Can the 'Up2U' programme reduce violence by domestic abusers, and improve quality of life for victims?
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN17267204 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN17267204 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | N/A |
- Submission date
- 17/06/2015
- Registration date
- 19/06/2015
- Last edited
- 17/09/2021
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Mental and Behavioural Disorders
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims.
Domestic abuse (DA) has major physical and emotional consequences for victims estimated to cost the UK economy £15.7bn per year. One woman in the UK is killed by her partner every five days, and 30% of women and 16% of men are exposed to DA in their lifetime. The health and social consequences for victim survivors and their children negatively affect work and society, and include poor physical health and an increased risk of depression, anxiety disorders, and problems with alcohol and drug abuse. The present study aims to evaluate a new programme for DA perpetrators building on what works with generally violent offenders. Existing DA programmes have not been shown to work, which may because they focus on non-predictive factors such as educating men about power and control dynamics. The National Institute of Clinical Effectiveness (NICE, 2013) Guidelines recommended research to determine the effectiveness of tailored intervention programmes.
Who can participate?
Men that admit they use unhealthy behaviours in their current relationship and want to change these behaviours.
What does the study involve?
Participants are randomly assigned to one of three groups; the programme with risk assessment/monitoring; usual support with risk assessment/monitoring; or usual support without risk assessment/monitoring. Usual support includes referral to mental health or substance misuse services. The study compares the three groups on rates of violence at 12 months as recorded by the police or reported by the partner during the study period.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The benefit of participating is a change in behaviour in the participants via changes in underpinning thoughts and feelings, leading to improved quality of life for victims. There are no risks to participation other than the theoretical possibility of reduced disclosure by the victim due to wanting his/her partner to remain in treatment. Reassurances will be provided to partners to mitigate this possibility.
Where is the study run from?
Portsmouth City and Hampshire County Council premises (Havant, Gosport, and Fareham).
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
June 2015 to November 2021
Who is funding the study?
Funding is being sought
Who is the main contact?
Dr Dominic Pearson
dominic.pearson@port.ac.uk
Contact information
Public
Department of Psychology
King Henry Building
King Henry I Street
Portsmouth
PO1 2DY
United Kingdom
| Phone | 02392846635 |
|---|---|
| dominic.pearson@port.ac.uk |
Study information
| Study design | Interventional open randomised controlled trial with three study branches (to collapse to two, if no difference between the control arms) |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Randomised controlled trial |
| Study setting(s) | Community |
| Study type | Prevention |
| Participant information sheet | Not available in web format, please use the contact details below to request a patient information sheet |
| Scientific title | Randomised controlled trial of the 'Up2U' domestic abuse perpetrator programme's impact on violence, costs, and quality of life for victims, compared to usual community support. |
| Study objectives | The aim of this study is to determine whether 'Up2U' will reduce violence by perpetrators and increase quality of life ratings of partners, compared to usual support only, i.e., the standard coordinated agency response, over a 12 month period. |
| Ethics approval(s) | Department of Psychology Ethics Committee, University of Portsmouth, 28/05/2015 |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Perpetration of violence and abuse against an intimate partner, with physical and mental health consequences for the victim/survivor. |
| Intervention | Up2U: Creating Healthy Relationships is a modular group-work therapy programme of six to nine months duration delivered in the community to voluntary referrals, supplementing usual support. Up2U was developed by Portsmouth City Council based on the principles of effective practice in offender rehabilitation, including the training and reinforcement of cognitive skills to moderate the associated underpinning dynamic risk factors for violence. The control arms will simply comprise usual community support with risk assessment and monitoring as for the intervention arm, and without assessment and monitoring. If usual support with assessment and monitoring is no different on the primary outcome measures to usual support alone then the two arms will be collapsed to produce a simple two armed trial. Usual support includes fragmented agency support for relevant needs, which may or may not be coordinated by a multi-agency community panel (e.g., MARAC). |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure | Violent re-offending at 12 months as indexed by the frequency of official reports (arrests or cautions), or partner reports (police distress calls). |
| Secondary outcome measures | 1. Partner Quality of Life rated at 6 and 12 months using the SF-12 and the EQ-5D 2. Risk of Re-offending as assessed at 6 and 12 months using the LS/RNR |
| Overall study start date | 01/06/2015 |
| Completion date | 30/11/2021 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Patient |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 400 |
| Key inclusion criteria | 1. To be eligible for referral a person must accept that they use abusive or unhealthy behaviours in their relationship and want to change these behaviours. 2. Referrals must be adult males or females in a relationship, including same sex |
| Key exclusion criteria | Major mental health or substance misuse problems that preclude participation will need to be stabilised prior to assignment to intervention. These clients can be re-screened for inclusion by re-referral via the substance misuse or mental health professional once they have assessed the client as stable. |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/07/2015 |
| Date of final enrolment | 15/11/2018 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- England
- United Kingdom
Study participating centre
York
YO10 5DD
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
University/education
University House
Winston Churchill Avenue
Portsmouth
PO1 2UP
England
United Kingdom
| Phone | +44 (0)23 9284 8484 |
|---|---|
| info.centre@port.ac.uk | |
| Website | http://www.port.ac.uk/ |
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/03ykbk197 |
University/education
York Trials Unit
Department of Health Sciences
York
YO10 5DD
England
United Kingdom
| Phone | +44 (0)1904 321321 |
|---|---|
| dohs-enquiries@york.ac.uk | |
| Website | http://www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/research/trials/ |
|
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/04m01e293 |
Funders
Funder type
Not defined
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 30/11/2022 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Data sharing statement to be made available at a later date |
| Publication and dissemination plan | Planned publication in a high-impact peer reviewed journal. |
| IPD sharing plan | The data sharing plans for the current study are unknown and will be made available at a later date. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other publications | paper introducing the intervention and the evaluation plan: | 09/07/2018 | Yes | No |
Editorial Notes
17/09/2021: Internal review.
01/11/2018: The following changes were made to the trial record:
1. The recruitment end date was changed from 30/09/2018 to 15/11/2018.
2. The overall trial end date was changed from 30/06/2020 to 30/11/2021.
3. Publication and dissemination plan, intention to publish date and IPD sharing statement added.
18/04/2017: The overall trial end date has been updated from 01/09/2017 to 30/06/2020 and the recruitment end date has been updated from 01/10/2016 to 30/09/2018.
