RELEVANT
FOCUSED
READY

Gender and Intimate Partner Violence: Differences of Formal Support Services
Evan Major

Introduction
Numerous men and women across Canada face the same troubles
of escaping intimate partner violence (IPV) with a heavy reliance on
formal and informal support services. In 2022 police-reported data just
over 117,000 people aged 12 or older reported being victims of IPV
following many others that go unreported (Government of Canada,
2024). Communities acknowledge this through formal support services
such as police, courts, shelters, and counselors, however gaps remain
in reaching all victims effectively. Across Canada nearly 600 shelters
operate for IPV victims, yet only 4 percent of those serve male victims
(Blaff, 2024). Prior research has focused on studying male and female
victims separately, however few have looked at them together to
understand the differences needed in formal support services efficacy.
This research aims to seek strategies for implementing future and
adjusting current support services to mitigate revictimization of female
and male victims. Given this, the research question posed is: How does
intimate partner violence formal support services differentiate between
male and female victims in the Vancouver Area?

Background
Intimate partner violence can be defined as “the physical, sexual,
or psychological harm to another by a current or former partner or
spouse” (Lysova & Dim, 2022, p. 1405). Formal support services can
range from shelters, support groups, counselling, and police officer aid
and referrals (Goodman-Williams et al., 2023). Canada has faced the
effects of IPV from a victim and community standpoint. IPV is the
most commonly reported violence against women at 42 percent and for
men 12 percent. The aftermath of such abuse costs Canadians $7.4
billion annually (Culleton et al., 2022). Women are most often
discussed in the use of formal support services such as police referrals,
shelter accommodation, and counselling. However, men struggle in
reporting said violence due to stigmatization, gender roles, and lack of
resources for outreach which results in informal support of family and
friends being used as a replacement (Tsui et al, 2010). Encompassing
roughly 660,000 residents, cities such as Vancouver formal support
services are unable to cater to a wide and diverse demographic of
victims within this area (Statistics Canada, 2022).

Methods
By using a transformative worldview in secondary research, I
focused on gaining inquiry of political actions that reform social
oppressions for those facing it and institutions working within it
(Creswell & Creswell, 2018). There are limitations to the research that
are addressed such as geographical location, wherein Vancouver,
Canada is a research field within IPV that has not been thoroughly
dissected. Results are subjected due the recognizance of the access,
quality, and data structure of the obtained articles. Due to these
limitations, it was crucial for selected secondary sources to be
scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles with publication dates
between 2005 and 2025 for current. Using the JIBC EBSCO library
database I acquired a broad range of other databases such as the
primary source of secondary data; APA PsycINFO. Setting the prior
mentioned requirements, I focused on advanced keyword searches
using "intimate partner violence", "gender-inclusive", "services" and
"North America". I further expanded upon this search to include any
synonyms of the original keywords to obtain the largest sample
possible in the database. The final search result acquired 19 articles.
Six of the articles were closely analyzed in a literature review to
discover themes surrounding current gender-inclusive IPV research.

Feminist scholars often resist gender-inclusive theories, as it is viewed
as diminishing female victims and focus on the gender paradigm
theory in research (Lysova & Dim, 2022). The lack of consensus
regarding theories used in gender-inclusive IPV research can provide
conflicting data that does not provide concrete solutions to the
improvement of support services. A consistent finding throughout
articles noted that men are often hidden figures in IPV victims'
statistics. This result is consistent with men often using informal
services, only reaching to formal services once violence has become
severe, and fear of being mislabeled as the perpetrator (Fagerlund,
2021).
Various articles also touched upon the difficulty male IPV
survivors have in defining the word "victim". Many men face a
survivor mentality that prevents them for being seen as a victim as it
does not conform to traditional masculinity and emotional resilience
(Fagerlund, 2021). This in turn, adds to the growing number of hidden
male victims. Finally, all articles concluded that stigma around genderbased violence prevents victims from seeking help. Both men and
women found a lack of education and awareness as to what constitute
IPV and what resources are available within their communities.
Although women are more likely to be provided support service
recommendations however services are often overcrowded and unable
to provide adequate needs.

Discussion
With the use of secondary sources from the critical analysis and
additional peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles, I concluded areas
that require focus in further research and through institutional needs to
provide improved services to male and female IPV victims. Enhancing
education at an individual, communal, and institutional level,
allocating appropriate community funding, and providing more ways
for victims to ask for help are all steps that can be taken to enhance
current formal support services. Methods that can be implemented to
make sure these goals are reached are shown as the following:
• Use public service announcements, community events, and
gender-inclusive training to inform people on the myths of IPV
• Institutional Risk, Need, and Responsivity model assesses the
implications and efficacy of where community funding is being
allocated
• Providing anonymous platforms alleviates the initial pressure of
reporting IPV often seen with male victims
These measures ensure an equal ground for victims' success in
avoiding revictimization.

Conclusions or Recommendations
The literature review of IPV victims' experiences within formal
support services uncovers current measures that can be implemented.
Providing individuals, communities, and institutions with education in
stigma and violence recognizance can eradicate myths and inform
victims of their rights. Carefully managed service funding allows indepth analysis of the programs where improvement is needed. Finally,
multiple lines of communication can provide sanctity to victims and
more reporting.
Much research is still to take place within Canadian IPV
populations. Future research should implement a primary data
approach on same-sex relationship or transgender domestic violence.
Specific to Canada, would be the importance of researching data on
Indigenous victims and the allocated formal services to reach their
specific needs in remote or dense locations.

References
Results
Four key themes surfaced because of the literature review that
resonate to data found in IPV, gender-inclusive victim formal support
services. Numerous articles were conflicted on theories used in
research of IPV victims creating a divide in the resources needed to
obtain adjusted measures to programs. Although Reis, E et Al (2024)
article uses a gender role conflict approach to gender-inclusive IPV
research others do not agree. Gender symmetry and asymmetry divide
research studies on IPV and effect the inclusion of data causing
conflicting results on male and female victims.

Bachelor of Law Enforcement Studies

Blaff, A.D. (2024). Inside the hidden world of male victims of
domestic abuse. National Post
Culleton, C., Kuzyk, A., & Warmerdam, N. (2022). Forty-four
percent: A short history of intimate partner violence for the inquest
into the deaths of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk, and Nathalie
Warmerdam.
Fagerlund, M. (2021). Gender and police response to domestic
violence. Police Practice & Research, 22(1), 90–108
Lysova, A., & Dim, E. E. (2022). Severity of victimization and
formal help seeking among men who experienced intimate partner
violence in their ongoing relationships. Journal of Interpersonal
Violence, 37(3–4), 1404–1429

Justice Institute of British Columbia

Mar. 2025