Preventing intimate partner violence: a formative evaluation of an intervention programme serving immigrants, refugees and visible minority men

Although intimate partner violence (IPV) is the leading type of violence experienced by women in many parts of the world, limited research with mixed findings exists on IPV intervention programming for immigrants and visible minority subgroups. Changing Behaviors is an eight-week IPV intervention programme targeting immigrants, refugees and visible minority clientele in British Columbia, Canada. This pilot study provides a preliminary examination of programme impacts, using a mixed methods pre-test/post-test design. Fourteen participants completed the psychological and physical abuse subscales of the Abusive Behavior Inventory (Shepard and Campbell, 1992), and 11 participants answered open-ended questions concerning knowledge and skills learned in the programme. Participation in Changing Behaviors resulted in marginally significant decreases in psychologically abusive behaviours, but no change in physical abuse or gains in knowledge and skills concerning anger reduction or healthy emotional expression. Future attainment of gains in skills and reductions in abuse may be more successful through incorporating additional culturally enhanced components into the programme curriculum, as well as adding evidence-based practices from the IPV intervention literature.