Group therapy for men violent toward their mates

Criminology Research Council grant ; (20/82)

This project entailed an exploration of' the causes of spouse abuse, interpretations of why men are violent, why women stay in violent relationships and the overall extent of the problem in Australia as opposed to America. It was argued that the victims of spouse abuse are primarily women and that limited services are provided to meet their needs. In Australia, the perpetrators of violence, men, are not meaningfully engaged in any type of behaviour change processes aimed at stopping their violent behaviour.

This project took the form of identifying men who used violence within their domiciliary relationship, and engaging them in a behaviour change process and evaluating whether the process was useful in helping the men stop their abusive behaviour. As men were identified and volunteered to participate in the project, separate structured interviews were conducted with the men and their partners. A substantial amount of information was solicited regarding their personal and family backgrounds as well as exploring the role violence played in their past and present relationships. Findings included:

1. Far more men than women reported having had two or more serious relationships prior to the current one.
2. More than 50 per cent of the men said they had been violent in previous relationships with women while 77 per cent of the women said that they had never experienced violence within a relationship prior to their current relationship.
3. Men reporting prior use of violence had gone through the greatest number of relationships.
4. Nearly 60 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women reported spousal violence in the childhood home.
5. Less than 14 per cent of the men were perceived by themselves and their partners to have a drinking problem.
6. When alcohol was a factor in violence (in most cases it was not a factor) the most frequent mode was when both partners were drinking. The men and women agreed that the men were drunk and violent in less than Io per cent of the violent incidents they reported.
7. Both men and women agree that in over 70 per cent of the cases the men had been involved in other violence occurring outside the marital home.
8. Men and women agree that three of the most common issues leading to violence were poor communication, children/ family problems, and his need to relieve his feelings.
9. Men and women agree that slapping and spanking, kicking or biting, and pushing, grabbing and shaking were the most common forms of violence.
10. After the violence most men were unhappy with their behaviour and remorseful but did not know how to stop the violence.
11. When the men were children their fathers were more likely to use physical aggression in conflicts with them than were their mothers.
12. The men as adults were significantly more likely 'to use physical aggression in conflicts than their mothers used with them as children.
13. Both men and women agree that the men were significantly more likely than the women to use physical aggression in their mutual conflicts.

Note: Except where noted the number of male project participants was 40 and for women 31.

The men were randomly assigned to one of four groups. One group was based upon transactional analysis techniques, another focused on a behavioural skills building form of therapy. The third group featured a non-directive form of intervention similar to that employed by Alcoholics Anonymous while the fourth group was used as a control or delayed treatment group. Results included:

1. The behavioural skills building group had the best completion rate (83 per cent as opposed to 50 per cent for the transactional analysis group and 0 per cent for the non-directive group).
2. Nearly two-thirds of the men and women interviewed agreed that the violence did not occur during the period that the group met. The behavioural skills group had the greatest number of men who were able to stop their violence as reported by the men as well as the women.
3. At a six-month follow-up interview gains made by the behavioural group appeared to have been sustained to a far greater extent than those made by the transactional analysis group based on reports from both men and women.
4. A substantial non-response rate from participants assigned to groups three and four prohibited the comparisons necessary to conclude that behavioural interventions are in fact the best form of interventions in work with this clientele.

Caution is advised and more research is needed prior to recommending behavioural interventions without reservations.

As this project was designed as a pilot intervention it can be viewed as highly successful in terms of expanding our knowledge about domestic violence in Australia as well as identifying issues requiring further investigations. it was recommended that a Domestic Violence Response Team be established and operate within a specific geographic location (the Southern Sector of the South Australian Health Commission was proposed) in order to more thoroughly pursue domestic violence research. Such a team could further explore and identify more effective interventions with battered women and violent men as well as investigate and propose methods of dealing with the effects that spouse abuse may have on children. The team would also be involved in community intervention initiatives aimed at addressing the existing attitudes, beliefs and conditions which allow us to tolerate if not encourage spouse abuse within the community. The team would be evaluated in terms of its ability to research and provide effective interventions, expand community awareness of the cause and effects of domestic violence, and its ability to lower the incidence of domestic violence within its operational area.