Citation

Chen H, Bersani C, Myers SC, Denton R. J. Fam. Violence 1989; 4(4): 309-322.

Affiliation

The University of Akron, 44325 Akron, Ohio

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00978573

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The literature on abuser treatment programs reveals the following problems: (1) the dominance of shelter-related abuser programs, (2) little understanding of the effectiveness of such programs, and (3) low recruitment and high attrition rates in shelter-related programs. This study attempts to deal with some of these difficulties by an evaluation of a court mandated abuser treatment program. The sample used in this study includes a treatment group of 120 court-referred abusers and a control group of 101 nonreferred abusers. The research was designed to deal with problems such as differential participation in the treatment sessions and self-selection bias. Results indicated that the relationship between treatment attendance and recidivism was not linear. Only those defendants who attended 75% of the treatment sessions or more have decreased recidivism; others showed no impact. Some policy implications are also discussed.