NCJ Number
209191
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 16 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2001 Pages: 971-991
Date Published
October 2001
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study examined men's attendance at, rather than dropout from, batterer programs (BP's) and analyzed the relative power of demographic, violence-related, and psychological variables in predicting the number of sessions attended.
Abstract
As part of a larger multisite evaluation of outcomes for 4 BP's in the United States, this study focused on 220 men who entered a community-based BP in Houston, TX, between February 1995 and August 1995. This program involves attendance at 1 group orientation, 1 individual evaluation, and 18 2-hour sessions over a period of approximately 4.5 months. These attendance requirements are consistent with the minimum length of most program standards. For this study the men were administered measures of physical violence, prior arrests, and current psychological functioning. Female partners (n=158) completed telephone interviews that focused on their partner's violence and program attendance. Men's participation in program sessions was measured through a discharge criteria form that is completed by staff members when men are terminated from the program. The sample completed an average of 11.3 of the 20 required sessions. Regression analyses found that men who were employed at intake, had more education, were court-ordered to attend the program, and did not score in the clinical range on the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) attended more sessions than unemployed, less educated, noncourt-ordered men, as well as those who scored in the clinical range on the MAST. Employment and scores on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory Axis II, which measures psychiatric symptomatology, significantly predicted staff ratings after controlling for the other variables. 2 tables and 41 references