Effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing domestic abuse
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The Public Health Research Programme (PHR) is accepting Stage 1 applications to their commissioned workstream for the topic of the effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing domestic abuse.
Domestic abuse is described as an incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening, degrading and violent behaviour, including sexual violence. In the majority of cases, these crimes are committed by a partner or an ex-partner, but also by a family member or carer. Domestic abuse is a common and largely hidden crime with chronic and long-lasting physical and mental health impacts for the people who experience it and their families.
Usually occurring in the home, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), an estimated 2.3 million adults experienced domestic abuse in 2020 in England and Wales. However, these figures are very likely to be an underestimate as domestic abuse is under reported to the police and in surveys.
One in seven (14.2%) children and young people under the age of 18 will have lived with domestic abuse at some point in their childhood. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the vulnerability of people at risk of domestic abuse in the UK and charities reported increased calls to the police and to helplines due to domestic abuse during periods of lockdown.
Domestic abuse is a crime which disproportionately affects women who are more likely to experience multiple incidents of abuse and sexual violence, particularly. As a gendered crime, rooted in inequitable social and cultural attitudes, roles, values and norms which enable abuse and violence against women and girls to be perpetrated, society’s understanding and response to domestic abuse needs to be located in the wider context of male violence against women and girls. To that end, the PHR Programme is preparing a broader-based call on male violence against women and girls which is likely to be advertised in 2022.
Research has highlighted the urgency of implementing and evaluating early preventative actions with young people that focus on the deconstruction of current gender patterns and breaking cycles of abuse. Research is needed on interventions for specific population groups for whom there are gaps in the evidence base. Research is also needed in specific types of approaches, for example, technology-based approaches. Evaluations of interventions aimed at people who perpetrate domestic abuse is also lacking.
A range of study designs and outcome measures can be used. Researchers will need to identify and justify the most suitable methodological approach. Researchers will also need to specify key outcomes and how these will be measured in the short, medium, and long term. Primary outcomes must be health related. Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis is always of interest to policy makers and the PHR Programme encourages researchers to consider including economic considerations in their application.
Researchers should ensure that there is involvement from people with lived experience of domestic abuse in the design of the evaluation and in the research team. Applicants will need to assure the PHR Programme that the research team includes, or has access to, either representatives from organisations working in the domestic abuse field or researchers with prior expertise within this field. We will consider inclusion of experts as costed members of the study team if appropriately justified. The PHR Programme expects applicants to be familiar with the Research Integrity Framework on Domestic Abuse and Violence which has been developed by the four UK Women’s Aid federations in collaboration with academic researchers.
Researchers should demonstrate the relevance of their proposed research to people who have experienced domestic abuse, their families, carers and support networks, to charities dedicated to working in the domestic abuse field and/or working to support women and girls who have experienced male violence, to local decision-makers and other relevant national and third sector organisations. They are expected to be aware of other studies in this area and ensure their proposed research is complementary. This is a rapidly evolving policy field and applicants need to be aware of relevant strategies and developments.
Further details are set out on the NIHR’s website at