Choice-Point: Fostering Awareness and Choice with Perpetrators in Domestic Violence Interventions

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Learning about alternatives to violence is an essential part of change work with domestic violence perpetrators. This is complex work, seeking to tackle a sensitive issue by involving the development of deep, embodied learning for perpetrators who may lack perspective on their behaviour. Interactive storytelling has been providing users with the opportunity to explore speculative scenarios in a controlled environment. We discuss the design of Choice-Point: a web-based application that allows perpetrators adopt the role of different fictional characters in an abusive scenario for conveying the essential skill of perspective-taking. We evaluated Choice-Point through trials with three groups of perpetrators, a support group of victim-survivors and an expert critique from support workers. We discuss challenges in using such technologies - such as our system – for engagement; the value of perpetrator agency in supporting non-violent behaviours, and the potential to positively shape perpetrators' journeys to non-violence within social care settings.