The Need for Experimental Methodology in Intimate Partner Violence: Finding Programs That Effectively Prevent IPV.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Social Sciences
• Clinical Trials

Background:

• Limited rigorous evaluations hinder understanding of effective intimate partner violence (IPV) interventions.
• Ethical and safe randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are feasible for evaluating IPV programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the successful implementation of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) for an IPV preventive intervention.
• To provide recommendations for successful researcher-practitioner collaboration in field experiments.

Main Methods:

• The Enhanced Nurse Family Partnership Study (ENFPS) utilized a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design.
• Collaboration between researchers and practitioners was key to the study's implementation.

Main Results:

• The Enhanced Nurse Family Partnership Study (ENFPS) was successfully implemented as a randomized controlled trial (RCT).
• The study highlights the feasibility of ethically and safely evaluating IPV preventive interventions.

Conclusions:

• Successful collaboration between researchers and practitioners is essential for executing field experiments.
• The ENFPS model provides a framework for rigorously evaluating IPV interventions.