Investigating the Differential Effectiveness of a Batterer Treatment Program on Outcomes for African American and Caucasian Batterers

Objective: This study (1.) evaluated a batterer intervention program (BIP) by investigating changes in psychological variables (i.e., truthfulness, violence, lethality, control, alcohol use, drug use, and stress-coping abilities) between pretreatment and posttreatment assessments in a sample of court-mandated batterers and (2.) investigated the differential effectiveness of this same BIP for African American and Caucasian batterers. Method: The study employed a onegroup pretest/posttest design, with 12-month follow-up data, to investigate changes in Domestic Violence Inventory (DVI) scores among 91 men, 57% African American, court ordered into a BIP. Results: Analysis indicated that (1.) court-ordered batterers demonstrate significant changes, in the desired direction, on psychological variables related to domestic violence, as a result of participation in a court-mandated BIP and (2.) there was no significant difference in changes on these psychological variables between African-American and Caucasian batterers. Conclusion: Implications of the findings for enhancing intervention efforts with court-ordered batterers were discussed.