Issues in Family Violence

Fall 2002

Non-Violence Alliance Progress Criteria

David Mandel

Using the profile of an abuser (see earlier Issues) and other perspectives, the following criteria were developed to evaluate the progress of domestic violence perpetrators involved with a batterer intervention group. Scoring the client involves the same scale developed by Gondolf: 5=extremely present, 4=very present, 3=somewhat present, 2=a little present, 1=very little present, 0=no opinion, uncertain, not applicable.

_____Understanding Control: displays understanding of the relationship between acts of violence and control as motivation; considers how his violence leads to his partner and children feeling controlled.

_____Widening and Deepening Definition of Abuse: talks about a wider range of his behaviors as being abusive, talks about his pattern of abuse in a less fragmented, more cohesive manner; relates current situation and behavior to his abusiveness in prior relationships.

_____Entitlement Thinking: questions his own right to be abusive, controlling or possessive over partner and children; works positively with challenges to entitlement thinking from group leaders or members; sees the connection between his entitlement thinking and his abuse; sees connection between entitlement thinking and feelings of fear and helplessness.

_____Emotion Identification: separates the feeling of anger from the actions of abuse; identifies feelings of powerlessness and fear related to his pattern of control; identifies emotions as triggers for abuse.

_____Impact: expresses awareness of the emotional impact of his abusive behavior on himself, partner, children and others; has some understanding of long term impact of abuse; appears to feel pain, powerlessness and fear about the negative impact of his behavior; understands that he can have positive impact on others. .

_____Risk Management: has identified high-risk situations; has identified internal warning cues to abuse and violence; has identified non-violent actions he can take to avoid future abuse; has handled high risk situations without violence.

_____Behavior Change: reports positive changes in how he handles himself relevant to his prior pattern of abuse; displays an understanding of how his prior abuse is impacting his current situation and the behavior and needs of his partner, ex-partner and/or children; describes behavior that accounts for the need for family members to have safety, self-determination and satisfaction.

_____Children: displays understanding of the needs of his children; can separate his needs from the needs of children; displays commitment to not use children as a weapon of control against his partner or ex-partner; takes actions to provide for physical and emotional needs of his children; treats step-children well; does not physically or emotionally abuse his children.

_____Aggravating Factors: concerns about substance abuse, mental health issues, or situational factors that may increase risk.

_____General Qualities: focused his own process instead of others behaviors; cooperative; motivated.

_____Progress: has the client progressed since he entered the program or since the last time he was assessed?

(c) 2002, The Non-Violence Alliance. Permission to reprint with the following information "Originally published in Issues in Family Violence, Volume 4, Issue 4 Fall 2002, The Non-Violence Alliance, www.endingviolence.com."