The lived experiences of Turkish men’s engagement in domestic violence interventions in England

Abstract

This article illustrates the first in-depth study on major conditions of engagement among Turkish men in interventions that work with perpetrators of domestic violence in England. It investigates how key circumstances related to Turkish men’s cultural backgrounds, migration status, racialisation and different interactions with facilitators shape their engagement in interventions. The data was collected from semi-structured interviews with Turkish perpetrators who participated in domestic violence interventions and professionals who worked with Turkish men in these interventions. Participants’ social and cultural background, class, gendered power relations and racialisation affected their active engagement in interventions. The insufficiency of trained interpreters and culturally-competent professionals, mistrust of the services and the social stressors about living in a society with different cultural values to their home country were identified as factors of inadequate engagement. We found that adopting culturally-sensitive strategies including professionals’ understanding of men’s social, cultural and religious backgrounds, and being aware of racism, discrimination and migration-related stressors were key in improving engagement during interventions.Key messagesIncreasing community-based practices and culturally-competent approaches can promote the perpetrators’ engagement in interventions among Turkish groups in England.The inextricable connections among class, gender power relations and racialisation should be considered in understanding marginalised ethnic perpetrators’ engagement in interventions.