Examining Rates of Engagement over Time with Court-Ordered Men in a Domestic Abuse Treatment Program

ABSTRACT

Limited research exists on the engagement process in domestic abuse treatment. This exploratory study of a large urban domestic abuse program (N = 81) examined the engagement of men entering group treatment using the Group Engagement Measure (GEM-27) over two time points. The GEM-27 pointed to significant change in engagement scores reported by facilitators between pre- and posttest, despite the involuntary nature of the treatment process. The subscore Means for the category “working on own problem” at time one was significantly higher for completers compared to dropouts. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Court-ordered men
• domestic abuse treatment
• engagement
• Group Engagement Measure
• men who batter

Acknowledgment

The author thanks the University of St. Catherine for the internal grant that supported this research and the domestic abuse clients and facilitators that made this study possible.