Jeffrey L. Edleson Content Topic Results

Groupwork with Men Who Batter: What the Research Literature Indicates

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:22:24 +0000

Groupwork with Men Who Batter: What the Research Literature Indicates Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/12/2014 - 12:22

NRCDV Publications

General Material

Published Date

February, 2012

Publisher(s)

VAWnet: The National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV)

Author(s)

Jeffrey L. Edleson

Changing public attitudes, the outcomes of several landmark cases, pressure from advocacy organizations, and findings from new research led to a greater readiness among police, prosecutors, judges, and social service professionals to work more closely within a coordinated community response to identify and prosecute men who batter their intimate partners and then mandate the men into group treatment programs. Historically, there have been many efforts to help end domestic violence; however it was only in the late 1970s that the first group treatment programs for men who batter were founded. Currently, there is wide variation in content, style, and length of batterer intervention programs, from small group treatment programs to universal prevention efforts.

Group Treatment Approaches for Men Who Batter
Treatment programs for men who batter, often called batterer intervention programs or BIPs, are generally small group programs offered by one or two professionally-trained facilitators working with about eight to 10 men who batter. Generally, participants join and progress through the group process at the same time as a cohort but in some cases may join and leave the group at set times, different from other members. Some group programs are supplemented by on-site individual counseling or referral to another practitioner. Most BIPs across North America use some combination of both educational lessons and psychosocial or therapeutic processing among group members. Many programs draw heavily on social learning models that aim to teach new cognitions and actions and on a gendered lens for analyzing power relationships in violence between intimates.

Key Findings from the Published Research on Batterer Intervention
There is great controversy surrounding both the current practices of the criminal justice system mandating treatment, as well as the effectiveness of group treatment programs to which men are sent. With many dozens of evaluations now published, we have some ideas about how group BIPs work to end violence and seven key findings about group BIP effectiveness can be drawn:

Across studies, group BIPs have a modest but positive impact on ending violence;
Group BIPs help the majority of men end their physical violence over a period of time;
It is not yet clear what components of group BIPs help create these changes;
It appears that group BIPs incorporating motivational enhancement components help more men change;
Personality type does not appear to predict different outcomes;
Programs designed for men of color achieve similar outcomes to other BIPs; and
Group BIPs that are part of coordinated responses with the criminal justice system achieve better outcomes.

Current Concerns about Batterer Intervention Programs
The above literature on group BIPs raises several concerns that have not yet been adequately addressed. These concerns include:

Attrition from programs is high and presents a major challenge to BIP effectiveness;
Most recidivism by men who batter appears in the first 15 months after enrollment, a period longer than most group BIP programs;
A small number of men appear to be the most dangerous and may require additional attention;
Substance abuse and mental health problems commonly co-occur with violence perpetration;
Women's assessments of their own safety often provide the best assessments of danger; and
Outcomes beyond individual recidivism should be considered.

What to Make of All This?

There is certainly controversy over whether group BIPs are useful as one element in a communitys response to domestic violence. This controversy has accompanied BIPs since their inception in the 1970s and will likely continue to do so into the foreseeable future. The small psycho-education groups we call BIPs seem to achieve documented positive changes among many participants who complete them and more so when they are part of a coordinated community response. These positive findings resulted from decades of study that also leave many questions unanswered. We still do not have clear answers to what in BIPs creates change among the participants, how to reach men ambivalent about making change before costly law enforcement and social service systems become involved, and how to respond to program dropouts and recidivists, especially those who continue to cause injury to their partners while enrolled in a program.

This review provides some initial answers to questions frequently raised regarding the success of BIPs. It also, however, points to many still unanswered questions about intervention with men who batter. Additional research will hopefully clarify the components of small group programs that are most effective, how such programs are best integrated as part of coordinated community responses, and how they may impact the community at large.

Associated Files

Attachment	Size
Groupwork with Men Who Batter: What the Research Literature Indicates	608.51 KB

Material Categories

Domestic Violence

Offenders / Perpetrators

Emerging Responses to Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 21:38:38 +0000

Emerging Responses to Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/10/2014 - 16:38

General Material

NRCDV Publications

Published Date

July, 2011

Publisher(s)

VAWnet: The National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV)

Author(s)

Jeffrey L. Edleson

Barbara Nissley

Public attention to the effects of children's exposure to adult domestic violence has increased over the last decade. This attention focuses on both the impact of the exposure on children's development and on the likelihood that exposed children may be at greater risk for becoming either a child victim of physical or sexual abuse or an adult perpetrator of domestic violence. New research, policies, and programs focused on these children have resulted. These new efforts are reviewed in this document and an argument is made that the diversity of children's experiences requires equally diverse responses from our communities.

"Exposure to adult domestic violence" describes the multiple experiences of children living in homes where an adult is using physically violent behavior in a pattern of coercion against an intimate partner. Several studies on children exposed to adult domestic violence have indicated children's responses to violence may vary. Many exposed children show more aggressive and antisocial as well as fearful and inhibited behaviors, exhibit lower social competence, and have poorer academic performance (Kitzmann, Gaylord, Holt & Kenny, 2003; Wolfe, Crooks, Lee, McIntyre-Smith & Jaffe, 2003). Children also show similar emotional health to those of physically abused children (Kitzmann et al., 2003). Other children display more resiliency to the negative effects of exposure and have no greater social or emotional problems than those not exposed to domestic violence (Graham-Bermann, 2001). The more social support networks and family members in protective roles available to the child, the more resilient a child may become (Masten & Reed, 2002).

Laws relating to child exposure to adult domestic violence have changed considerably in the last decade. These laws focus most often on criminal prosecution of violent assaults, custody and visitation decision-making, and the child welfare system's response (Lemon, 1999; Mathews, 1999; Weithorn, 2001).

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Emerging Responses to Children Exposed to Domestic Violence	718.9 KB

Material Categories

Collaboration / Bridge Building

Counseling & Crisis Intervention

Nontraditional Programming

Residential / Shelter Services

Violence Against Women Classic Papers

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 22:33:03 +0000

Violence Against Women Classic Papers Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/09/2014 - 18:33

General Material

Publisher(s)

Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA)

Author(s)

Raquel Kennedy Bergen

Jeffrey L. Edleson

Claire M. Renzetti

The series is divided into three parts:

Sexual Violence Against Women
Physical Violence Against Women
Perpetrators of Violence Against Women

Adult Domestic Violence in Cases of International Parental Child Abduction

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 19:10:29 +0000

Adult Domestic Violence in Cases of International Parental Child Abduction Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/08/2014 - 15:10

General Material

Published Date

January, 2005

Publisher(s)

The Hague Domestic Violence Project

Author(s)

Sudha Shetty

Jeffrey L. Edleson

The article concludes with recommendations for research, training, and legislation that may increase safe outcomes for battered mothers and their children.

Associated Links

Adult Domestic Violence in Cases of International Parental Child Abduction

Material Categories

Child Welfare

Civil Legal Rights & Protections

Immigration / Resettlement

Domestic Violence

Immigrant / Refugee

Young People

Parenting in the Context of Domestic Violence

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 12:41:16 +0000

Parenting in the Context of Domestic Violence Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/10/2014 - 08:41

General Material

Publisher(s)

Author(s)

Contents include:

Parenting by Perpetrators of Domestic Violence: Parenting Styles of Perpetrators; PostSeparation Violence by Perpetrators; Impact of Perpetrator Behavior on the Child; Multiple Perspectives About Perpetrators
Parenting by Victims of Domestic Violence: Parenting Styles of Victims; Victim's Decision to Separate
Assessing the Impact of Violence on Children and Parenting: The Impact of Violence on Children; Tools for Assessing Violence Exposure and Parenting; Toward Adequate Assessment Tools
Intervention With Families After Violent Incidents: Programs to Help Children Recover From Trauma Parenting Programs; Parenting Programs for Adult Victims; Parenting Programs for Perpetrators; Supervised Visitation Programs

Primary Prevention and Adult Domestic Violence

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 16:54:29 +0000

Primary Prevention and Adult Domestic Violence Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/22/2014 - 12:54

General Material

Publisher(s)

Family Violence Prevention Fund

Author(s)

Jeffrey L. Edleson

"This paper briefly examines the available research and practice literature on frameworks for understanding domestic violence, risk and protective factors for adult domestic violence, and the few efforts geared toward primary prevention in this domain. It mentions secondary and tertiary prevention efforts in this field but does not review them. It ends by pointing to program and policy directions for future primary prevention efforts."

The Overlap Between Child Maltreatment and Woman Abuse

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 19:53:27 +0000

The Overlap Between Child Maltreatment and Woman Abuse Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/10/2014 - 14:53

NRCDV Publications

General Material

Published Date

April, 1999

Publisher(s)

VAWnet: The National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV)

Author(s)

Jeffrey L. Edleson

Studies show that children are being physically abused in approximately half the families where the mother is a known victim of domestic assault.
Similarly, studies show that mothers are being battered in approximately half the families where her child is a known victim of physical abuse.
Available studies differ dramatically in their methods, including definitions of abuse, families studied, data collection procedures, and reported results. The over-reliance in most studies on single sources of information most likely leads to underestimating the extent of the overlap.
Research to date has provided only limited answers to the many questions that arise when studying this issue. Most studies are based on surveys designed to collect information on other topics. As a result, many questions remain unanswered.

Associated Files

Attachment	Size
The Overlap Between Child Maltreatment and Woman Abuse	45.22 KB

Material Categories

Collaboration / Bridge Building

Counseling & Crisis Intervention

Problems Associated with Children's Witnessing of Domestic Violence

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 20:03:29 +0000

Problems Associated with Children's Witnessing of Domestic Violence Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/10/2014 - 15:03

NRCDV Publications

General Material

Published Date

April, 1999

Publisher(s)

VAWnet: The National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV)

Author(s)

Jeffrey L. Edleson

Children frequently witness violence in their homes. Eighty-four studies of the problems associated with children's witnessing have been reported in the literature but only 31 were found to have met rigorous research design criteria and included in the review. These studies have documented multiple problems among children that are significantly associated with a child's witnessing assaults of one parent by another in the home. These problems include:

Psychological and emotional problems such as aggression, hostility, anxiety, social with drawal, and depression.
Cognitive functioning problems such as lower verbal and quantitative skills and the develop ment of attitudes supporting the use of violence.
Longer-term development problems such as depression, trauma-related symptoms and low self-esteem among women and trauma-related symptoms alone among men.

These problems appear to be magnified or decreased by a number of moderating factors including:

Whether or not the child has also been a victim of physical abuse
A child's age and gender
The amount of time that has passed since witnessing violence
Where the child is living
How a child perceives his or her relationship to adults in the home and the degree of perceived family support for the child

The studies in this body of literature vary greatly. There are a surprising number of well- designed studies, but a large number of others contain methodological flaws that should raise caution in interpreting their findings. These flaws include:

A failure to separate abused from non-abused witnesses of domestic violence, making it difficult to determine what is associated with child abuse and what is solely associated with witnessing domestic violence.
Samples focusing almost exclusively on children in crisis shelters. Collecting data primarily from children residing in battered women's shelters gives a good view of children at that point of crisis but not of children along a continuum of living arrangements and points of time since a violent event.
A failure to collect data from the children themselves. Data is most often collected from adults ranging from mothers to teachers. Studies have shown children to report different effects on themselves than those reported by adults.
Use of measures developed for other populations and not particularly sensitive to the issues of domestic violence.

Finally, significant numbers of children in these studies showed no negative consequences from witnessing violence. One must be careful not to assume that all children who witness domestic violence will show negative results. A careful assessment of each child is extremely important.

Associated Files

Attachment	Size
Problems Associated with Children's Witnessing of Domestic Violence	58.38 KB

Material Categories

Counseling & Crisis Intervention

Residential / Shelter Services

Intervention for Men Who Batter: A Review of Research

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 05:01:31 +0000

Intervention for Men Who Batter: A Review of Research Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/11/2014 - 01:01

General Material

Publisher(s)

Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA)

Author(s)

Richard M. Tolman

Jeffrey L. Edleson

"These three types of intervention with men who batter-men's groups, couples counseling, and community intervention projects-dominate in North America. Despite the growing use of both criminal justice and social service interventions, the evidence for their efficacy is not clearly established. This paper reviews the research on effectiveness of social service interventions for batterers. However, the effectiveness of these services must be viewed in the context of the other responses which may impact upon batterers abusive behavior. Because many men who batter come to intervention as a result of arrest and prosecution, it is important that services not be viewed in isolation from this context."