applying behavioural insights to family violence singapore x · dr rory gallagher managing...

Dr Rory GallagherManaging Director, BIT Australia

Applying Behavioural Insights to

Family ViolenceNational Family Violence Networking System Conference

Singapore,27 November 2018

Overview

© The Behavioural Insights Team

What are Behavioural Insights?

Most policy concerns human behaviour

Need for more nuanced models and tools

Behavioural insights are

empirical findings

about human behaviour

that can be used to make

public policy and service

delivery more effective.

People can be unpredictable, so we are

interested in insights that have been

tested and shown to be effective.

We focus on changing behaviour,

rather than attitudes or beliefs.

Insights should be useful and

practical for policymakers.

Where do the Insights come from?

Behavioural Sciences

Psychology

Economics

Anthropology

Sociology

Political Science

Methods

Quantitative & Qualitative

research

Trials (esp. RCTs)

Data science & ML

Better

public

policy &

services

‘What Works’

Co-design & innovation

A simple framework: EAST

4 global case studies

EAST

Easy

Attractive Time

Social

© The Behavioural Insights Team

EASY

• Across Australia police respond to a

family violence matter every two

minutes. This equates to 240,000

matters every year, and accounts for

60 per cent of police time.

• In NSW, 1 in 5 Apprehend Domestic

Orders are breached, with 7,700

breaches per year.

• ADVOs are not well understood by

defendants and victims. The Flesch-

Kincaid reading ease test indicated

that people require 13.5 years of

education to understand the Order.

Re-designed ADVOs

• Simplified language, with plain English

examples of what the Orders mean in

practice.

• Prioritised key messages, such as the

consequences of breaching the order at

the start.

• Personalised the form, so use names and

active language (e.g. you > the

defendant).

• Added behaviour change messages, e.g.

challenging normalisation of DV: ‘most

relationships don’t involve fear and

violence’.

In December 2016, the new Orders were rolled out across

NSW. There are an estimated 65,000 provisional, interim

and final Orders made per year.

The revised letters have been translated into 29 languages

and accessible versions have been created.

ATTRACTIVE

The intervention

● SMS reminder sent to ADVO recipient a day

before court appointment

● Sent each time the client had to attend court

● Behaviourally informed:

‒ personalised

‒ plain English

‒ sent from NSW Police

‒ court reminder + direction not to breach

‒ contact details for Men’s Referral Service14

Some clients responded to the SMS

15

• Over 10,000 messages were sent (Jan 2018)

• Over 100 responses have been received

- 26% said thanks or thank you

- 31% said that it was a wrong number

Who received the intervention?

• Our total sample size

(control and intervention)

was 4,388 ADVO recipients

across 8,314 court

appearances

• Between 30 May 2016 to 1

January 2018 (18 months

total)

5 courts in

Western Sydney

75% had a

prior offence

83% men

17% women

Approximately

11% identified as

Indigenous

Fewer people missed their court appointments

17

The impact on attendance increases when looking at those that

received the SMS

18

NSW Police and Courts Service saved resources

• For every client that fails to attend court, they are served their order by two police officers. It is estimated that this costs $651 per visit

• Intervention led to less court listings and faster finalisation

19

No significant impact on ADVO breach rates within 180 days

20

Results summary

21

Reduce court non-

attendance rates

Reduce DV re-

offending (i.e. assaults)

Reduce ADVO breach

rates

Reduce time to finalise

ADVOs

Our secondary outcomes

SOCIAL

'What's your plan?’ session

Step 1.

ORDERS

• ADVO

Step 3.

CHALLENGES

• Challenges

• Planning

• If-then plan

Step 2.

IMAGINE

• Goal &

Motivation

• Positive outcome

Step 4.

ACTION

• Follow-up text

messages

• Follow up phone call

Example

Luke, 48yrs, has just received his

Final Orders, which include Order

1 (do not assault or harass).

Luke and Emily are living

separately. Luke knows he

struggles with his temper and has

attended anger management

sessions in the past.

Example

I could use the anger

management techniques I already

know or try and avoid discussions

that are likely to get off track.

What might make this goal

challenging?

I get angry when Emily uses

discussions about the kids to

argue about other things.

What can you do before or when

this happens?

TIMELY

The link between alcohol and

family violence

• Evidence strongly suggests that alcohol is an

aggravating factor in family violence.

• Almost half of DV incidents recorded by police

involve alcohol.

• Alcohol outlet density is positively associated

with DV (Livingston, 2011).

• Male-to-female violence is:

• Up to 11x more likely on a day the male

partner consumes alcohol.

• Up to 20x more likely on the male partner’s

‘heavy drinking’ day (Stuart, 2005).

• Violence is most likely triggered by problematic

drinking, not drinking per se (Foran & O’Leary,

2008).

Scoping study on alcohol monitoring and messaging

29

Where next?

MethodsScalingPolicy

design

Thank you

rory.gallagher@bi.team