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An Evaluation of Group Intervention Programs for Violent and Abusive Men
Author(s) -
Russell Robert,
Jory Maxwell K.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.297
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8438
pISSN - 0814-723X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1467-8438.1997.tb00282.x
Subject(s) - psychology , intervention (counseling) , project commissioning , abusive relationship , abusive supervision , social psychology , applied psychology , clinical psychology , publishing , domestic violence , suicide prevention , poison control , medical emergency , political science , psychiatry , medicine , law
Using the Abusive Behaviour Inventory and Rosenberg's Self Esteem Questionnaire, we assessed the efficacy of six group intervention programs for abusive and violent men. We predicted that both physical and psychological abuse levels would be significantly lower and that self‐esteem would increase significantly post‐treatment. The six group programs, involving forty‐five male participants overall, were conducted over ten to fourteen weeks in the Melbourne metropolitan area. Sixteen non‐abusive male subjects were used as a comparison group. Results indicated that the programs were more effective than no treatment in significantly reducing psychological (but not physical) abuse and had no effect on self‐esteem. No post‐program differences were found between the comparison and treatment groups. We concluded that the programs had positive effects on the participants, particularly in the reduced levels of psychological abuse, and that self‐esteem was not a meaningful factor in level of abusive behaviour. The relatively low mean preprogram score on the physical abuse sub‐scale for the program groups may explain the lack of significant differences between the physical abuse pre‐program and post‐program scores.