Do offenders with alcohol problems benefit from non-alcohol oriented batterer intervention programs?

Abstract

In the field of batterer intervention and research on improving the effectiveness of these interventions, alcohol abuse has been one of the risk factors that has received special attention. The aim of this work is analyze the relationship between alcohol abuse, process of change due to the intervention, and the dropout rate. The sample consisted of 86 risk male consumers and 80 non risk male consumers, all of them sentenced for violence against women and participating in an intervention program in community environment that does not specifically address the problem of alcohol use. Using multiple repeated measures ANOVAs, the results reveal that there is a higher percentage of dropouts from the intervention among risk consumers. However, regardless of alcohol use, participating in the intervention program was associated with positive changes in relation to risk of recidivism and other success indicators analyzed -attributions and attitudes toward violence, psychological adjustment, and social support. Finally, the results and their practical implications are discussed.