Men who have exercised intrafamily violence: The desertion in a municipal intervention program in Montevideo, Uruguay

Abstract

The deaths of women at the hands of their (former) male partners have increased in recent years in the Uruguayan territory, with domestic space being the most vulnerable site for a woman today. This fact has led to the implementation in Montevideo, Uruguay, of the program "Men Who Decide to Stop Exercising Violence" [PHQDDEV] for those men who have exercised intrafamily violence [HEVI]. After its first four years of implementation, it has been sought to identify the causes of the high level of abandonment, which this program, like the majority worldwide, has through interviews with former participants. It was found that: low levels of motivation to participate in the program, together with processes of justification and minimization of violence, added to the victimization before the judicial system, together with sociodemographic factors, such as having low educational and economic levels, encourage abandonment premature. Despite leaving the program, the interviewees have been able to carry out a process of reflection based on learning some concepts and techniques, encouraging them to claim to have new healthy ways of relating to their partners.