From Control to Choice: A Trauma-Informed Behavioural Model for Recovery among Women Survivors of Domestic Violence

Abstract

This study examines a trauma-informed, behaviourally informed, community-based intervention for women survivors of domestic violence in rural Ireland and introduces the Trauma-Informed Behavioural Recovery (TIBR) design. Using a qualitative case study of the pilot programme for this innovative new model, the 4Empowerment Donegal programme, this research explores how applied behaviour analysis (ABA), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), feminist trauma-informed care, and physical activity can be integrated without reproducing coercive or compliance-based service models. Drawing on programme-generated qualitative data, findings demonstrate that sustained engagement emerged through safety, choice, and structural accommodation rather than mandate, disclosure, or behavioural monitoring. Within the TIBR design, voluntary participation, flexible attendance, non-punitive re-entry, and practical supports functioned as core intervention mechanisms that reduced barriers to engagement and supported persistence over time. Physical activity operated as an embodied, non-clinical pathway to regulation, agency, and social reconnection, enabling recovery without requiring trauma narration or therapeutic performance. Recovery trajectories were non-linear and relational, shaped by ongoing coercive control, legal pressures, and material constraints. The study demonstrates that behavioural science, when embedded within the Trauma-Informed Behavioural Recovery design, can support ethical, non-coercive, recovery-oriented practice for women survivors of domestic violence. By reframing engagement as a function of safety rather than compliance, this research challenges dominant assumptions underpinning domestic violence interventions and offers a transferable model for trauma-informed, community-based service design.