Motivational Interviewing as a Pregroup Intervention for Partner-Violent Men

This study investigated the effects of a pregroup motivational intervention for domestic abuse perpetrators. Men presenting for treatment at a community domestic violence agency (N = 108) were assigned to receive either a two-session intake using the techniques of motivational interviewing (MI) or a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Violence and victims 2008-01, Vol.23 (5), p.539-557
Main Authors: Musser, Peter H., Semiatin, Joshua N., Taft, Casey T., Murphy, Christopher M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Alcohol use
Alliances
Behavior
Behavioral Sciences
Clinical trials
Cognitive Therapy - methods
Community Networks
Cooperative Behavior
Counseling
Drug use
Family Violence
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Intervention
Male
Males
Marriage and Family Counselling
Maryland
Middle Aged
Motivation
Partner Abuse
Patient Acceptance of Health Care - psychology
Policy, Social Justice, and Human Rights
Professional-Patient Relations
Psychology
Secondary Prevention
Social and Personality Psychology
Social Work
Spouse Abuse - psychology
Studies
Therapists
Time Factors
Treatment Outcome
Treatment Outcomes
Treatment Programs
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Summary:This study investigated the effects of a pregroup motivational intervention for domestic abuse perpetrators. Men presenting for treatment at a community domestic violence agency (N = 108) were assigned to receive either a two-session intake using the techniques of motivational interviewing (MI) or a structured intake (SI) control. All participants were then referred to a cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) program in groups homogeneous with respect to intake condition. The motivational intake led to more constructive insession behavior during the early phase of group CBT, greater compliance with group CBT homework assignments, higher late session therapist ratings of the working alliance, and more help seeking outside of the domestic violence program. No significant effects of intake condition were found on session attendance, self-reports of readiness to change abusive behavior, or client reports of the working alliance. Partner reports of abusive behavior outcomes during the 6 months after group CBT revealed a marginal effect favoring the MI condition on physical assault. The findings suggest that motivational interviewing can increase receptivity to partner violence interventions.
ISSN:0886-6708
1945-7073
DOI:10.1891/0886-6708.23.5.539