Treatment Programs for Perpetrators of Domestic Violence: European and International Approaches

Abstract

For far too long, domestic violence against women was regarded as only a female issue, and men were merely considered to be offenders to be blamed. The aim of this work, therefore, is to present a review of major treatment programs for perpetrators of domestic violence, with the purpose of understanding the perspective of these programs as well as some possible strategies for intervention. To identify the best existing practices, this work investigated at the program level areas such as: mission, personnel, target groups, first contact procedures, treatment methodologies and procedures, length of the program, program contents, special objectives, restrictions, evaluation, and follow-up. Finally, the achievements and strengths of the various programs were assessed.