Advocacy services in collaboration with living
without violence programmes have the potential to
increase experiences of safety and well-being for the
victims of domestic violence. However, advocacy
services are not always offered within programmes
and the influence of advocacy is often over-looked
when evaluating the ‘effectiveness’ of programme
provision. An Interpretative Phenomenological
Analysis of semi-structured interviews with five
(ex) partners of men who had completed a living
without violence programme found that advocacy
services meaningfully increased victims’ feelings
of safety and well-being independent from
changes, or lack of change, in the men’s violent
behaviour. Therefore, victim advocacy may be
a valuable addition to living without violence
programmes and can potentially offer a broader,
multidimensional understanding of ‘effectiveness’
in evaluations of programme success.
