Changing Violent Men

Rebecca Emerson Dobash, Russell P. Dobash, Kate Cavanagh, Ruth Lewis

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 1999
• Print ISBN: 9780761905356, 9780761905349
• eBook ISBN: 9781452221632
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Relazioni interpersonali in psicologia

Accessibly written and presented, Changing Violent Men is based on the authors? evaluation research of various criminal justice responses and treatment programs for men who use violence against a woman partner. It seeks to answer the questions "What, if anything, works and why?"

In examining the effectiveness of two court-mandated abuser programs, compared with more traditional justice sanctions such as fines, probation, and others, the authors provide:

• Detailed descriptions of the nature of violence
• Considerations of interventions with violent men, particularly abuser programs
• A focus on whether violent men can change
• Theorizing about the process of personal change among those men who do change their behavior

Both qualitative and quantitative data are used to delineate the patterns of violence and personal change and to give a voice to men as well as women speaking about their relationships, about the impact of various criminal justice interventions and about changes in their lives. Although the programs evaluated are in the United Kingdom, they are modeled on programs in the United States, so the book will have wide appeal to advanced students and practitioners in the United States, the United Kingdom, and around the world.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1 - Focusing on Men's Violence and the Process of Change
• Responding to Abused Women
• "Domestic Violence" Is Asymmetrical
• The Transformative Project
• The "Fit"
• Chapter 2 - Men Talking About Violence
• The Violence
• Effects of Violence
• Sources of Conflict
• The Context of Violence
• Chapter 3 - Intervention for Change: Responding to Violent Men
• The Justice System
• Programs for Abusers
• The Research Sites
• Chapter 4 - Methods for Evaluating Programs for Violent Men
• Violence and Personal Change
• Issues in Evaluation Research
• Evaluating Programs for Violent Men
• The Violent Men Study
• The Constellation of Violence
• Data Collection
• Chapter 5 - The Context of Intervention: Violence and Violent Relationships
• The Relationships
• Previous Violence, Injuries, and Controlling Behavior
• Reactions to Violence
• Contacts With Others
• The Violent Event Leading to Conviction and Inclusion in the Study
• Chapter 6 - Can Violent Men Change?
• Program Integrity and Evaluative Criteria
• Investigating Selection Bias„Comparisons of the Groups
• Do Violent Men Change ?
• Chapter 7 - Changes in Quality of Life
• Assessing the Quality of Life
• Changes in Men's Orientations to Violence
• Changes in Men's Related Behaviors and Emotional Well-Being
• Changes in Men's Orientations to Their Woman Partner
• Changes in Women's Quality of Life and Sense of Well-Being
• Changes in the Relationship
• Reducing Conflicts
• Safety and Anger
• Summary
• Chapter 8 - Why Men Change
• Spontaneous Reflections About Change
• Three Stories of Change
• The Process of Change
• The Sustainability of Change
• Chapter 9 - The Challenge
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• References
• Index
• About the Authors