A novel intervention for system-involved female intimate partner violence survivors: Changes in mental health.

A novel intervention for system-involved female intimate partner violence survivors: Changes in mental health. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2018 Jul 19;: Authors: Rizo CF, Wretman CJ, Macy RJ, Guo S, Ermentrout DM Abstract Female intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors who are their children's primary caregivers are often mandated to services by child protection services (CPS) and/or the courts. Unfortunately, scant evidence exists regarding mandated programs for CPS- and/or court-involved IPV survivors, particularly the mental health outcomes of such programs. Two human service agencies in the southeastern United States collaborated to develop and implement a novel 13-week intervention to address the needs of these mothers' as related to safety, parenting, and mental health. The intervention uses a psychoeducation approach and participants are provided dinner, childcare, transportation, and on-site security. This community-based, quasi-experimental study gathered preliminary evidence regarding whether the intervention enhanced participants' (N = 70) mental health (i.e., depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms). Growth curve analyses using hierarchical linear modeling examined whether participants experienced improvements in mental health at completion (3 months) and follow-up (6 months). Participants reported significant improvements on depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms at both postintervention time points. This explorato...
Source: The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Am J Orthopsychiatry Source Type: research