity, fear of being judged or disbelieved by others, fear of police response, and devotion to their family". Also, it is thought that men experience more verbal abuse than physical abuse.…”

Health-Related Costs of Intimate Partner Violence: Using Linked Police and Health Registers

“…Women are more likely to be exposed to violence, report health problems, and seek health services due to IPV (Bonomi et al, 2009; Ford-Gilboe et al, 2015). In contrast, the utilization of health services among male IPV victims has rarely received attention (Moore, 2021). Hence, it is useful to assess how healthcare costs differ between men and women.…”

Hombres víctimas de violencia de pareja: una revisión sistemática

“…Por otro lado, se visualiza la violencia indirecta con menor frecuencia se direcciona hacia los hijos (4.4%) y familiares por parte de la víctima (2.2%), empleando la manipulación a la pareja bajo amenazas relacionadas a lastimar a sus hijos, quitándole la oportunidad de tener contacto con ellos, provocando así que el hombre se someta a los requerimientos (Lamine et al, 2018;Scott et al, 2022). En la tabla 6, se presenta que de 45 artículos seleccionados, solo 35 arrojaron resultados sobre las barreras que impiden al hombre denunciar la agresión por parte de su pareja: Denuncias falsas, no aceptar las denuncias por parte del hombre, temor a las humillaciones, vergüenza (47.2%), deficiencia de la protección en las víctimas por parte de las instituciones (22.2%), justificación de la violencia (11.1%) y temor a perder la custodia de sus hijos (11.4%), barreras que fueron halladas en las diferentes investigaciones (Huntley et al, 2019;Maike, 2019) evidenciando así que la sociedad no facilita los medios para que el hombre solicite ayuda a su medio, sino todo lo contrario la víctima contrae consecuencias negativas hacia su persona a nivel personal, social, familiar y económico (Moore, 2021). Además, los efectos reflejan que la estigmatización entre el hombre y la mujer limita que los varones manifiesten fragilidad emocional y la búsqueda de apoyo (Scott et al, 2022).…”