NCJ Number
205997
Journal
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2004 Pages: 260-284
Date Published
July 2004
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This article is a review of empirical findings and application of theories of predictors of change among male batterers.
Abstract
Most past research on batterer treatment has defined success as the cessation of men’s physical abuse against their intimate partner. With the aim of encouraging complexity in consideration of change among batterers, this article reviews studies that go beyond dichotomous outcomes. First, evidence for the success of batterer treatment is considered from multiple perspectives: men’s, women’s, and the intervention system. Second, an in-depth review of the research on factors relating to change in abusive men is completed using feminist, family systems, individual, and typology theories as an organizing framework. This review finds five suggestions for future research. Future research should expand conceptions of batterer treatment outcomes by linking definitions of success with theories of change. Research should focus on reductions in anger and psychopathology as mechanisms of change. Another focus of additional research should be the communication patterns of batterers and their partners. Research and review should continue to explore typologies. Finally, studies need to continue to recognize, document, and critically examine the effects of batterer programs in context. Considerably greater attention is needed to the identification, measurement, and analyses of change in studies of batterer treatment. references, definitions, tables