Te Puna Aonui Business Unit is developing its function as an insights hub, by providing up to date and accessible summaries to enhance the collective understanding of family violence and sexual violence, and how we can work towards Te Aorerekura in an evidence-based way.
This evidence summary was developed to inform investment and development of services to respond to people who have used sexual violence, to stop further harm. It provides high level insight into the characteristics of interventions which have the most success with adults and youth who have used sexual violence. The interventions discussed span socio-ecological levels, from treatment with individuals, to the relationships, community support, and society-level interventions which reduce sexual violence.
It summarises a vast amount of international and local evidence which shows that specialised treatment tends to reduce sexual violence compared to no treatment. However, it points out that the effectiveness is variable across programme characteristics and evaluation methodologies, and further research is required to strengthen the evidence-base.
It also highlights the importance of social and professional support and accountability, and the role of communities in reducing sexual violence. It concludes that evidence-based interventions should be supported across socio-ecological levels, as no intervention alone is sufficient to eliminate sexual violence and the harms it causes in Aotearoa New Zealand.
What works: Responses to People who have used Sexual Violence Evidence Summary [PDF, 306 KB]
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