A Large Sample Evaluation of a Court-Mandated Batterer Intervention Program: Investigating Differential Program Effect for African American and Caucasian Men

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to (a) evaluate a 26-week batterer intervention program by investigating changes in psychological variables related to abuse (i.e., truthfulness, violence, lethality, control, alcohol use, drug use, and stress coping abilities) between pretreatment and posttreatment assessments in a large sample of men involuntarily placed in treatment and (b) investigate the differential effectiveness of this same batterer intervention program for African American and Caucasian batterers. Method: The study employed a secondary analysis of 850 treatment completers. Results: The findings of this study suggest that the court-ordered batterers comprising this sample demonstrate significant changes in the desired direction on psychological variables related to domestic violence, as a result of participation in a court-mandated treatment program, with no significant difference in terms of magnitude of change on these same psychological variables between African American and Caucasian batterers. Conclusion: Implications of the findings for social workers were explored and discussed.