Article Title
Hamel, J., Ferreira, R. J., & Buttell, F. (2017). Gender and batterer intervention: Implications of a program evaluation for policy and treatment. Research on Social Work Practice , 27 (4), 405-412.
What Are the Research Questions?
The researchers in this quantitative study seek the answer to the following research questions;
Are the roles of gender among male and female BIP participants different in terms of the relationships between abuse perpetration, substance abuse, and program completion?
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Are the rates of physical and verbal abuse, abuse initiation, and program evaluation different for male and female BIP participants?
What is the Sample?
The study sample comprised of 175 participants who were convicted of domestic violence and admitted for “Batterer Intervention Program (BIP)” treatment in the California based clinic between 2005 and 2011. The sample indicated that male and female participants were 75.4% (n = 132) and 24.6% (n = 43), respectively.
What Are the Variables and How Are They Measured?
The gender variables were male and female. The researchers used verbal one-on-one interviews and assigned a specific number to the participants instead of their names. The responses of the interview questions assessed on the Conflict Tactics Scale explained the variables such as Verbal and symbolic aggression, Minor physical abuse, Severe physical abuse, Initiation of abuse, and the Role of alcohol/substance abuse.
What Are Statistical Test(s) Used?
The researchers used demographics to explain the characteristics of the participants. Percentages means and standard deviations were calculated for each variable defined by Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) which is the most widely used valuation instrument to measure abuses in relationships, according to the authors of this article. The researchers also used the Logistic Regression Analysis to measure Violence Perpetration and Victimization on the basis of gender as well as the completers and non-completers of BIP, and explained the results as the “Gender Differences” (Model 1) and “Program Completion”. The researchers also used the chi-square test to measure the degree of association between gender and the BIP program completion rates.
What Were the Key Findings?
The results show the characteristics of the participants since they refer to the self-reports and intermediate data that indicate that both the profiles of pre-treatment in the BIP and the indicators the termination of the treatment for both male and female are similar. The analysis noted that there are no significant differences between men and women in the delivery of programs and that women are more likely than men to report involvement in the severe physical abuse. The results of this study indicate more similarities than differences between men and women perpetrators. Women found to be more arbitrary, rather than less, may be due to their defensive nature.
The analysis of also indicated that BIP dropouts were six times likely to be physically assaulted than completed More than one-third of the participants did not complete the 52-week program, departure immediately after evaluation session, or sometime during the group cycle. The authors fear that the abuse will begin in comparison to the full treatment, suggesting more need treatment are those who leave BIP programs.
Potential Internal and External Validity Issues
The authors themselves pointed out some of the validity issues especially mentioning that all the participants of the study belonged to the same location. The validity of the results can be increased by increasing the number of locations and BIP clinics. Furthermore, the participation of female was only 24.6% which should be increased to increase the validity of the results. Apart from the validity issues mentioned by the authors themselves, there were some other issues as well. Although the researchers used the P osttest-only design to minimize the inequivalence of the gender groups, still validity of the interview questions was not performed, which is very important while conducting such studies. The validity of the interview questions and employing micro-study minimize the chances of errors in the actual study.
References
Hamel, J., Ferreira, R. J., & Buttell, F. (2017). Gender and batterer intervention: Implications of a program evaluation for policy and treatment. Research on Social Work Practice , 27 (4), 405-412.
