Guidance

Bystander interventions to prevent intimate partner and sexual violence: summary

Published 10 December 2020

Applies to England

1. Introduction

The National Crime Survey for the year ending in March 2020 estimated that 2.4 million adults experienced domestic abuse every year. A higher percentage of adults experienced abuse carried out by a partner or ex-partner than a family member.

Any type of intimate partner or sexual violence can be devastating and have lifelong impact for individuals, families and communities. The harmful effects are well-documented, including injury and impact on physical health, sexual and reproductive health problems, poor mental health and behavioural problems such as alcohol and drug misuse, and an increased use of health services.

Intimate partner violence and sexual violence are crimes which often occur behind closed doors. Unfortunately, the restrictive measures put in place to contain the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) have meant that for some victims, abuse has got worse, and their ability to escape and access support networks has been restricted.

At the Hidden Harms Summit in June 2020, the Prime Minister outlined the government’s commitment to supporting vulnerable people and protecting those at risk of harm.

To successfully prevent violence in the future it is essential to tackle the root causes of violence, which includes challenging societal and cultural norms that can lead to violence.

Since 2019, Violence Reduction Units have been set up in the 18 areas most affected by violent crime throughout England and Wales. These units have taken a strategic approach to tackling and preventing violence which affects their local areas. The introduction of these, and the upcoming serious violence legal duty, may help local areas to adopt a whole-system multi-agency approach to violence prevention.

2. Intimate partner violence and sexual violence

This resource focuses on intimate partner violence and sexual violence and abuse prevention.

The term ‘intimate partner violence’ (IPV) describes actual or threatened physical, sexual, financial or psychological violence that occurs within a relationship or is perpetrated by a current or former partner or spouse.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines sexual violence and abuse as follows:

Any behaviour perceived to be of a sexual nature, any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality - which is unwanted and takes place without consent and understanding, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting.

Sexual violence and abuse can occur both within intimate partner relationships and outside of them, perpetrated by either an acquaintance relationship or by a stranger to the victim.

3. Bystander interventions

We are all bystanders, who witness events unfolding around us. Sometimes we recognise events as being problematic. When this happens, we decide to do or say something and become an active bystander (either in the moment or at a later stage) or to simply let it go and remain a passive bystander. Social norms can be shifted to challenge undesirable behaviour by empowering people to become active rather than passive bystanders.

Bystander interventions are based on taking people through the different stages required to move from inaction to action. For this to happen, the bystander must:

• notice and be aware of the event
• see the event or behaviour as a problem
• feel responsible and motivated to act
• have the necessary skills to be able to intervene safely and effectively

Effective bystander interventions empower people to move through these stages of change, and safely intervene (either at the time or later) to challenge harmful attitudes, language or behaviour that supports violence.

4. Effective violence prevention interventions

Research has identified 9 principles that were strongly associated with positive effects across multiple public health programmes. You should consider these if you are implementing primary prevention strategies, including bystander programmes.

1. Comprehensive strategies: these should include multiple intervention components to address a range of risk and protective factors. Also, prevention programmes should have strategies to improve responses and support to people who are experiencing violence.
2. Appropriately timed: young people are at particularly high risk for IPV and serious violence and abuse, so adolescence and early adulthood may be a critical period to intervene.
3. Varied teaching methods: engaging participants in different ways like writing exercises and role plays, and giving them interactive instruction and opportunities for active, skills-based learning can lead to more positive outcomes.
4. Sufficient dose: prevention approaches must give a sufficient ‘dose’ of the intervention (measured by total exposure to programme content or contact hours), to influence the participants’ behaviour.
5. Fosters positive relationships: strategies that encourage positive relationships between participants and their parents, peers, or other adults have been associated with better outcomes.
6. Socio-cultural relevance: prevention programmes that are sensitive to and reflect community norms and cultural beliefs may be more successful in recruiting and retaining participants and achieving good outcomes.
7. Well-trained staff: effective programmes tend to have staff or implementers that are committed, competent and can connect effectively with participants.
8. Theory-driven: theories that identify points for intervention in the development of health risk behaviours are valuable as a basis for prevention development.
9. Includes outcome evaluation: programmes need to be evaluated in line with their aims, to assess changes using validated measures where possible.

5. Preventing intimate partner and sexual violence

5.1 PHE evidence review

Public Health England (PHE) did a rapid evidence review to explore what interventions are effective in preventing intimate partner and sexual violence.

The review identified several studies. Some of these were from the United States (US), including randomised control trials measuring behaviour change. Others were UK-based interventions studying modifications to risk factors (awareness, knowledge, attitudes) as part of a theory of change. A selection of these studies are presented as case studies in the report, with full details of their methods, results and impact. Other identified programmes are summarised below.

STOP Dating Violence

This is an online intervention developed to educate students in the US about dating violence and appropriate bystander interventions on college campuses.

Coaching Boys into Men

This is an evidence-based prevention programme that trains and motivates high school coaches in the US to teach their young male athletes healthy relationship skills.

One Act

This US programme teaches university students bystander skills to intervene in low- and high-risk IPV situations. A study evaluating this intervention found “a larger positive impact on bystander confidence among students who participated in the bystander prevention training compared with the response training”.

Green Dot

This is a bystander intervention programme that has been adapted for high school students and is delivered by trained Rape Crisis Centre educators in the US. It was found to be an effective intervention for reducing sexual and dating violence in school age students (18 to 20 years old). Violence perpetration rates were lower among males attending the campus where the Green Dot Bystander Intervention programme was implemented.

STOP-SV (Staff Training on Prevention of Sexual Violence) project

This is a UK training programme that aims to increase the capacity of staff working in nightlife settings (like bar and security staff) to recognise and prevent nightlife-related sexual violence and increase their ability and willingness to respond through positive bystander intervention. The project team found that sexual violence in nightlife was not often recognised as violence, and so was socially accepted. The STOP-SV nightlife worker training programme is associated with improvements in knowledge, improved attitudes towards understanding what sexual violence is, and greater confidence to intervene when sexual violence is taking place.

5.2 Case studies

The report contains information on 4 bystander interventions case studies that have been developed and implemented in the UK. There is detailed information on these, including lessons learned and considerations for practitioners. These are summarised below.

The Intervention Initiative

The Intervention Initiative is an evidence-based educational programme to prevent sexual coercion and domestic abuse in universities, by empowering students to act as prosocial citizens (meaning that they show social behaviour which benefits other people or society as a whole). It’s an 8-hour programme, delivered over time, by a trained facilitator in face-to-face small group settings.

It takes participants through the stages for change, focusing on:

• attitude and belief changes about gender norms and rape and domestic violence myths
• the impact of behaviours along the continuum of violence
• knowledge and awareness about sexual and domestic violence and risk factors
• understanding of social norm misperceptions
• empowerment and motivation to act
• detailed skills and leadership training in a variety of scenarios

The Intervention Initiative has had a significant impact on the university sector, where it’s widely implemented. The study shows that bystander interventions can be successful with non-self-selecting groups. This is important because it can be difficult to recruit people to these types of programmes, particularly men. The intervention can be successfully scheduled into the curriculum, be delivered by staff, and students will engage with it positively.

Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP)

The MVP programme equips participants to speak out against all forms of bullying, violence and abusive behaviour and empowers them to take an active role in promoting a positive culture and environment. It also helps them unpick the negative attitudes, beliefs and assumptions which can lie behind abusive behaviour.

In the MVP programme, young people are seen as empowered bystanders who can understand the issues, support peers and challenge inappropriate behaviour, rather than be seen as potential victims or perpetrators. The programme encourages young people to see themselves as leaders and shapers of their environments. It has the potential to improve and reduce rates of exclusions and violent incidents. It can also bring about a culture change in schools, encouraging a restorative approach to behaviour and a safer and more settled environment.

Surveys have shown MVP can have a positive change in prosocial attitudes. Schools that have allowed MVP principles to influence the way they manage behaviour and provide pastoral care have spoken about the positive influences it has had, including excluding fewer pupils, seeing more concerns reported by young people and reducing fights in and outside school.

Football Onside

Football Onside was delivered in 2019 to staff at Exeter City Football Club and Community Trust and is being evaluated by the University of Exeter. The premise is that anyone can be an active bystander and can intervene positively in potentially harmful situations if they have the right training. Research shows that when one person intervenes it changes the group norm, shows others that it’s OK to speak-up and deters would-be perpetrators since they fear being pulled up about their behaviour.

The programme was delivered over 3 consecutive weeks in February to March 2019 in 3 2-hour sessions which included presentations, videos, group or individual activity, role play and homework tasks.

The results indicated that the programme was effective in reducing sexual and domestic violence acceptance scores. It was also effective in increasing self-reported bystander confidence, intent to help, and perception of peer-helping behaviour.

Participants said that they:

• had improved their knowledge
• were willing to do more research on this topic
• increased their interest and knowledge of legislation
• found the engaging facilitation style allowed interaction and group discussions

Active Bystander Communities (ABC)

ABC is a domestic abuse primary prevention programme which builds on The Intervention Initiative approach, but unlike many bystander interventions, it does not focus on university students and is delivered in a community setting.

It is designed to be delivered over 3 2-hour sessions held in one week. Groups were led by 2 co-facilitators trained in the intervention, one of which was from a domestic violence and abuse (DVA) specialist agency.

Session observations and qualitative interviews conducted after the interventions found that participants engaged positively with the material, the programme was acceptable and the course delivery, content and the 3-session format were accessible and appropriate.

Participants wanted to raise awareness, share knowledge and identify DVA. They also wanted to support victims or challenge behaviours in a range of contexts including with friends, family, in the workplace or in the wider community.

6. Considerations for practitioners

This section contains some considerations for practitioners who are going to be implementing bystander interventions. These are practitioners working in violence prevention, who are supporting and developing community interventions like those described in this resource. Their roles will vary depending on different local contexts and commissioning arrangements.

6.1 Interventions need to be specific to their context

Interventions need to be specific to their context and should be designed specifically with and for the intended audience. This will enable the participant to use the intervention techniques in real life.

Role plays are an evidence-based technique and can lead to change, but they should be relevant to the participants’ lived experience and real-world context. An advisory group can help with this. For example, The Intervention Initiative had a student advisory group which helped write role plays that were relevant to student life and the way students spoke.

Focus groups can also help. Football Onside used focus groups with staff from the intended audience to see how they understood the working context, the strengths of the group and community to undertake the programme and scenarios they had encountered. They also helped to work out what the group wanted to get out of the programme. ABC used facilitator training and feedback to draw out real-world experiences and a men’s focus group to make sure that the materials were relevant to men.

6.2 Recruiting and training facilitators

There are several issues that should inform how group facilitators are recruited, including:

• having a mix of facilitators to broaden the programme’s appeal
• showing positive male and female working dynamics
• how to safely manage and support potential disclosures by participants

The programmes in the case studies found that having skilled and knowledgeable facilitators was important because participants can move the discussion away from the core programme content, into relevant enquiries about domestic abuse and sexual violence. Experienced facilitators will be able to respond skilfully to a range of questions and discussions.

Third-party disclosures (seeking advice about how to support a friend or raising concern about a friend) are common, either in the group or after the session. If domestic abuse specialist workers are co-facilitating the groups, they can provide timely and locally relevant advice, information and support. So, local domestic abuse services, with staff who are trained in the intervention, are ideally placed to deliver bystander interventions.

6.3 Engaging audiences in bystander training

Bystander interventions are mainly targeted at a non-specialist audience, to influence their attitudes and beliefs about gender, violence and bystander roles. The case studies identified several things which can help to engage audiences in bystander training.

The Intervention Initiative

Anyone running this programme will need to decide whether to make it compulsory or voluntary in the curriculum. In this case study, the programme was tested with a group which did not self-select, so not all the participants were ‘warm’ towards, or ‘on-board’ with the programme. Given the excellent feedback and positive effects the programme had, making it mandatory is possible.

The evaluation also found a positive effect when the programme ran alongside a students’ union campaign on campus. This suggests that the Intervention Initiative can be part of a wider whole-institution approach.

Football Onside

Although the audience was thought to be ‘warm’ towards the intervention, the results showed a significant shift in their attitudes, confidence and behaviours. So, it’s likely that delivering the programme in a less prosocial context would be even more beneficial and could show a bigger shift in the desired direction.

Active Bystander Communities

The ABC pilot was most interested in engaging people without a previous specialist interest or role in domestic abuse prevention or services, but it did not exclude anyone who did have an interest. This approach resulted in a ‘warm’ audience with a high level of knowledge and interest. Just over half of the participants said they had professional reasons for or interest in attending.

It is possible that this ‘warm’ audience meant the training had less of an impact than might have been the case for the general population because they had a shorter ‘distance to travel’. Several participants said that the programme did not provide new knowledge to them but did help them to see things from a new perspective.

However, the evaluation also found that engaged participants could be well placed to deliver cultural change through their reach into professional and community networks. Also, findings suggest that even people who had a professional understanding of domestic abuse felt they got enhanced benefit from the intervention on a personal level.

7. Other resources

7.1 The WHO 4-step process

The WHO has developed a 4-step process for implementing a public health approach to violence.

1. Define the problem through the systematic collection of information about the magnitude, scope, characteristics and consequences of violence.
2. Establish why violence occurs using research to determine the causes and correlates of violence, the factors that increase or decrease the risk for violence, and the factors that could be modified through interventions.
3. Find out what works to prevent violence by designing, implementing and evaluating interventions.
4. Implement effective and promising interventions in a wide range of settings. The effects of these interventions on risk factors and the target outcome should be monitored, and their impact and cost-effectiveness should be evaluated.

You can find more information about this at the WHO website.

7.2 PHE multi-agency approach

The PHE resource Preventing serious violence: a multi-agency approach sets out suggestions of how to bring a range of partners together with a shared goal of preventing violence. The approach requires partners to:

• form a collective understanding of a public health approach
• collectively develop and own the scope of work and ways of working which reflect the needs of the local population
• jointly identify resources that will enable effective working

The proposed approach describes a place-based public health approach to serious violence prevention and contains 5 component parts (‘the 5Cs’). These are:

• collaboration
• co-production
• co-operation in data and intelligence sharing
• counter-narrative development
• community consensus, which is central to the approach

You can find more information in the preventing serious violence resource.

PHE is committed to supporting local authorities and other organisations to tackle intimate partner violence and sexual violence and to make sure this type of violence is treated as a crime. As an employer, we are also committed to supporting staff who experience domestic abuse. Empowering people to become active bystanders is one important step in any whole-system multi-agency approach to violence prevention.