Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in Communication Studies.

This thesis aims to help find effective ways of preventing domestic violence in New Zealand through community level public education/awareness intervention projects. The author places domestic violence within sociological and theoretical frameworks as well as in the context of New Zealand public education campaigns. The thesis focuses on a critical analysis of a US-implemented community-level public education/awareness intervention programme and assesses the suitability of integrating its broad principles into a hypothetical victim-based domestic violence public awareness campaign in New Zealand. Qualitative interviews with key experts in the field of New Zealand domestic violence prevention help to highlight the main elements in domestic violence prevention and the measures needed to sustain an abuse-free New Zealand. The author recommends domestic violence prevention be implemented with a three-pronged model: address male offenders as the target of public education campaigns; include entire communities in efforts to build capacities against domestic violence; and enact structural change which would specifically benefit women and their position in society.--AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT

nz