2011/04/20 by Antonio Pascual‐Leone, Ralph Bierman, Robert W. Arnold +1 · 58 citations
Social Sciences · Psychology · Medicine · #Intimate Partner and Family Violence #Child Abuse and Trauma #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Psychology #Prison #Clinical psychology #Psychotherapist #Matching (statistics) #Group psychotherapy #Experiential learning #Medicine #Criminology
paper · doi:10.1080/10503307.2011.572092
published in Psychotherapy Research 21(3), 331-347 (Routledge)
openalex publication_date 2011/04/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
A 3-year follow-up was conducted for Relating Without Violence, an emotion-focused group psychotherapy program for incarcerated men who have a history of intimate partner violence. This is the only known manualized experiential treatment for incarcerated batterers. A sample of 66 men who completed the treatment was compared to 184 men from the same prison. Although the initial research design was quasi-experimental, new procedures were used to match the groups' averages on all known pre-treatment variables. At 7 and 8 months post-release, the treatment group recidivated by assault and/or sexual assault significantly less than controls. Treatment effects are comparable to those of best practices. The study also demonstrates methodological developments for statistically creating matched groups not previously used in psychotherapy research.