THE vast majority of men who abuse their partners stop their physical and sexual violence if they attend a domestic violence perpetrator programme, according to new research.

The research, led by Durham and London Metropolitan universities, suggests domestic violence perpetrator programmes (DVPPs) could play an important role in the quest to end domestic violence.

DVPPs are re-education programmes for men to change their behaviour in order to increase the safety of women and children. The programmes in this study were community based – which means men were not mandated by a criminal court to attend – and had all been accredited by national organisation Respect.

The study, which is the first of its kind in the UK, found that before attending the programme a third of men asked women to perform sexual acts against their wishes but none did so after taking part in the programme. Cases of the men using a weapon against their partner reduced from 29 per cent to zero.

Far fewer women reported being physically injured after the programme, with 61 per cent before compared to two per cent after.

Over half of the women reported feeling ‘very safe’ after the programme, compared to less than one in ten before the programme (51 per cent compared to 8 per cent).

However, improvements in the men’s controlling behaviour were less strong, with control of money changing only marginally.

Report author, Professor Nicole Westmarland from Durham University’s Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse, said: “Our data shows that most men are able to take steps towards positive change with the help of a domestic violence perpetrator programme and although there is more work to be done, we are quite optimistic about the ability of these programmes to play a role in ending domestic violence.”

The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Northern Rock Foundation.