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