Intervention for Men Who Batter

Too often, practitioners go about their work without a comprehensive and integrated understanding of how their work can enhance and coordinate with the work of others. This comprehensive volume provides a concise overview for practitioners of current theory and intervention. The authors present the multiple factors (individual and social-cultural) that contribute to the onset and continuation of domestic violence and provide an ecological approach to working with men who batter. Major themes focus on criteria for successful intervention: men's treatment groups, working with their families, and working within the criminal justice system. Chapters describe cognitive and behavioral-based treatment procedures and practical issues involved in conducting couple intervention. Moreover, the ecological approach taken in this volume calls for interventions at multiple levels of social organization, including criminal-justice interventions which have only recently been established in this country. Sensitivity to ethnic and cultural differences is also discussed. Intervention for Men Who Batter is aimed at practitioners and policy makers who seek an overall framework and set of intervention models to draw upon when designing new efforts in their own communities. Students of victimology, social work, clinical psychology, criminology, sociology, gender studies, and family studies will also find this an invaluable resource. "In Intervention for Men who Batter, Drs. Edleson and Tolman provide practitioners and policymakers with a comprehensive, multisystem framework for understanding the causes and consequences of woman abuse and empirically based intervention strategies to treat it. . . . The authors have written a comprehensive overview of the male battering literature which they communicate in a clear, well-organized way. I would recommend this book highly . . . as a beginning foray into the male battering literature, particularly those workers who are interested in strengthening their group work skills. The more sophisticated social worker will find the bibliography helpful for referencing the empirical and theoretical studies that provide the foundation that this important body of work is based upon." --Andrew W. Safyer, Boston University "The authors show all the individual and social-cultural factors that contribute to and support men who batter their intimate partners. They then explain what is needed to stop the abuse, including community intervention projects. The book presents cutting-edge ideas." --The Women's Advocate "I have now obtained your book and found it very useful--we are recommending it to students. Congratulations on a clear, concise, useful and thoughtful summary." --Gabrielle Maxwell, Office of the Commissioner for Children Wellington, New Zealand ABOUT THE SERIES: "A project with an exciting blend of scholarship and practical expertise." --David Finkelhor, University of New Hampshire