The research project addresses the social and societal problem of physical, psychological and sexual violence in couple relationships (GiP). Prevalence studies show that this predominantly affects women: Around 25 percent of women between the ages of 16 and 85 experience physical and/or sexual partner violence at least once in their lives. At the same time, figures from the Federal Criminal Police Office show that every day in Germany, a man attempts to kill his (ex-)partner; this is successful every third day. In total, more than 148,000 cases of intimate partner violence were recorded by the police in 2020.

Due to the even greater taboo surrounding partner violence in rural social areas, the lack of prevention measures and inadequate counselling and intervention facilities have so far hardly attracted any attention. However, by ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence ("Istanbul Convention"), the Federal Republic of Germany has now undertaken the obligation to close existing protection gaps and take measures, especially in rural areas.
GiP has a serious impact on the health and physical integrity of those affected and their children, as well as on family and social relationships. As a result, there is also a long-term loss of quality of life for all those involved and for the community as a whole. Studies have also shown that GIP causes high economic costs for society: in Germany, the direct costs, for example for the police, justice system, social work and healthcare, are estimated at 3.8 billion euros per year.

In line with the Istanbul Convention,primary prevention approaches that address civil society are a key component in preventing domestic violence, minimizing escalation levels and thus interrupting the spiral of violence by talking openly about intimate partner violence, raising awareness and initiating a change in attitudes. This could not only help the victims of intimate partner violence to improve their quality of life and social participation, but also help to reduce the social costs and existing social disparities in the well-being of rural residents compared to those in urban areas in view of the gaps in the help and support system.

Against this background, the interdisciplinary research project - Social (Work) Science, Computer Science/Media Design and Media Pedagogy - pursues the goal of working closely with four practice partners, two of which are from the Rheingau-Taunus district - Office for Gender Equality and Women's Affairs and Caritasverband Wiesbaden-Rheingau-Taunus e.V., Women's Shelter and Counseling and Intervention Center in Bad Schwalbach, as well as the Gemeinschaftswerk der evangelischen Publizistik epd Film in Frankfurt and the Hessian State Coordination Center against Domestic Violence in Wiesbaden - to develop, test and evaluate innovative ways of primary prevention of GiP for this rural model region. The new approaches to be developed should help to remove the taboos surrounding domestic violence and raise awareness of the problem among people of all ages living in the model region. The research project is guided by the requirements of the "Istanbul Convention" to take measures to promote a change in mentality and behavior among the population as a requirement for all other prevention strategies. The project is therefore looking for approaches and methods that reach "people's hearts and minds" and motivate and empower them to recognize GiP, speak out against it and support the victims - from their neighbourhood, friends and colleagues or relatives - to the best of their ability.

Specifically, the approaches being pursued include , firstly, a broad, multi-media, multi-dimensional and difference-sensitive multi-year publicity campaign in the rural model region of Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, which is to be developed with the partners in practice, with the goal of helping to raise awareness and activate civil society. The campaign includes action days on institutionalized appointments (e.g. International Day against Violence against Women), information brochures for journalists to report on GiP, information material for companies, information flyers for doctors' surgeries, postcard campaigns, film series, performances of a play, exhibitions, readings in public libraries or bookshops and a "future workshop" at the end. The events and campaigns are evaluated by means of participant observation and oral and written surveys.

Secondly , "serious games" on GiP, i.e. pro-social, interactive digital games, will be developed in the sense of "edutainment" (game-based learning) and tested with young people and volunteers from the model region as part of a training course on GiP during school project days and also evaluated by means of participant observation and oral and written surveys. The testing and evaluation of the serious games by the target groups is one of the project's central milestones, while the implementation of a "future workshop" as the conclusion of the multi-year publicity campaign is the second.

The project is innovative in several respects: Previous measures of public relations on GiP, such as those of municipal Equal Opportunity Representatives and local institutions for the protection against violence, usually have limited resources and a high workload, which only allow them to carry out selective actions whose effects on the target groups have so far hardly been able to be assessed. In contrast, the project not only focuses on rural areas, but also pursues new ways of primary prevention: instead of one-off activities, a multi-year publicity campaign is being carried out that directly involves a wide variety of groups, as well as game-based learning (serious games) on GiP, which interactively involves young people and adults. The evaluations of these innovative approaches make it possible to gain insights into whether and how these approaches are accepted by the target groups addressed and what effects they attribute to the chosen approaches. The knowledge to be gained will not only benefit those (potentially) affected by violence, their families and the social environment, but also the institutions for the protection against violence in their preventive tasks, both in the model region and - in the context of a possible transfer - nationwide. In addition, the methods of primary prevention to be tested in rural areas will serve society as a whole if they prove to be useful in the context of the evaluations in helping to prevent and reduce intimate partner violence and to break the cycle of violence, i.e. to show sustainable ways out of GiP.

Click here for the project flyer