Motivational strategies, working alliance, and protherapeutic behaviors in batterer intervention programs: A randomized controlled trial

Motivational strategies are among the most promising approaches to improve the effectiveness of batterer intervention programs (BIPs). An individualized motivational plan (IMP) is one of these motivational strategies. The present study aimed to explore whether adding an IMP to a standard BIP improved the participant-facilitator working alliance and participants' protherapeutic behaviors. To this end a randomized controlled trial was conducted. One hundred fifty-three men convicted of intimate partner violence were randomly assigned to either a standard BIP (control condition, n = 79) or a standard BIP plus IMP (experimental condition, n = 74). Working alliance (i.e., general working alliance, agreement, and bond) was assessed with the Working Alliance Inventory-Observer, short version. Protherapeutic behaviors (i.e., assumption of responsibility, participant role behavior, and group value) were assessed with the Observational Coding of Protherapeutic Group Behavior. Both working alliance and protherapeutic behaviors were assessed by an external observer early and late in intervention. Our results showed that both general working alliance and agreement and bond, were significantly higher in the standard BIP plus IMP intervention condition, both early and late in intervention. All protherapeutic behaviors were significantly higher in the standard BIP plus IMP early in intervention, and also late in intervention for assumption of responsibility and group value. Our findings have important practical implications as our results clearly showed that a motivational strategy tool such as the IMP improves key intervention processes (i.e., working alliance and protherapeutic behaviors) in BIPs, therefore increasing their effectiveness

Motivational strategies in interventions for intimate partner violence offenders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Previous research suggests that the inclusion of motivational strategies in interventions for intimate partner violence (IPV) offenders could increase their effectiveness. This review evaluated the effectiveness of interventions for IPV offenders that includes motivational strategies to reduce physical and psychological IPV, treatment dropout, official recidivism to IPV offending, and to increase intervention attendance dose. The present systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted using PRISMA guidelines. The following databases were searched from 1983 to 2018 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions for IPV offenders that incorporated motivational strategies for adult participants that included men and included IPV behaviors as outcomes: Cochrane Collaboration, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL. A total 1,134 studies were identified, 12 RCTs were included in the narrative review and 7 in the meta-analysis. Results indicated that IPV interventions that incorporated motivational strategies were significantly more effective in increasing the intervention dose and reducing dropout than interventions without motivational strategies. IPV offenders receiving interventions with motivational strategies were 1.73 times less likely to intervention dropout compared to those in interventions without such strategies. For physical and psychological IPV and official recidivism (e.g., rearrests, police record), evidence favored interventions with motivational strategies, although not significantly. These findings have important practical implications, especially considering the high dropout rates in IPV offender programs and the link between dropout and higher rates of recidivism

Dropout from Court-Mandated Intervention Programs for Intimate Partner Violence Offenders: The Relevance of Alcohol Misuse and Cognitive Impairments

There is considerable interest in offering insight into the mechanisms that might explain why certain perpetrators of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) drop out of interventions. Although several socio-demographic variables and attitudes towards IPVAW have been proposed as risk factors for IPVAW perpetrators' dropout, less attention has been paid to alcohol misuse, and its interactions with empathic and cognitive deficits, in the discontinuation of the treatment. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to compare the profile of a carefully selected sample of IPVAW perpetrators, divided into four groups: those who completed the intervention with low (n = 267) and high alcohol consumption (n = 67); and those who dropped out before the intervention ended with low (n = 62).and high alcohol consumption (n = 27). Furthermore, we also studied the initial risk before the intervention started and the o cial IPVAW recidivism during the first year after the intervention ended. Our results revealed that IPVAW perpetrators, especially those who did not complete the intervention and had high alcohol consumption/alcohol misuse, were less accurate in decoding emotional facial signals and presented more errors and perseverative errors than those who completed the intervention. These differences were particularly marked in comparison with those who showed less alcohol consumption. Furthermore, the first group also presented the highest risk (assessed by therapists) and official recidivism rate (o cial records). Conversely, the lowest rate of IPVAW reoffending was presented by IPVAW treatment completers with low alcohol consumption. Hence, our study identifies different targets that should be addressed during the initial stages of interventions in order to prevent or reduce IPVAW dropout, which in turn might reduce violence recidivism in the long term through their effects on emotional information processing and behavioural regulation

Risk Factors and treatment needs of batterer intervention program participants with substance abuse problems

The aim of the present study was to identify the main risk factors and treatment needs of batterer intervention program (BIP) participants with alcohol and drug abuse problems (ADAPs), beyond issues strictly related to their substance abuse, taking into account four sets of variables: sociodemographic (i.e., age, educational level, income, employment, and immigrant status); personality disorders and psychological adjustment (i.e., clinical symptomatology, personality disorders, anger, impulsivity, and self-esteem); social-relational variables (i.e., community support, intimate support, stressful life events, and perceived social rejection); and violence-related variables (i.e., family violence exposure, perceived severity of intimate partner violence against women [IPVAW], ambivalent sexism, risk of future violence, physical and psychological intimate partner violence, motivation to change, and stage of change). The study was based on a sample of 1,039 male IPVAW offenders court-mandated to a community-based BIP. Results from comparisons between BIP participants with and without ADAPs were interpreted in terms of effect sizes to highlight the most salient differences. Differences with moderate effect sizes were found for clinical symptomatology, anger trait, anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, stressful life events, motivation to change and stage of change. Differences with large effect sizes were found for impulsivity, antisocial disorder, borderline disorder, and aggressive disorder. Several intervention strategies are proposed to guide and adjust interventions to risk factors and treatment needs of BIP participants with ADAPs

Generally Antisocial Batterers with High Neuropsychological Deficits Present Lower Treatment Compliance and Higher Recidivism

Objective: No studies have considered whether neuropsychological performance moderates the relationship between Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart's intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) offender typologies and treatment compliance and recidivism. Therefore, we first aimed to assess whether the typologies show differences in specific neuropsychological variables such as cognitive flexibility and emotion decoding processes. Second, we also assessed whether there are differences in treatment compliance and recidivism between the IPVAW offender typologies, based on their neuropsychological performance. Method: We administered a set of neuropsychological tests (e.g., Wisconsin card sorting test and eyes test) and self-reports to a group of IPVAW offenders (n=424). We also assessed their treatment compliance (i.e., dropout and intervention dose) and recidivism (i.e., risk of recidivism and official recidivism) after treatment. Results: Our analysis revealed that the FO offenders showed the best cognitive performance, followed by the BD group, with the GVA group showing the worst performance. Even though there were significant differences between the IPVAW offenders' typologies in their treatment compliance, and the recidivism, these differences were more pronounced when considering IPVAW offenders' typologies along with neuropsychological performance (high vs low). That is, FO with high cognitive functioning presented highest treatment compliance and lowest rates of recidivism. Conversely, GVA with low cognitive functioning presented the lowest treatment compliance and highest rate of recidivism. Conclusions: Our study highlights the need to design therapeutic programs with coadjutant neuropsychological training to attend not only to the psychological needs of IPVAW offenders, but also to the neuropsychological deficits that might facilitate lower treatment compliance and recidivism

Self-Determined Goals of Male Participants Attending an Intervention Program for Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators: A Thematic Analysis

Treatment adherence and motivation to change are among the main challenges in intervention programs for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) perpetrators. Motivational strategies have shown promising results in increasing the effectiveness of intervention programs for IPV perpetrators. One of these motivational strategies is goal setting. The aim of this study was to analyze and categorize the self-determined goals (n = 204) of 227 male participants attending an intervention program for IPV perpetrators. Findings of the thematic analysis suggested three levels of analysis: 4 core categories, 12 categories, and 35 codes. The four core categories were 'interpersonal relationships' (39.7%), 'personal resources for daily life' (29.3%), 'coping strategies' (27.8%), and 'motivation to change' (3.2%). Identifying the main categories of self-determined goals of IPV perpetrators could guide professionals to tailor the intervention to participants' specific needs and implement evidence-based strategies to strengthen goal attainment and improve treatment outcomes

Rubric for the evaluation of the TGW

Rúbrica para la evaluación del Trabajo Grupal Tutorizado de la asignatura de Psicología de la Intervención Social y ComunitariaRubric for the evaluation of the Group Work Tutorials of the Psychology of Social and Community Intervention course

Rúbrica per a l'avaluació del Treball Grupal Tutoritzat

Rúbrica per a l'avaluació del Treball Grupal Tutoritzat de l'assignatura Psicologia de la intervenció social i comunitària

Psicothema

Resumen tomado de la publicaciónDe acuerdo con un modelo que considera la conducta parental como un continuo, el maltrato infantil puede definirse como la expresión extrema de prácticas parentales de socialización severas y abusivas hacia el niño incapaces de promover la competencia psicosocial del menor. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar las conductas parentales y el clima parental en familias de la población general y en familias consideradas en situación de riesgo de maltrato infantil, considerando tanto las perspectivas de los padres como la de los hijos, un aspecto que se ha descuidado tradicionalmente en la investigación sobre la interacción paterno-filial. Los resultados obtenidos en este estudio apoyan este modelo y permiten constatar que la conducta parental de los padres en el grupo de riesgo se caracteriza (independientemente de que se considere la perspectiva de los padres o la de los hijos) por menores expresiones físicas y verbales del calor y afecto y por niveles elevados de hostilidad, agresividad, indiferencia, negligencia y rechazo. Finalmente, se discuten algunas implicaciones para la prevención del maltrato infantil en grupos de riesgo.AsturiasUniversidad de Oviedo. Facultad de Psicología; Calle Plaza Feijoo, s. n.; 33003 Oviedo; Tel. +34985104146; Fax +34985104126;Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Asturias; Calle Ildefonso Sánchez del Río, 4-1 B; 33001 Oviedo; Tel. +34985285778; Fax +34985281374;ES