The role of men’s behaviour change programs in addressing men’s use of domestic, family and sexual violence: An evidence brief
By Nicola Helps, Charlotte Bell, Chloe Schulze, and, Rodney Vlais
This paper summarises the literature on men’s behaviour change programs (MBCPs) and contributes to building a shared understanding of their role in addressing domestic, family and sexual violence in Australia. While MBCPs were never meant to be a panacea for domestic, family and sexual violence, their role and effectiveness in addressing domestic, family and sexual violence is often questioned.
Key insights
There is variation across MBCPs in terms of program logical and theoretical frameworks, structure (e.g. duration, frequency and intensity) and focus.
Most people who use violence will never engage with an MBCP service.
MBCPs are a piece of the broader infrastructure required to address men’s use of violence. MBCPs are a specialist response often connected to criminal justice systems.
Positive outcomes at the end of an MBCP are most likely to be incremental in terms of reductions in some aspects of the program participant’s violent and controlling behaviours, however, outcomes vary substantially between program participants.
Behaviour change work is not complete at the end of MBCP participation.
There is a risk in the limited perpetrator intervention landscape in Australia of an unrealistic expectation for MBCPs in their standard form to be effective for all people using violence.
Key conclusions
MBCPs are conceptualised as one piece of the puzzle however are yet to be operationalised as part of a fully integrated system.
MBCPs need to be better funded to provide tailored, holistic and timely services that can support meaningful behaviour change.
MBCPs need to be embedded collaboratively within the broader domestic, family and sexual violence ecosystem so they can work together with other services.
MBCPs are only one piece of the response to domestic, family and sexual violence.
Sydney: Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS): 2025. 35p.