Chief Investigator: Dr Sara Morgan – University of Southampton Project

Team Members: Mrs Katerina Porter – University of Southampton, Mrs Fiona Maxwell – University of Southampton, Professor Julie Parkes – University of Southampton

Organisations Involved: Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Constabulary, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Hampshire, The Home Office

Background

Home Office funding has been awarded to a multi-agency partnership in Southampton and Hampshire, to pilot a model of workforce development, new approaches and pathways for perpetrators of domestic violence and abuse (DVA).As part of this work, the High Harm Domestic Violence Perpetrator Pilot Evaluation pilot aims to facilitate and promote early identification and engagement with perpetrators of DVA, who are deemed to pose a high risk of harm to their victims and families. Evidence suggests that perpetrators in the 18-24 age group are most difficult to engage in positive behaviour change programmes.This is also an age group where high levels of harmful behaviour are seen. This mixed methods evaluation is aimed at evaluating the extent to which front-line practitioners feel more equipped to engage with perpetrators (‘DARE’ training) following training and to evaluate the identification, referral and engagement of perpetrators who meet the agreed criteria; and monitoring/disrupting of those who are not willing to engage with the behaviour change intervention (‘Operation Foundation’ scheme).