More work needed to determine best ways to prevent domestic violence, says Academic

A University of Worcester academic says more work needs to be done to determine the most effective ways of preventing domestic violence.

Erica Bowen, Professor of Violence Prevention Research at the University’s National Centre for the Study and Prevention of Violence and Abuse (NCSPVA), is calling for greater investment in research into current approaches used to tackle the problem

Erica (pictured) delivers her inaugural professorial lecture on this topic at St John’s Campus, later today, June 7.

The talk follows an annual national conference at Worcester led by the NCSPVA over the last two days, which welcomed international speakers, looking at the impact of violence and abuse on children and young people.

“Researchers and practitioners need to actively question, challenge and explore some of the assumptions that underpin current approaches, but for which there is not always the evidence supporting them,” said Professor Bowen.

“The international and national evidence for the traditional model of intervention with domestic violence perpetrators is limited, and we know that not all perpetrators will respond to any one form of intervention.

“Therefore we need investment in evaluation in order to try and determine whether there are particular approaches that work better for some individuals rather than others.”

Titled Preventing intimate partner violence: Challenging assumptions and seeking evidence, the talk addresses how to stop violence in adult and adolescent relationships and will look at key projects Professor Bowen has been involved in.

She will detail how she designed and implemented interventions for adults who are not identified through the criminal justice service, but who have used violence and abuse within relationships, as well as how technology could be used in classrooms to educate young people about the nature and risk factors of violence within relationships.

Professor Bowen says that interventions to prevent domestic violence need to adopt a more collaborative, client-centred approach.

Those wishing to attend the talk, starting at 5.30pm, should email: [email protected].