Citation

Gerlock AA. Health Care Women Int. 1997; 18(5): 481-493.

Affiliation

Psychosocial and Community Health Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. aprila@u.washington.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9348822

Abstract

A failure to address the epistemologic factors underlying domestic violence can lead to poorly developed, ineffective interventions for male batterers. Many such treatment programs in the US are based on anger management strategies that emphasize recognition of physiologic, cognitive, and behavioral responses to stress and use of self-regulatory techniques such as relaxation. Female partners report that, while this approach may lead to a reduction in physical violence, psychological violence actually intensifies. The feminist approach conceptualizes battering as a behavior aimed at gaining power and control over women rather than as an anger management issue. Interventions are directed at creating equality in male-female relationships and confronting the sociocultural context of abusive behavior. A review of batterer treatment outcome studies reveals inconsistencies in how violence is measured, the duration of follow-up, and whether psychological violence is assessed. Most effective appear to be programs that situate cognitive-behavioral interventions in the context of a feminist analysis of gender-related power dynamics and are backed up by probation monitoring and confidential progress reports from female partners.

Language: en