The Research

PLEASE NOTE: REPROVIDE IS CLOSED TO NEW REFERALS

If you are seeking help to change your behaviour in relationships please contact RESPECT

If you are experiencing violence or abuse, please contact REFUGE.

Academics and commissioners seeking more information about REPROVIDE, please email reprovide-programme@bristol.ac.uk.

 

  • Reprovide is a University of Bristol research programme

  • Funded by Department of Health and Social Care, National Institute of Health research & Health and Care Research Wales

  • Aiming to see if group domestic violence prevention programmes help men and improve safety for partners, ex-partners and for children.

What are we doing?

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. We are now testing the group intervention programme, so we can see if it really does 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.

How is the Research Designed?

Previous studies have helped us to understand perpetrator programmes, but they have often over-relied on men’s self-reporting. They have also lacked a effective comparison group or sometimes over-relied on police data which may miss a huge proportion of what happens at home. Many studies have looked at court-mandated perpetrator programmes which is only a fraction of abusive men, and perhaps a group less ready to change.

REPROVIDE has therefore been set up as a randomised controlled trial. This means that outcomes for men who take part in a group programme (the intervention group) will be compared 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 trial. Two-thirds of men who enrol on the trial will be offered a place on the group. Their outcomes will be compared against the one-third of men who continue with other forms of existing support.

To find out more about the research, please visit our main pages on the University of Bristol website.