Citation

Gondolf EW. J. Fam. Violence 2009; 24(8): 577-588.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10896-009-9256-1

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate the impact of referral to supplemental mental health treatment for batterer program participants who screened positive for mental health problems. The principal outcome measure was re-assault reported during a periodic 12-month follow-up with female partners (n = 308). Batterer program completion and other abuse indicators were also considered. Mandatory court referral to mental health treatment produced no significant improvement in batterer program completion, re-assault and other abuse indicators. These results may be influenced by the low compliance to the referral, since the select number of men who did comply with a mental health evaluation (n = 48 of 148) and those who received treatment (n = 28 of 148) did better than those who did not. Simplified referral procedures or integrated treatment services might prove to be a more effective approach.