Court-ordered men's behaviour change programs are littered with missed opportunities and must be urgently overhauled to boost engagement.
That's according to Monash University research, which found simply attending or completing courses should not be viewed as success.
Providing participants with ongoing support after courses end, collecting data on what happens to them, funding programs on a longer-term basis and boosting housing options for men who take part were identified as key areas to address.
"Men who do not have stable accommodation are more likely to skip group sessions and to exit the program early," lead author Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon said.
"It is then highly challenging to monitor and manage their ongoing risk where no fixed address is provided."
Prof Fitz-Gibbon said there are mixed definitions of what success looks like and experts in the area called for long-term funding, as short term programs undermine the integrity and effectiveness of their work.
"The current approach to working with men who use violence is missing opportunities to more effectively engage men in behaviour change, to keep their risk visible and to hold them accountable," Prof Fitz-Gibbon said.
"These missed opportunities represent critical moments where victim-survivor safety could have been improved."
The study comes amid renewed national discussions about domestic abuse as 44 Australian woman have died in violent circumstances in 2024, according to Counting Dead Women Australia.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show one in five Australians have experienced violence, emotional or economic abuse from the age of 15.
It affects some 27 per cent of women and 15 per cent of men.
Family members and practitioners viewed court-mandated attendance as "problematic" as it didn't guarantee participants were actually engaged, co-author Dr Jasmine McGowan said.
"These men were often viewed as motivated primarily by self-serving outcomes, such as gaining access to children, complying with court orders or avoiding further criminal justice intervention," she said.
Researchers interviewed participants, family members and practitioners for the Victorian government-funded study, which they say has nationally relevant findings.
The authors also called for social attitudes and harmful stereotypes that perpetuate violence to be addressed at a broader level.
