Intérêts et enjeux de l’évaluation structurée du risque de violence entre partenaires intimes au sein du parcours judiciaire : présentation d’un projet de recherche

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an international public health problem. Much more than a simple conflict within a couple, it's a process of one partner taking power over the other, through the use of violence (physical, psychological, sexual and/or financial). IPV is rarely an isolated act and generally follows a pattern of chronic abuse. The risks of re-victimization in this context are significantly higher than in other criminal victimization contexts. International recommendations for the management of IPV offenders emphasize the need to establish early assessment processes for recidivism, to prevent violence and guide judicial action and management programs for IPV offenders. Among the structured clinical judgment scales developed for the assessment of IPV, the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA-V3) is the most widely used tool. While there are several scales for assessing the risk of IPV recidivism, research into their psychometric qualities remains limited, especially for the French-language versions. In addition to the availability of assessment tools, several problems have been identified in the use of IPV recidivism risk assessment instruments by practitioners in real-life situations: frequent recourse to unstructured professional judgment, problems in complying with recommendations for administering assessment instruments, and a lack of training. This article presents a study currently under development whose aim is to translate and validate the SARA-V3 in French. The first part of the study consists of administering the SARA-V3 to suspected or convicted perpetrators of IPV, to measure the psychometric qualities of the French translation. To carry out the assessment of IPV situations, we propose collecting data at several stages in the judicial process. The total sample will be made up of men suspected or convicted of IPV. They will be evaluated in various organizations that deal with perpetrators of IPV and at different stages of the judicial process, namely: in a police department, with expert psychiatrists, and in specific therapeutic care services. After receiving a favorable opinion from the Ethics Committee of the UMONS Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, the SARA-V3 scale was translated into French with the support of the English Unit: Literature, Language, Interpretation and Translation (ELLIT) department of the UMONS Faculty of Translation and Interpretation. The second part of the study analyzes the perceptions of professionals in the field regarding risk assessment scales (particularly SARA-V3). This second stage of the research examines the professionals’ perceptions of the benefits of JPS. The participants in this study are those psychologists who contributed to the first part of the study. They are interviewed in a semi-structured interview. The aim is to evaluate the use of SARA-V3 in a clinical context, its scoring mechanics, validity, training, and perspectives.