The REPROVIDE study of a domestic abuse group programme is testing a programme to help men who are concerned about their behaviour in relationships with women.

Although there is some evidence to suggest that group programmes might be helpful for men who want to stop being abusive, there is not yet enough evidence to understand the outcomes, impact and effectiveness of such programmes and this is what our study seeks to do.

What we already know

We have already run a pilot study to see if it is feasible, acceptable and safe to run this research, and we are now commencing a larger scale study expanding from the pilot site of Bristol/North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. Our aim now is to test a group intervention programme, so we can see if these really do help men and improve safety for their partners, ex-partners, and their children. A final component of the study is to determine the cost effectiveness of the intervention to both the individual and society.

At present we do not know enough about group programmes for perpetrators of domestic abuse and how much they can really help men or their partners, ex-partners and children. The primary aim of our study therefore is to investigate the effectiveness of the group programme intervention on reducing men’s abusive behaviour against women.

In order to do this, we are running a ‘randomised controlled trial’ whereby we compare outcomes for men who take part in a group programme (the intervention group) against outcomes for men who have not taken part in a group programme (the comparison group). We will also be looking at the effects on the partners and ex-partners of the men taking part in the study.