Domestic Abuse Matters Scotland evaluation

Evaluation report on the programme delivered between December 2018 and March 2020

This evaluation report looks at ‘Domestic Abuse Matters Scotland’ – the cultural change programme for Police Scotland. It provides a summary of the Scottish context, an outline of the programme, the evaluation methodology and an overview of the training course outcomes.

This has given me a new outlook on how perpetrators will act towards police. Knowing the legislation and being more confident with it will mean I will proactively focus on domestic abusers.

Participant response

Key findings

Training participants reported:

greatly enhanced knowledge of coercive and controlling behaviour and its impact on adult and child victims of domestic abuse
high levels of competency in the practice of policing domestic abuse
a strong understanding of the new legislation in Scotland
feeling positive about the training’s impact on their practice going forward

95%
strongly understood tactics perpetrators use to coercively control victims
94%
understood the impact on children of domestic abuse and coercive control

Domestic Abuse Matters Champions felt:

well equipped to support and offer advice to their colleagues
able to respond to different groups of victims with diverse needs
positive about their experience of the Domestic Abuse Matters training

95%
understood the personal effects on officers of dealing with traumatic events such as domestic abuse
96%
felt the training enabled them to offer support and development opportunities to colleagues

My approach will change when attending a domestic - [I'll] not take things at face value and probe for further info where appropriate and in the best manner in order to help the victim

Police officer

Domestic Abuse Matters Scotland evaluation

Key findings

Training participants reported:

strongly understood tactics perpetrators use to coercively control victims

understood the impact on children of domestic abuse and coercive control

Domestic Abuse Matters Champions felt:

understood the personal effects on officers of dealing with traumatic events such as domestic abuse

felt the training enabled them to offer support and development opportunities to colleagues

Domestic Abuse Matters Scotland evaluation shows major shift

Training for police

SafeLives Scotland