Mentors in violence prevention: an evaluation of the implementation of the bystander-focused approach to tackling gendered violence

Abstract

The aim of the following dissertation is to examine the issues surrounding gender-based violence with the intention of establishing a method of intervention that is best suited to tackling the issue. There was a particularly focus on the Mentors in Violence Prevention programme. This is a relatively new innovative prevention programme that originated in North America over a decade ago, however, very recently the MVP programme has been launched in Scotland by the Violence Reduction Unit at Strathclyde Police Force and is currently been implemented within a small number of high schools in central Scotland.
This paper, in order to establish whether this specific method of intervention has the potential to enact attitudinal changes that are necessary to eliminate violence against women an evaluation of the theory of change adopted was contrasted against the wider body of relevant literature. What is more, since the sustainability of the MVP programmes as it has been adapted to suit the high school setting in Scotland depends heavily upon how faithful it has been to the original model, an evaluation of the application process was further considered. In order to achieve these specific aims qualitative interviews where utilised in order to maximise the potential outcome of this project