https://www.mdu.se/

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), violence against women is defined as a public health problem. Violence can be expressed physically, psychologically, sexually, materially and economically and several forms of violence often occur in combination. Violence in close relationships is a particularly major public health problem and the most common form is that women are subjected to violence by a man with whom they have or have had a relationship. This has significant consequences for the exposed woman as well as relatives and society at large. 

The aim of the study is to investigate societal actors' perceptions of the preventive work to combat men's violence against women in close relationships. The present study has used a qualitative method with a targeted sample with complementary snowball sample. Six people from different government agencies have been interviewed to create a more in-depth understanding of the preventive work. 

The results show that political governance is a central part of preventive work, including through legislation and allocated resources. There are both obstacles and opportunities with the governance and there was a desire for more resources to prevent men's violence against women in close relationships. Success factors for the work are a well-functioning collaboration between the actors working together. Furthermore, there are perceptions that ignorance about violence in close relationships is widespread in society and that more knowledge is needed. It also emerged that knowledge about gender-changing measures is needed already in preschool to prevent violence from occurring.