Male Perpetrator Interventions for Domestic and Family Violence in the Indo-Pacific: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Across the Indo-Pacific, men are using violence against women at alarming rates, however current interventions in the region are failing to significantly reduce this violence. This scoping review aimed to identify how male perpetrators of domestic and family violence (DFV) were engaged in approaches to intervene with their use of violence across the Indo-Pacific region. The review also set out to examine the diversity in intervention frameworks to gain an understanding of the varied forms of engagement with men. This review used the Arksey and O’Malley method of scoping to search 9 interdisciplinary databases to reveal 24,632 articles. To be included, studies needed to discuss a DFV intervention that took place in the Indo-Pacific region and be targeted at adult male participants. Fifty studies discussing 42 different interventions were included in the review. Of the 42 interventions, almost half were based in Australia, the majority used methods beyond a standard men’s behavior change program for intervention, almost half used a whole of community response, and very few considered factors like indigeneity, culture, disability, or gender and sexual diversity. These findings point to policy, practice, and research implications such as better support for diverse approaches to interventions, greater consideration of diversity in men engaging in interventions, and further research on applying a whole of community approach in countries like Australia.