A researcher spoke with women to get their perspective on intervention programs for perpetrators of domestic violence in which their spouses participated. A first study of this kind in Quebec in 30 years, according to Professor Isabelle Côté, who presents her findings on Wednesday at the congress of the Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas).
This type of program is often evaluated from the point of view of the participants themselves, or even from so-called “objective” indicators, such as recidivism, note from the outset Isabelle Côté, professor at the School of Service Social at Laurentian University, located in Sudbury, Ontario.
However, according to her, recidivism “is not a very good indicator” in terms of domestic violence: firstly because many women do not report their spouse. And then, for “recidivism” to be noted in a police report, criminal offenses must have been committed, such as punching. The fact that there was no police report or that the violence exerted was rather coercive control “does not allow us to conclude that violent behavior has stopped,” argued the researcher in an interview with The duty.
She therefore saw the interest in collecting the testimonies of spouses who are, she says, in a “privileged position” to observe changes or the absence of changes in their partner, during and after their participation in a process of intervention for men, offered by an organization specializing in domestic violence.
Mme Côté then set up an “exploratory type” pilot project. Among the potential candidates, only nine met the project criteria, despite a one-year recruitment period. It is obviously very difficult to recruit women who agree to participate in this type of study, points out the researcher, considering the violence they have experienced.
Despite the small sample size, the testimony of these women shed unique and relevant light on the impact of these programs, believes the researcher.
First, she reports that spouses and ex-spouses had a lot of hope in these intervention programs. Optimistic, they told themselves that ultimately things would change, that the aid program would “save their relationship and their family life”.
In the end, it did not give the expected results, slice Mme Side.
Of the nine women interviewed, only one noted positive changes that persisted after the program: her partner stopped insulting her and physical violence against the children. Three observed changes that subsequently faded, and the other five noted that their spouse’s behavior did not change at all and that the violence even intensified, it is reported.
Some partners used manipulation, even using the tools taught against their partner: “I learned a lot about controlling behavior, I’m going to explain to you how controlling you are. » Others disempowered themselves during the program, telling their partner that she was “lucky”, because the other participants were “much worse than him”, we can read in the study she carried out with her co-researcher, Simon Lapierre, of the University of Ottawa, and research assistant Catherine Gendron.
Considering the limited number of women interviewed, the researcher does not draw conclusions on the effectiveness of these intervention programs. “Studies with a larger sample are needed,” she recommends. Because the current project cannot eliminate certain distortions, such as the possibility that those who raised their hands to participate were those who were most disappointed with the results of the programs.
The professor, however, considers it important that women know that these programs — deemed useful by many international studies — are not a guarantee of change nor an end in themselves. They must not relax their vigilance and continue to protect themselves, she says, because the intervention program may not have the expected result, as was the case for eight of the nine women interviewed.
On the other hand, we should not discourage the approach, affirms the researcher, specifying: the majority of people have the capacity to change if they want to.
At the end of her report, she recommends in particular rethinking a common practice in specialized organizations, namely that of providing a “certificate of participation”. She notes that they are sometimes used in court by spouses seeking to obtain, for example, more frequent access to their children. These certificates would be viewed favorably by certain legal stakeholders: a woman mentioned, during the study, that a DPJ worker dismissed her fears regarding the safety of her children by telling her: “Monsieur has done his program, that feel better. » Participation alone “does not mean that the spouse has changed”. This needs to be evaluated, she says.
The Acfas congress is taking place this year in Ottawa, from May 13 to 17.