Citation

Gondolf EW, Williams OJ. Trauma Violence Abuse 2001; 2(4): 283-295.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1524838001002004001

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

According to clinical observations and research findings in other fields, cultural issues may explain the poor outcomes associated with African American men in conventional batterer counseling. Practitioner-researchers recommend culturally focused batterer counseling as an appropriate response to these issues. Culturally focused counseling includes a curriculum that identifies specific cultural topics, counselors that respond to emergent cultural issues, and racially homogeneous groups that encourage disclosure. The outcome research on culturally sensitive counseling and racially homogeneous counseling in general is, however, very limited and offers only tentative support for culturally focused batterer counseling. Only some very preliminary research has been conducted on culturally focused batterer counseling. Clinical trial evaluations that control for cultural identification are therefore needed to substantiate the effectiveness of culturally focused batterer counseling. Other components, such as specialized case management and community linkages and development, might be necessary to achieve a substantial improvement in counseling outcomes.