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Context of Treatment and Therapeutic Alliance: Critical Factors in Court-Mandated Batterer Intervention Programs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2013

Santiago Boira ,
María F. del Castillo ,
Pablo Carbajosa  and
Chaime Marcuello
Santiago Boira*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain)
María F. del Castillo
Affiliation:
Instituto Aragonés de la Mujer (Spain)
Pablo Carbajosa
Affiliation:
Instituciones Penitenciarias (Spain)
Chaime Marcuello
Affiliation:
Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Santiago Boira. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y del Trabajo. Universidad de Zaragoza. C/ Violante de Hungría, 23. 50009. Zaragoza (España). E-mail: sboira@unizar.es
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Abstract

This paper deals with the influence of the therapeutic context in batterer intervention programs. We conducted 2 complementary studies: a descriptive analysis (Study 1) and a qualitative study (Study 2) analyzing the aspects that may help to improve the operation and effectiveness of treatment in a group of men (N = 27) who participated in a program for convicted perpetrators of intimate partner violence. The results show a statistically significant relationship between the therapeutic alliance and the assessment of the usefulness of the program attended by offenders (r = .69, p < .01), and between the therapeutic alliance and the assessment of the usefulness of the program content (r = .43, p < .05). Furthermore, the results of the qualitative analysis show that aspects of the therapeutic context may play an important role for the adhesion of offenders to treatment, increasing their motivation and improving results. It is proposed that future research should provide more in-depth analysis of the elements related to the context of the intervention and therapists’ skills as facilitators of change.

Keywords

intimate partner violencemale battererscourt-mandated intervention programstherapeutic alliance
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 16 , 2013 , E40
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2013 

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Footnotes

This research was financed by the Oficina de Transferencia de Resultados de Investigación (OTRI) of the Universidad de Zaragoza (project 2019/0316) within the framework of the first collaboration agreement between the Ministerio de Igualdad y la Comunidad Autónoma de Aragón for the development of the pilot project for a re-education program for perpetrators of intimate partner violence.

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