Give me ‘strength to change’: insights into a social marketing campaign in the North of England

Abstract

In this paper, we report on how formative research was utilised to design a social marketing campaign commissioned by a Primary Care Trust within an area of high social deprivation in the North of England. Men represent the majority of perpetrators of domestic violence and there is increasing interest in developing services for this group with the aim of changing abusive behaviour. However, men are known to be less likely to engage in help-seeking behaviours, and this reticence has been attributed to the social construction of masculinity. A further barrier for men seeking help in relation to domestic violence is the cultural construction of domestic violence. Formative research was undertaken to explore the perceptions and attitudes of a community population of males (n584). Focus groups explored barriers and drivers to help-seeking and identified effective communication messages. These findings were translated into the 'Strength to Change' campaign that minimised stigmatisation and blame while emphasising help-seeking as a 'strength' rather than a perceived weakness. Social marketing techniques facilitated an in-depth appreciation of local barriers to help-seeking and generated context-specific messages to encourage take-up of a new service for male perpetrators.