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TREATING INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE WITHIN INTACT COUPLE RELATIONSHIPS: OUTCOMES OF MULTI‐COUPLE VERSUS INDIVIDUAL COUPLE THERAPY
Author(s) -
Stith Sandra M.,
Rosen H.,
McCollum Eric E.,
Thomsen Cynthia J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2004.tb01242.x
Subject(s) - recidivism , aggression , psychology , domestic violence , clinical psychology , marital therapy , wife , group psychotherapy , injury prevention , poison control , psychotherapist , medicine , psychiatry , medical emergency , law , political science
An experimental design was used to determine outcomes of a domestic violence‐focused treatment program for couples that choose to stay together after mild‐to‐moderate violence has occurred. Forty‐two couples were randomly assigned to either individual couple or multi‐couple group treatment. Nine couples served as the comparison group. Male violence recidivism rates 6 months after treatment were significantly lower for the multi‐couple group (25%) than for the comparison group (66%). In contrast, men in the individual couple condition were not significantly less likely to recidivate (43%) than those in the comparison group. In addition, marital satisfaction increased significantly, and both marital aggression and acceptance of wife battering decreased significantly among individuals who participated in multi‐couple group therapy, but not among those who participated in individual couple therapy or the comparison group.