Effectiveness of Culturally-Focused Batterer Counseling for African American Men in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2001-2004
Description
This study used an experimental clinical trial to test the
effectiveness of culturally-focused batterer counseling against
conventional cognitive-behavioral counseling in African American
men. A total of 503 men, including all African American men mandated
by the domestic violence court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to
batterer counseling between November 2001 and May 2004, were randomly
assigned to one of three counseling options: culturally-focused
counseling in an all African American group, conventional counseling
in an all African American group, or conventional counseling in a
racially mixed group. All three counseling options required a minimum
of 16 weekly group sessions. At program intake, the men completed a
background questionnaire, the Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test
(SMAST) and the Racial Identity Scale (RAIS), contained in Part 1,
Men's Intake Questionnaire Data. The men later completed a survey of
past experiences of violence, contained in Part 2, Men's Past Violence
Survey Data. The men were interviewed once at five months after
program intake about their impressions of and ratings of the
counseling. Results of those interviews are in Part 3, Men's
Five-Month Follow-up Data. A female partner was interviewed for 399 of
the male subjects at program intake. Their responses are contained in
Part 4, Women's Background Data. Female partners (both initial victims
and new partners) were interviewed at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after the
initial interview at the time of the men's program intake (Parts
5-8). The follow-up interviews asked about the women's relationship
status, abusive behavior and its circumstances, help seeking, and
additional intervention.