Structural Family Systems Approach to Intervention in Cases of Family Violence

• NCJ Number: 111034
• Journal: Family Relations Volume: 36 Issue: 3 Dated: (July 1987) Pages: 270-275
• Author(s): R J Gelles; P E Maynard
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 6 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A revision of a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Family Relations, October 18, 1984, San Francisco, CA.

Annotation

This paper applies a structural family systems perspective to clinical intervention in violent families.

Abstract

The goal of the paper is to bridge the gap between theory and research and clinical intervention. The bridge is a structural family systems perspective. The paper reviews theoretical and empirical work on family violence that has employed a systems conceptual framework. The perspective suggests that intervention using a structural family systems approach may be more effective than the typical individual level interventions based on medical or psychopathological views of the causes of domestic violence. Structural family therapy techniques are described which were used with a multiproblem family whose symptoms included family violence. The cooperation needed among researchers, therapists, and therapy trainers who would use a systems approach to analyze and treat domestic violence and abuse is discussed. (Author abstract)