Exploring mixed and female co-facilitation in an intervention program for perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Organizations like the European Network for the Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence (WWP EN) and Respect recommend that intervention programs for intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators be co-facilitated by a mixed-gender team. However, research on the impact of the facilitators’ gender on the change process of perpetrators is limited. This study used a quantitative approach to compare the effects of female-only and mixed-gender co-facilitation in an IPV intervention program in Valencia, Spain. The analytical sample included 754 court-mandated men and 65 facilitators, 14 men and 51 women. Gender impact was analyzed in variables related to the participants’ psychological adjustment, attitudes toward IPV, intervention process, risk of recidivism, and official recidivism. No significant differences between mixed-gender and all-female co-facilitation emerged across most variables, including depression, self-esteem, empathy, alexithymia, acceptability of IPV, attribution of responsibility to the legal system, the victim, and the offender’s personal context, perceived violence severity, victim-blaming, romantic love myths, ambivalent sexism, general working alliance and therapeutic bond reported by the facilitators, working alliance reported by the participants, motivation to change, intervention dose, dropout, and official recidivism. However, differences were found in agreement on tasks and goals reported by facilitators, stage of change, active participation, and risk of recidivism at the beginning of the intervention. These findings suggest facilitator gender does not significantly impact program effectiveness, and highlight the need to explore other characteristics of facilitators that could influence the effectiveness of IPV intervention programs, such as professional experience or leadership skills.