Turkey’s Sivas Cumhuriyet University and Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University found that creative drama education could have a beneficial effect on improving attitudes toward violence against women by men with alcohol and substance use disorders.

A landmark study published in BMC Public Health has shed new light on one of society’s most pressing yet underexamined issues: alcohol dependency violence against women. The research, conducted with men receiving treatment for alcohol and substance addiction, reveals a crisis that extends far beyond individual health concerns into the very fabric of family and community safety.

The Alarming Statistics Behind Alcohol Dependency Violence Against Women

The numbers are stark and demand immediate attention. According to the research, alcohol dependency violence against women represents one of the most significant risk factors in domestic abuse cases, with men suffering from alcohol or substance dependency being up to 16 times more likely to perpetrate violence against women compared to those without addiction issues. This staggering statistic transforms alcohol abuse from a personal health matter into a critical public safety concern.

The global context makes these findings about substance abuse domestic violence even more urgent. UN Women data cited in the study reveals that approximately 26% of women aged 15 and older worldwide—equivalent to around 640 million individuals—have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime. In 2023 alone, approximately 85,000 women and girls were intentionally killed worldwide, with these rates continuing to increase annually.

Understanding the Mechanisms Behind Substance Abuse Domestic Violence

The research illuminates several critical pathways through which alcohol dependency violence against women occurs and escalates:

Cognitive Impairment and Poor Decision-Making: Alcohol and other substances significantly impair cognitive functions, leading to compromised judgement and heightened aggression. This neurological impact creates conditions where violent behaviours become more likely to occur, contributing to the cycle of substance abuse domestic violence.

Heightened Stress and Emotional Dysregulation: Individuals struggling with substance dependency often experience elevated stress levels and emotional instability. The combination of withdrawal symptoms, cravings, and the general turmoil of addiction creates a volatile emotional state that can manifest as aggressive behaviour towards intimate partners, perpetuating patterns of alcohol dependency violence against women.

Financial Strain and Economic Pressures: Maintaining an addiction places enormous financial burden on households. The resulting economic hardship intensifies domestic tensions, creating additional stress points that can escalate into substance abuse domestic violence. When money that should support family needs is diverted to sustain addiction, the resulting conflicts often disproportionately affect women and children.

Control and Power Dynamics: Alcohol dependency violence against women frequently involves patterns of controlling behaviour, which can extend into intimate relationships. The need to maintain the addiction whilst hiding its extent can lead to manipulative and abusive behaviours as individuals attempt to control their environment and those around them.

Addressing the Inadequacy of Traditional Approaches to Substance Abuse Domestic Violence

One of the most significant findings of the research concerns the limitations of standard addiction treatment programmes in addressing alcohol dependency violence against women. The study evaluated Turkey’s Smoking, Alcohol, and Substance Addiction Treatment Program (SAMBA), a comprehensive structured therapy initiative that incorporates Cognitive Behavioural Therapy principles along with elements from Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Mindfulness approaches.

Despite SAMBA’s proven effectiveness in managing addiction-related issues such as anger management, stress reduction, and relapse prevention, the programme showed no significant impact on participants’ attitudes towards violence against women. This finding reveals a critical gap in traditional addiction treatment: whilst these programmes successfully address the mechanics of addiction, they fail to tackle the broader social and behavioural implications that fuel substance abuse domestic violence.

The research demonstrated that participants who received only standard addiction treatment showed no meaningful change in their attitudes towards violence against women throughout their treatment period. This suggests that addressing addiction alone, whilst necessary, is insufficient for breaking the cycle of alcohol dependency violence against women.

A Revolutionary Educational Approach

The study’s most encouraging findings centre on an innovative educational intervention using creative drama techniques. Unlike traditional didactic approaches, this method engaged participants in active, experiential learning that proved remarkably effective in shifting attitudes and behaviours.

The Creative Drama Methodology: The intervention consisted of five intensive sessions, each lasting two hours, implemented every other day alongside standard treatment. Participants engaged in three distinct phases:

Warm-up and Preparation: Activities designed to build trust, communication, and group cohesion. These sessions began with musical greetings, rhythm activities, and interactive games such as “Become a Mirror” and “Find Your Leader.”

Animation and Role-Playing: The core of the intervention involved participants assuming various roles related to violence scenarios—including victims, perpetrators, family members, and witnesses. Using real-life situations and case studies, participants engaged in improvisation and script-writing exercises that forced them to experience different perspectives.

Evaluation and Reflection: Each session concluded with structured discussions where participants shared their experiences and reflected on the emotions and insights generated during the role-playing activities.

Remarkable Results: The creative drama intervention produced statistically significant improvements in participants’ attitudes towards violence against women. The effect size was substantial (r > 0.50), indicating a large and meaningful change. Most importantly, these improvements were observed across multiple dimensions of violence prevention awareness.

The Science Behind Attitude Change

The success of the creative drama approach can be understood through several psychological mechanisms:

Enhanced Empathy Through Perspective-Taking: By literally stepping into the shoes of violence victims, participants developed enhanced empathetic understanding. This experiential learning proved far more powerful than simply being told about the impact of violence.

Emotional Engagement and Memory Formation: The emotionally charged nature of the role-playing exercises created strong memories and emotional associations that reinforced learning retention. Unlike passive educational approaches, the drama method engaged both cognitive and emotional processing systems.

Social Learning and Behavioural Modelling: The group environment allowed participants to observe alternative behaviours and responses to conflict situations. This aligns with social learning theory, demonstrating how individuals can acquire new behavioural patterns through observation and practice.

Cognitive Restructuring: The combination of role-playing and group discussion facilitated examination and challenging of existing thought patterns and beliefs about gender roles and acceptable behaviour in relationships.

Broader Implications for Preventing Alcohol Dependency Violence Against Women

The research findings have profound implications for how society approaches substance abuse domestic violence prevention:

Integration is Essential: Violence prevention cannot be treated as a separate issue from addiction treatment. Programmes must address both the addiction itself and its broader social consequences simultaneously to effectively combat alcohol dependency violence against women.

Community-Wide Responsibility: The findings suggest that protecting women and families from substance abuse domestic violence requires community-level interventions that go beyond individual treatment. Educational programmes, community awareness initiatives, and cultural change efforts all play crucial roles.

Early Intervention Opportunities: The success of the educational intervention demonstrates that attitudes and behaviours related to alcohol dependency violence against women can be changed, even among high-risk populations. This suggests that early intervention programmes could prevent violence before it occurs.

Specialised Training Requirements: Healthcare providers, social workers, and addiction counsellors need specific training in recognising and addressing the violence risks associated with substance abuse domestic violence. This includes understanding the complex dynamics of alcohol dependency violence against women.

The Cultural Context of Violence

The study also revealed important insights about different types of violence and their cultural contexts. Whilst the creative drama intervention was highly effective in changing attitudes towards physical and sexual violence, it had less impact on attitudes regarding identity-based or economic violence.

This finding highlights the deeply rooted nature of cultural norms and gender beliefs. Economic and emotional forms of violence are often normalised or inadequately recognised in many societies, making them more resistant to change through brief interventions. This suggests that longer-term, more intensive educational efforts may be required to address these deeply embedded cultural attitudes.

Limitations and Future Directions

The research, whilst groundbreaking, acknowledges several important limitations that point towards future research needs:

Sample Size and Generalisability: The study involved a relatively small sample from a single cultural context. Larger, multi-cultural studies are needed to confirm the generalisability of these findings across different populations and settings.

Long-term Sustainability: The study measured immediate post-intervention effects but did not assess long-term retention of attitude changes. Follow-up studies are essential to determine whether the positive effects persist over time.

Behavioural Outcomes: The research measured attitude changes but did not directly assess whether these translated into actual behavioural changes in real-world settings. Future studies should incorporate measures of actual violence perpetration rates.

Qualitative Understanding: The study relied primarily on quantitative measures. Incorporating qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews and focus groups would provide deeper insights into participants’ experiences and the mechanisms driving change.

Recommendations for Action

Based on these findings, several critical recommendations emerge for policymakers, healthcare providers, and community organisations:

• Policy Development: Governments should mandate that addiction treatment programmes include specific components addressing violence prevention. Funding structures should support integrated approaches that tackle both addiction and its social consequences.
• Healthcare Provider Training: Medical professionals, addiction counsellors, and social workers require specialised training in recognising violence risks and implementing appropriate interventions. This should include training in innovative educational methods such as creative drama.
• Community Education Programmes: Communities should develop targeted educational initiatives that help people understand the connection between substance abuse and family violence. These programmes should engage both men and women in prevention efforts.
• Support Service Integration: Domestic violence support services and addiction treatment programmes should develop stronger collaborative relationships, ensuring that individuals and families affected by alcohol dependency violence against women receive comprehensive support that addresses all aspects of their situations.
• Research Investment: Continued investment in research is essential to develop and refine effective interventions for substance abuse domestic violence. This should include long-term studies that track both attitude and behavioural changes over extended periods.
• Breaking the Cycle of Alcohol-Fuelled Violence: The research presents both sobering realities and reasons for hope. The connection between alcohol dependency and violence against women represents a significant public health crisis that demands immediate attention. However, the success of innovative educational interventions demonstrates that change is possible.
• Breaking the Cycle: By addressing alcohol abuse and its associated violence risks simultaneously, society can break cycles of substance abuse domestic violence that affect generations of families. Early intervention and prevention efforts can prevent countless instances of alcohol dependency violence against women before they occur.
• Community Transformation: Effective violence prevention requires transformation at multiple levels—individual, family, community, and societal. The research suggests that with appropriate educational approaches and community commitment, reducing alcohol dependency violence against women is achievable.
• Hope for Change: Perhaps most importantly, the study demonstrates that even individuals at high risk for perpetrating violence can develop more positive attitudes and behaviours when provided with appropriate support and education.

New Research Maps Path to Ending Alcohol-Related Violence Against Women

The research published in BMC Public Health represents a watershed moment in our understanding of alcohol dependency violence against women. It reveals both the scope of the crisis and pathways towards solutions.

The findings make clear that alcohol abuse is not merely an individual health issue but a community safety concern that affects entire families and neighbourhoods. Traditional addiction treatment, whilst valuable, is insufficient to address the full range of substance abuse domestic violence associated with dependency.

However, the success of innovative educational approaches offers genuine hope. By developing and implementing comprehensive interventions that address both addiction and its social consequences, society can make meaningful progress in protecting women and families from alcohol dependency violence against women.

The path forward requires commitment from multiple sectors—healthcare, education, law enforcement, community organisations, and policymakers. It demands recognition that preventing substance abuse domestic violence is not just a women’s issue but a societal responsibility that requires engagement from all community members.

Most critically, it requires acknowledgement that the fight against alcohol dependency violence against women is winnable. With appropriate education, community support, and sustained commitment to change, we can create safer families and communities for everyone.

The research provides a roadmap for action. Now it is up to society to follow that map towards a future where alcohol dependency no longer serves as a pathway to violence, but where those struggling with addiction receive the comprehensive support they need to heal both themselves and their relationships with others. (Source: WRD News)