Nick Stanley, Jane Ellis, Nicola Farrelly, Soo Downe, Sue Bailey and Sandra Hollinghurst

2.  To discover what was known about
interventions for children and young
people aimed at preventing domestic
abuse
 To establish what worked for whom in
what settings
 To produce advice on what form future
research might take in England and
Wales.

3. Mixed knowledge review informed by realist principles:
 Systematic review of existing peer reviewed and UK
grey literature
 Online mapping survey with a sample of 18 local
authorities across 4 nations
 Consultation with key stakeholders: nine expert group
meetings (media, education, young people) and 16
individual interviews in UK, Australia, New Zealand,
Canada & US

4.  Online survey
 To organisations and practitioners in 18 local
authority areas in 4 UK countries
 LAs selected to represent varying levels of social
deprivation and incidence of domestic abuse.
 Distribution assisted by PSHE Association and
Women’s Aid
 232 responses
 98 reported programmes

5.  Yes, knew of recent/current local
programmes/campaigns – 59%
 No, didn’t know of any local
programmes/campaigns – 41%

6. Number of
relevant
programmes
reported by type
School 88
Media 1
Community 4
School and
Community
1
School/Media/
Community
4
Total 98

7.  Primary – 18.5%
 Secondary – 65.5%
 Primary/secondary – 14%
 Secondary/FE – 2%

8.  Lack of sustainability – over half programmes
ran for less than 2 yrs
 Length of programmes varied – lack of rationale
for length and dose
 Funding short-term & unpredictable
 Main funders – community safety, independent
sector, little investment from health.

9. 1.0%
2.0%
3.1%
3.1%
3.1%
6.1%
7.1%
8.2%
10.2%
12.2%
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0
LA youth service
NHS
LA education service
LA children's social care
Police
Schools
Local domestic violence organisation
Trust/foundation/charity/individual/Other voluntary sector
organisation
I don't know
Community safety partnership
Percentage

10.  Length and structure of programmes varied
 Range of common methods: didactic
approaches, group discussion, role-play,
quizzes, DVDs
 Young people and experts consulted argued for
the value of drama/theatre and narrative
 Authenticity achieved through material that
delivered emotional charge, which was
meaningful to young people and made ‘it real’.
 Authenticity enhanced when interventions
delivered by those with relevant expertise or
experience.

11. ‘We had a fire fighter come in school once and talk to us
about fire safety …and he was talking and suddenly…he's
seen so many horrific things that he started like properly
crying and everything in front of us and he was very
embarrassed about it …and, yeah, that changed my opinion
…seeing real emotion.’
(YP Consultation Group 2)
‘It’s like in front of you and then you realise, actually, it doesn’t
happen miles away, you know, it happens here. And it’s so
close to home and it happens to people that you might
know…And so I think drama kind of conveys that a bit more.’
(YP Consultation Group 3)

12.  Both celebrities who front media campaigns and
those delivering schools work need to be perceived
as genuine:
‘Because you can tell when someone's like bluffing
it… especially like teachers, especially when they've
been given briefs that they don't know anything about
and they've just been asked to do a presentation,
…so obviously whoever's doing it got to have the
knowledge… makes more impact.’
(YPs’ Consultation Group)

13. Figure 5 Who delivers programmes
2%
2%
6.1%
6.1%
6.1%
9.25
9.2%
10.2%
41.8%
55%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
I don't know
Lecturers
Sexual health workers
Staff from voluntary children's organisations
Young people
Staff from other voluntary organisations
Police officers
Youth workers
Staff from domestic violence organisation
School staff
Percentage

14.  External staff offer knowledge and expertise on domestic
abuse
 But less likely to have an impact on school culture or
provide continuity
 Teachers possess expertise in work with, and have on-going
relationships with children
 Some school staff resist
teaching on domestic abuse
as they lack confidence
 Need for training and
collaboration in delivery –
45% of programmes delivered
by multi-agency teams

15.  Lack of committed funding for interventions has
contributed to short-termism.
 Making PSHE and teaching on healthy
relationships compulsory in the English
curriculum would address patchy landscape.
 Teachers require training and support to deliver
these programmes – required at the qualifying
and post-qualifying levels.
 Interventions for younger, primary school age
children require robust evaluation
 Children’s and young people’s perceptions and
experiences should be incorporated into
evaluations

16. This project was funded by the National Institute for Health
Research Public Health Research Programme.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Public
Health Research Programme, NIHR, NHS or the
Department of Health.