Participants’ Perceptions of the Nature of Events Aimed at Engaging Men to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence

Objective: This paper aims to describe men’s perceptions of the nature and content of events implemented globally to involve men in ending gender-based violence and to explore the degree to which the features of men’s prevention events differ across geographic regions. Method: Data from 319 adult, male-identified individuals from 53 countries who had recently attended a prevention event were collected via a trilingual (English, Spanish, and French) online survey. Survey items assessed the recruitment strategies, substantive content, and content delivery methods of the most recent prevention event attended by participants. Results: Overall, more participants attended events with an ongoing versus one-time format. Participants most commonly learned of an event through a direct invitation by an organization. Events included an average of four content delivery methods, most commonly group discussions and educational presentations. Multi-session events featured both more interactive delivery methods and coverage of more substantive topics. Some significant differences by geographical region appeared; for example, men in North America spent less time at their events than men in other regions, and events in Africa were more likely to feature interactive programming and survivors’ stories than did events in other regions. Conclusion: The preponderance of multi-session and interactive programming in this sample is encouraging and consistent with principles of effective prevention. There may be a regional nature of the events to engage men in primary prevention of gender-based violence. Regional similarities and differences suggest the need for ongoing cross-regional discussion and learning regarding emerging effective approaches to involve men in ending violence. © 2017, Springer International Publishing.