Predictors of Dropout Among Men Who Batter: A Review of Studies With Implications for Research and Practice

Daly, Jennifer E.; Pelowski, Susan

doi:10.1891/0886-6708.15.2.137

Cited by 196 publications

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“…Since one of the main goals in batterer programs is that male offenders take responsibility of their behavior, the participants in group 2 clearly have an important need of intervention in this regard. Arguably, high levels of victim-blaming, selfdefense and minimization among participants may lead to disruptive behaviors during treatment sessions and an increased risk of abandoning the program [49].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, with regard to minimization, as Scott and Straus [18] point out, individuals with prior experience of intimate partner violence are more likely to minimize the extent and impact of low-level abusive behaviors [46] and to be accepting aggression in relationships [47][48]. Furthermore, and of utmost importance for batterer programs, men who avoid taking responsibility for their violent behavior will be less motivated to change and will be in higher risk of premature treatment termination [49][50][51].…”

Section: Batterer Programs and Assumption Of Responsibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating Attribution of Responsibility and Minimization by Male Batterers: Implications for Batterer Programs

Lila¹,

Herrero²,

Gracia³

2008

TOCRIJ

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Men arrested and condemned for intimate partner violence assaults tend to use external attributions to justify their behavior and tend to minimize the severity of their violent acts. Responsibility assumption is one of the main goals in many batterer programs because it could facilitate behavioral changes and reduce the dropout rate. In the current study, first we aim to create two scales to assess attribution of responsibility and minimization of incidents of partner violence, and second, to classify batterers based on their levels of minimization and their attributions of responsibility. Participants were 119 male batterers attending to the first assessment session of a court mandated batterer intervention program in the community. The analyses showed appropriate psychometric characteristics for both scales. The scores obtained allowed us to identify two types of participants in the study.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Batterer Programs and Assumption Of Responsibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Attribution of Responsibility and Minimization by Male Batterers: Implications for Batterer Programs

Lila¹,

Herrero²,

Gracia³

2008

TOCRIJ

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“…A background questionnaire included close-ended questions about the man's demographics, employment, relationship status, past assault, alcohol and drug use, prior social service and criminal justice contact, and the women's previous help-seeking. These questions encompass variables that have been shown in previous program evaluations to be associated with program outcomes (Daly & Pelowski, 2000;Tolman & Bennett, 1990). The follow-up interviews also included variables about the man's and woman's employment status, the man's alcohol and drug use, partner contact, the man's additional social service contact, and the women's additional help-seeking.…”

Section: Other Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supplemental mental health treatment for batterer program participants

Gondolf

2007

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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An association between re-assault and mental health problems among batterer program participants has been increasingly documented by research and implied in batterer program guidelines. The majority of guidelines recommend assessment for such problems and referral to mental health treatment in addition to batterer program counseling. However, there is little documentation of assessment results and treatment outcomes. A research project was conducted to investigate the extent of mental health screening, referral compliance, and treatment effectiveness. The project included a formative evaluation of referral implementation, a service-delivery evaluation of the screening and referral, and an outcome evaluation of supplemental mental health treatment on batterer program completion and re-assault of the men's female partners. The formative evaluation exposed a few unexpected disruptive events and inconsistencies in referral procedures related in part to administrative turnover and differing priorities among agencies. The implementation modifications resulted in three stages of referral: voluntary referral, transitional referral, and mandatory referral.The service delivery evaluation showed nearly half of the batterer program participants (N=479 of 1043) screened positive on the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and were referred to a local mental health clinic. A concurrent validity test revealed a correlation of the BSI with a more comprehensive screening instrument and a briefer one (n=93), but the test-retest reliability of the BSI was low with a decrease in positive screens over time (n=98). There was also little association with the BSI subscale results and the clinical evaluations obtained by referred men (n=38), and nearly 40% of the clinical diagnoses were for an adjustment disorder not warranting further treatment. Only 30% of the referred men received an evaluation, and 20% obtained some treatment under mandatory referral. Interestingly, at least a third of the referred men acknowledged a need for treatment and was more likely to obtain treatment.The outcome evaluation, based on a 12-month follow-up with female partners (65% response rate; n=308), produced no apparent effect of "intention to treat," represented by mandatory referral, on program completion or re-assault and other abuse indicators. (Re-arrests for violent and other types of crimes were substantially lower for the mandatory referrals in a confirmatory subsample of 300 subjects.) However, there was some preliminary evidence of a "dose response" for evaluated and treated men. Overall, the referral compliance was relatively low, but did increase under mandatory referral reinforced by a system-coordinator and case-manager. Sanctions for non-compliance remained inconsistent and may have affected referral compliance. The results reinforce recent studies exposing the challenges in establishing coordinated community response, and they question the utility of elaborate referral procedures for mental health referral. Alternatives might consider a mo...

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“…One major problem to be considered in the evaluation of batterer intervention programs is the large rates of attrition observed in most intervention programs, with attrition typically ranging from 50 to 75% overall (Daly & Pelowski, 2000). The range of attrition after treatment starts is even larger with Chang and Saunders (2002) reporting a range of 14 to 56% and Buttell and Pike (2002) reporting a range of 40 to 60%.…”

Section: Attrition From Batterer Intervention Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stages of Change and the Group Treatment of Batterers

Alexander¹

2007

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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A Stages of Change (SOC) treatment approach, supplemented by Motivational Interviewing techniques (Miller & Rollnick, 2002), was compared with a standard cognitive-behavioral therapy gender-reeducation (CBTGR) approach for its effectiveness in reducing men's violence against their partners. A total of 528 male batterers from the Montgomery County, Maryland Abused Persons Program were randomly assigned to 49 26-week groups in either the SOC or CBTGR condition. English-speaking and Spanish-speaking groups were conducted in both treatment conditions. While certain differences emerged between English-and Spanish-speakers and their partners, men in the two treatment conditions (and their partners) did not differ with respect to demographics, lifetime violence, psychopathology, multiple admissions, histories of trauma, or source of referral as a function of their assignment to different treatment conditions. Differences between women who were successfully contacted for follow-up and those who were not were minimal, indicating the generalizability of victim follow-up reports.Self-reported aggression at post-treatment was unrelated to treatment condition. However, based on victim follow-up reports, the SOC curriculum was more effective than standard treatment in reducing women's risk for physical aggression, especially among English-speakers. The SOC condition was particularly effective for first-time offenders, for men who were court-ordered to treatment and for men in an earlier underlying stage of change. On the other hand, the SOC condition was no more effective than the CBTGR condition in reducing the violence of men with multiple admissions, suggesting the need for warning their victims and for using a coordinated community response. The SOC condition was also not effective for men who were self-referred to treatment, presumably because it did not quickly provide the anger-management and conflict resolution skills these men were seeking. The two treatments did not differ in rates of attendance (either number of sessions attended or treatment completion), working alliance or group cohesion. Different predictors of attendance did emerge between the two conditions. Moreover, blind ratings of audiotapes of sessions significantly differentiated the two conditions. Specific treatment considerations for Spanish-speakers were explored as was the necessity of attending to the trauma histories of both men and their partners. Finally, the reactions of therapists working with the SOC curriculum were described as were the limitations of this study and suggestions for future research. It was concluded that within the context of these limitations, this project allowed a fairly rigorous but also realistic test of the usefulness of SOC treatment in reducing men's risk for violence.

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Predictors of Dropout Among Men Who Batter: A Review of Studies With Implications for Research and Practice

Cited by 196 publications

References 0 publications

Evaluating Attribution of Responsibility and Minimization by Male Batterers: Implications for Batterer Programs

Evaluating Attribution of Responsibility and Minimization by Male Batterers: Implications for Batterer Programs

Supplemental mental health treatment for batterer program participants

Stages of Change and the Group Treatment of Batterers

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