NCJ Number
209932
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 17 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2002 Pages: 783-805
Date Published
July 2002
Length
23 pages
Annotation
After contrasting the education and narrative therapy approaches to partner-abuse intervention, this article reports on the conceptual differences and their practice implications in group work with abusing men conducted in Nova Scotia (Canada).
Abstract
The prevailing group model in work with abusive men is arguably a feminist-education approach derived from the battered women's movement. In distancing itself from a traditional therapeutic approach, the education model incorporates a political agenda that identifies the safety and equality of women as the basis for re-educating male domestic-violence perpetrators. The education model confronts abusive men to change their views of sexual inequality, their denial of personal responsibility, masculine dominance, and myths about battering. The narrative therapy model features "conversations" with abusive men that underscore women's safety issues and men's responsibility for their abusive behavior; but beyond this, facilitators help abusers to recognize their behaviors as self-defeating and rooted in attitudes and beliefs that do not serve their best interests. Differences between the education and narrative therapy approaches pertain to perceptions of the following issues and practices: the relationship desires of men, the interpretation and use of affect, interpretation of men telling their experiences of injustice, and intervention directives based on the aforementioned constructs. The narrative behavior model assumes that men do not want to behave as they do, since it denies them intimacy and a satisfying relationship with their partner. Beliefs, attitudes, and motivations underlying the self-defeating abusive behavior are explored. Findings from an indepth, qualitative study of facilitators' perceptions and practices in Nova Scotia show how multiple, often contradictory stories can be used to explore men's desires, the interpretation and use of affect, and men's telling of their experiences of injustice. 80 references