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Relationship Violence Perpetrator Intervention Programs: History and Models

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Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan

Abstract

Relationship violence intervention programs (RVIPs) emerged in the late 1970s from several sources including men’s consciousness-raising groups, social service organizations, and battered women’s advocacy programs. Most early programs emphasized sexism as the root cause of IPV, promoting personal accountability for violence and broader social change in gender relations. Early practice was surrounded by many controversies, including whether programs should be educational or therapeutic; structured or unstructured; and/or delivered by grassroots activists or mental health professionals. Intense debate focused on whether anger should be a key focus of these interventions and whether programs should offer conjoint treatment for couples who want to stay together. During the 1980s and 1990s, changes in policing and prosecution created a large influx of court-mandated participants, and RVIPs proliferated from about 80 US programs in 1980 to over 2500 by the early 2000s. In addition to documenting this history, this chapter reviews the conceptual assumptions, intervention strategies, and dissemination of prominent approaches to RVIP practice, including the popular Duluth model (Pence and Paymar 1993), which encourages RVIP participants to identify gender-based expressions of power and control and develop more egalitarian relationship strategies, and cognitive-behavioral interventions, which focus on changing problematic beliefs and enhancing self-regulation and relationship skills. New and emerging interventions include motivational enhancement therapy, trauma-informed CBT, culturally focused interventions, risk-responsive and forensic interventions, restorative justice approaches, and second-generation CBT approaches such as acceptance and commitment therapy and dialectical behavior therapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Christopher M. Murphy

  2. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Alan Rosenbaum

  3. Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    L. Kevin Hamberger

Authors
  1. Christopher M. Murphy
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  2. Alan Rosenbaum
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  3. L. Kevin Hamberger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher M. Murphy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma, Alliant International University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert Geffner

  2. School of Health and Human Sciences, University of North Carolina at Greensbo, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Jacquelyn W. White

  3. Dept of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    L. Kevin Hamberger

  4. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Alan Rosenbaum

  5. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Education and Research, Zero Abuse Project, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Victor I. Vieth

Section Editor information

  1. Consultant, Alexandria, VA, USA

    Glenna Tinney

  2. College of Arts and Sciences - Society, Culture, and Language, University of South Florida - St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

    Shelly M. Wagers

  3. Department of Psychology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA

    Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling

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Murphy, C.M., Rosenbaum, A., Hamberger, L.K. (2019). Relationship Violence Perpetrator Intervention Programs: History and Models. In: Geffner, R., White, J.W., Hamberger, L.K., Rosenbaum, A., Vaughan-Eden, V., Vieth, V.I. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62122-7_134-1

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