RESUMO
Introduction: Aggression, and therefore gender-based violence, can be an impulsive or compulsive behavior, depending on the consumption of alcohol and/or drugs. In Europe, the prevalence of gender-based violence is 16 to 23%. This prevalence shows that there is a need to make further progress in the treatment of aggression against women. Qualitative techniques allow us to understand perceptions and attributions holistically by analyzing what people who commit the crime say, why they say it and how they say it. Aim: To explore the experience of physical and verbal aggression by a partner, dependent on the presence or absence of alcohol and drug use, in the prison population. Method: A mixed methodology was used (combining qualitative and quantitative techniques). The sample was made up of 140 men divided into two focus groups [with alcohol and/or drug consumption (SAD) and without alcohol and/or drug consumption (NSAD)] who completed the Demographic, Criminal and Behavioral Interview in Penitentiary Institutions; the Gender Violence Questionnaire (both developed for this study) and the MultiCAGE CAD-4 Questionnaire. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis and quantitative data were obtained using contingency tables. Results: It was found that the SAD group attributed the crime committed to alcohol and/or drug consumption, while the NSAD group attributed it to jealousy and to their partner. The SAD group revealed that the consequence of the physical aggressions was to get what they were looking for from their partner and the consequences of the verbal aggressions was regret, unlike the NSAD group that did not get anything from the aggressions. The SAD group recognized that to avoid future aggressions they would have to avoid alcohol and/or drug use, while the NSAD group mentioned that they would have to avoid contact with their partner. Discussion: The need to include perceptions and attributions as well as the use of alcohol and/or drugs is emphasized when assessing individuals who commit the crime of gender-based violence.
RESUMO
Our objective was to verify the effectiveness of a program based on the Life Skills Training approach with a greater extent than usual, not applied by teachers and a very high degree of reliability regarding the implementation of the expected content. Twenty-eight secondary schools in Granada (Spain) were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. The students in the intervention group received 21 one-hour sessions in the first year and 12 one-hour sessions in the second year, whereas those in the control group received no health education or preventive sessions. Students completed questionnaires before and after the first year of sessions, before and after the second year, and at 1 year after the program. All five questionnaires were completed by 77% of the 1048 students initially enrolled in the study. The results suggest that the program had no preventive effects either immediately or at 1 year after its application. Application of the Life Skills Training approach does not appear to prevent the onset of smoking but may prove effective for avoiding escalation of the consumption levels of tobacco or other problematic drugs.