Reactions on Display/Intimate Partner Violence (RoD/IPV)—A Study of a New Interactive Computer Simulation Program for the Treatment of Men Convicted of Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

A new, interactive computer simulation system (Reactions on Display/Intimate Partner Violence, RoD/IPV) depicting intimate partner violence has been created to facilitate change in a participant's violent behavior by allowing him to visually observe and reflect upon common feelings, thoughts, actions, and consequences in a typical domestic violence scenario. In this pilot study of the RoD/IPV system, 24 male offenders’ use of RoD/IPV was compared with a non-offender control group of 10 men. Fourteen of the offenders had previously completed the Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme (IDAP). One two-hour simulation session per participant was carried out, during which the choices made and answers given to the interactive questions were logged. The participants’ impressions of the system were recorded using a questionnaire. In this study, RoD/IPV appeared to be well received and understood, both by offenders and non-offenders, despite disparity in intelligence and computer literacy between the groups. Offenders who had not undergone IDAP showed a trend towards making more violent choices, and significant differences between the groups emerged in the area of interpretation of the simulated characters’ emotions. This lends some support to earlier research regarding differences in emotional processing between offenders and non-offenders and suggestions that therapeutic interventions for intimate partner violence may be improved by adding emotion recognition training skills. The results of this small pilot study provide a base from which a future prospective randomised controlled trial of the RoD/IPV may be designed.

Keywords:

• domestic
• spouse
• abuse
• offender
• rehabilitation
• computer
• simulation

FUNDING AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Grants were provided by The Prison and Probation Services and National Board of Forensic Medicine. The authors would like to acknowledge the help of statisticians Jan Kowalski and Fredrik Johansson and clinical psychologist Kicko Christmansson.