Abstract
BackgroundIntimate partner violence (IPV) is a population health problem linked to a myriad of negative psychological, physical, emotional, sexual and reproductive health outcomes for women. The movement towards working with boys and men over the past couple of decades has increased the number of interventions specifically directed at men who perpetrate violence against a female partner. There is little evidence-based research on key characteristics of effective interventions directed at men to reduce or prevent IPV against female partners. The objective of this systematic review is to identify interventions specifically directed at males , as the perpetrators of violence against women, that have proven to be effective in preventing or reducing intimate partner violence.MethodsThe following electronic databases will be used to search for peer-reviewed studies: MEDLINE (OVID), Embase (OVID), PsycInfo (OVID), CINAHL (EBSCO), Global Health (EBSCO), Gender Watch (ProQuest), Web of Science (Web of Knowledge), PROSPERO, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials Database (Ovid) and SCOPUS. We will include randomized control trials, non-randomized studies of interventions published in peer-reviewed journals and relevant unpublished manuscripts, books/chapters and clinical or programme study reports. Studies have to demonstrate direction of effect (i.e. pre-post intervention/difference between groups) in terms of prevention or reduction in the outlined outcomes. Primary outcomes include change in behaviour and knowledge of male perpetrator regarding the impact of IPV on women as well as women’s experience of IPV. Secondary outcomes include change in behaviours around substance use and social activities, decrease in negative mental health outcomes and interactions with law enforcement. Studies will be screened, appraised and extracted by two reviewers; any conflicts will be resolved through discussion. Narrative synthesis will be used to analyse and present findings. If sufficient and comparable data is available, a meta-analysis will be conducted.DiscussionThis review will provide synthesized evidence on interventions directed at males to reduce or prevent their perpetration of intimate partner violence against female partners. Implications for practice will include key characteristics of interventions proven to be effective based on evidence synthesis and certainty of findings. Recommendations for further research will also be considered.Systematic review registrationThis protocol was submitted for registration in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) on September 4, 2020.
Highlights
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a population health problem linked to a myriad of negative psychological, physical, emotional, sexual and reproductive health outcomes for women
Systematic review registration: This protocol was submitted for registration in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) on September 4, 2020
We will synthesize key elements of the methods, results and discussion [43]
Summary
Protocol registration and reporting This systematic review will include quantitative studies of interventions (randomized and non-randomized designs) targeted at male perpetrators to prevent and/or reduce intimate partner violence against their female partner. We will synthesize key elements of the methods (i.e. description of grouping of studies for synthesis; description of standardized metric methods use, description of synthesis methods, criteria used to prioritize results for summary and synthesis, investigation of heterogeneity in reported effects, certainty of evidence, data presentation methods), results (i.e. description of the synthesized findings and certainty of findings for each comparison outcome) and discussion (i.e. reporting the limitation of the synthesis methods used and or the grouping used in the synthesis and how they affect the conclusions in relation to effectiveness of the interventions designed to reduce or prevent IPV perpetrated by men against their female partners) [43]. The grading of the certainty of evidence will be reported in the results section for each outcome discussing rationale for downgrading or upgrading the evidence as seen in the summary of findings table
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