The effectiveness of intervention with intimate partner violence perpetrators: An umbrella review

Purpose:
To advance knowledge on effective interventions for intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators, it is essential to synthesize evidence from meta-analyses evaluating the effectiveness of perpetrator intervention programs (PIPs). Thus, this umbrella review aims to fill this gap. A thorough search across databases such as B-On, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Scielo, identified 11 meta-analyses that met the inclusion criteria.

Results:
The findings revealed a growing number of meta-analyses published in recent years; however, the overall strength of evidence was generally weak (n = 5) or, at best, suggestive (n = 4). The Duluth Model and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy emerged as the most studied intervention approaches. Overall effect estimates for PIPs were small and did not reach statistical significance. Inconsistencies were found regarding treatment approach, program duration, and follow-up periods.

Conclusion:
Recent findings suggest that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based interventions may be promising, although the evidence remains preliminary. These results underscore the need to develop programs that incorporate the most evidence-based approaches and target both male and female perpetrators.
Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi; PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT; UID/01662/2025) through the Portuguese State Budget. The Centre is registered under the DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/01662/2025. This study was also funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), under HEI-Lab R&D Unit (UID/05380/2025, UIDP/05380/2020, and UID/PRR/05380/2025; https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/05380/2020, https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDP/05380/2020, and https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/PRR/05380/2025, https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/05380/2020) and FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P. by project reference UID/4585/2025 and DOI identifier https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/04585/2025, https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/04585/2020.