Addressing Partner Abuse Perpetration by Men in Substance Use Treatment

A SHED talk from the School of Healthcare, University of Leeds.

Substance use is strongly and consistently associated with intimate partner abuse (IPA) perpetration. The rate of IPA perpetration is up to 4 times greater among men in substance use treatment compared to men in the general population. Despite this, the role of substance use in IPA perpetration is not well understood and there is a lack of evidence about how best to address IPA perpetration by men in substance use treatment.

Findings from the first 4 workstreams of the ADVANCE research programme (2016-2019) will be presented. Our meta-ethnography of qualitative studies exploring how substance use features and differs in female survivors’ and male perpetrators’ accounts of IPA perpetration and primary qualitative dyad interviews from male IPA perpetrators receiving substance use treatment in England and their current or ex-female partners highlighted the complex interplay between psycho-pharmacological effects of intoxication, withdrawal and craving, gendered power relations and controlling behaviours. The development of the integrated ADVANCE intervention to reduce IPA perpetration by men in substance use treatment in England will be described and results from a feasibility trial presented.

Gail Gilchrist is Professor in Addictions Healthcare Research at the National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London. She is the Chief Investigator on a 5-year NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research “Advancing theory and treatment approaches for males in substance misuse treatment who perpetrate intimate partner violence (Programme ADVANCE)” that brings key stakeholders together from both the domestic violence and substance use sectors to develop and test an evidence based intervention to address both substance use and intimate partner violence perpetration.

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