Treatment of Intimate Partner Violence and Substance Abuse in a Forensic Setting

VU University of Amsterdam

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Domestic Violence; Substance Abuse

Treatments: Behavioral: CBT addressing partner violence; Behavioral: substance abuse/domestic violence treatment

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00847548

2008-KP-463

Details and patient eligibility

About

Intimate partner violence is a significant societal problem. However, treatment of IPV perpetrators is far from effective, which may be partly due to the fact that the role of substance abuse is not taken into account. There is considerable evidence that a strong relationship between the use of alcohol and other drugs and intimate partner violence exists. Besides, a few studies indicate that reducing substance use may have a positive impact on IPV. Therefore, in this study, perpetrators of intimate partner violence with substance use disorders enrolled in domestic violence treatment will be randomly assigned to either standard treatment for offenders of domestic violence or a combination of the latter treatment with cognitive-behavioral therapy addressing substance abuse (combined treatment).

Enrollment: 100 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• A history of perpetration of intimate partner violence
• Current alcohol, cannabis and/or cocaine abuse or dependence
• Still in an intimate relationship with the victim

Exclusion criteria

• Not sufficient fluency in Dutch to complete treatment and measures
• (ab)use of crack cocaine and/or heroin
• In need of clinical detoxification
• Severe mental disorders, such as psychosis
• Severe cognitive disorders, such as Korsakoff's syndrome
• In treatment for other mental health problems
• Abuse of children

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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100 participants in 2 patient groups

combined treatment

Experimental group

Description:

A combined treatment containing cognitive behavioral therapy addressing partner violence and cognitive behavioral therapy addressing substance abuse

Treatment:

Behavioral: substance abuse/domestic violence treatment

control condition

Active Comparator group

Description:

Cognitive behavioral therapy addressing partner violence

Treatment:

Behavioral: CBT addressing partner violence