This qualitative study explores internal and external barriers to help seeking among 41 men from four English-speaking countries who self-reported victimization from a female intimate partner. Twelve online focus groups were conducted and themes were identified inductively at a semantic level. Six identified themes represented four internal (blind to the abuse, maintaining relationships, male roles, and excuses) and two external barriers to help seeking (fear of seeking help and nowhere to go). Most participants who avoided seeking help did so due to their own lack of recognition of abuse and ability to assess their risk of harm, attempts to keep the family intact, masculine stereotypes, and excuses for their partner’s abuse. Some men who expressed an interest in seeking help were discouraged from it due to fear for their personal safety, a potential revictimization in the legal system, and the lack of support services available to men. This research suggests that the individuals who are abused in relationships, service providers, and the public at large could benefit from professional training about gender inclusive approaches to intimate partner abuse.

This qualitative study explores the experiences of men who self-report victimization from a female intimate partner in four English-speaking countries. Forty-one men who reported any type of intimate partner abuse (IPA) from a female partner were recruited via targeted advertising in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Twelve online focus groups were conducted across countries using a phenomenologically informed design. Thematic analysis was carried out from an inductive and realist epistemological position and themes identified at a semantic level. This approach was taken to directly reflect the men’s experiences and perspectives, ensuring the voices of this hard-to-reach and overlooked population were heard. Three themes were identified across the countries: an imbalanced experience of harm; living with sustained abuse; and knowledge is power for men experiencing IPA. It was found that most participants underwent physical harm in the context of coercive control and experienced abuse over long periods of time. They were slow to recognize the magnitude of their partners’ behavior and act upon it for a range of reasons that are described in detail. In addition, promoting knowledge about the victimization of men by women, using appropriate language and active learning, was found to be important in helping the men gain autonomy and agency to break the pattern of abuse and aid their recovery. The implications of the findings for developing male-friendly IPA policy, practice, and services are discussed, in addition to the need for innovative research methodology to access hard-to-reach populations.

The criminal justice system plays a pivotal role in addressing the safety of victims of intimate partner abuse (IPA). Over the past 40 years, most changes in the criminal justice response to IPA have been made with the intention of improving support to abused women and their children. However, a growing body of research shows there are many men who are victims of IPA. This qualitative study explored the help-seeking experiences of 38 abused men within the criminal justice system in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Twelve online focus groups (three in each country) were conducted and themes were identified inductively at a semantic level. Thematic analysis identified that most of their experiences were negative and reflected the gender paradigm embedded in the criminal justice response. This study offers insights into the relevance of a gender-inclusive criminal justice response in addressing IPA.

Research shows that the experiences of male victims of partner abuse (PA) are often denied by the public and the professionals who are charged to support PA victims. Recruiting female victims for research on PA victimization is relatively easy because there are existing structures to serve this group of victims. Thus, male victims are considered a hard-to-reach (HTR) population, and studying them can be difficult. This article focuses on the use of technology to collect qualitative data from male PA victims in an international study focusing on male victims. The researchers used their own professional networks to recruit and screen a convenience sample of male victims of female-to-male PA, in four different English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, England, and the United States. Four web-based, video-enabled, focus groups were held for each country-for a total of 12 groups and 41 male participants. This article addresses recruitment methods, the use of technology in data collection, protecting the confidentiality of male victims, methods for informed consent, and lessons learned to facilitate future research.

Europe has a rich and diverse cultural heritage that has influenced and created the modern world. Heritage can be both tangible and intangible. Intangible heritage serves to bring people closer to the communities they live in by giving them a sense of identity and continuity. It includes culinary traditions, handicrafts, local arts and rural life. Neglecting the social cohesion of a community that underpins intangible cultural heritage (ICH) efforts puts Europe's cultural heritage at risk. It is imperative that Europe preserves and spreads awareness of its rich and diverse cultural heritage. This multidimensional project seeks to help solve this problem by preserving the most precious and vulnerable aspect of European Culture, which is intangible cultural heritage. This project will serve as a precedent for museums, educational institutions, archives and governments across the globe. This project also adds two additional crucial elements, within the realm of ICH safeguarding, while simultaneously ascertaining employment options and practical skills opportunities for European youth while identifying public-private partnership (PPP) opportunities for investors.