Program for Alleviating Relationship Trauma and Stress for Intimate Partner Violence - Randomized Control Trial
Cambridge Health Alliance
Summary
This research study investigates the feasibility of a randomized control trial of a group-based treatment program for reducing stress, trauma, substance use, and use of violence among individuals who were court-mandated to attend a program after committing an act(s) of domestic violence. The study is in a 2-arm design with an intervention group and a control group.
Description
We previously tested a pilot program called PARTS-NB (Program For Alleviating Relationship Trauma and Stress- New Behaviors), an adaptation of the original PARTS Program and a study registered under the name of PARTS IPV (NCT06765122). The pilot program included unique and specific elements for People who Use Violence (PUV) in intimate relationships. Preliminary results from the PARTS IPV pilot suggest that intervention-based feasibility was met, with a total of 13 individuals attending at least 1 group and 12/13 individuals attending at least 8/12 of the first 12 groups. Mean acceptability wa…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- Male
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Must be male-identifying or prefer to be in a male-identifying group; * Must be a resident of Washington state; * Must be court-referred to a treatment program for using violence with an intimate partner; * Have sufficient English fluency and literacy skills to understand the consent process, procedures and questionnaires and have the ability to provide written informed consent; * Have access to the internet and an electronic device with adequate data capacity; to complete questionnaires online and attend online video conference groups; * Must be available and willing to…
Interventions
- BehavioralProgram For Alleviating Relationship Trauma and Stress through New Behaviors
The experiential protocol includes 15 minutes of themed curriculum and 45 minutes of experiential exercises, e.g., going inside meditation, centering practice, witnessing their own parts, psychodrama, speaking for parts exercises, finding parts in the body, etc. In addition, participants will have 30 minutes to speak in the group about their experience and review the manual focused on new coping strategies and behaviors. We will ask participants to keep a journal to write down observations and parts they notice during the week and ask them to bring the journal and manual we send to them to the group so they can record information they remember after exercises. All participants also will be scheduled to have approximately six to nine standard clinical one-hour sessions with an individual IFS trained counselor (at least Level 1 IFS trained) during their time in the program, with an average of one-two sessions per month (6-9 total individual sessions).
- BehavioralDVIT Treatment As Usual (TAU)
Treatment As Usual (TAU) for people who use violence in interpersonal and domestic relationships. In WA state currently, these treatments are usually a mix of elements from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Duluth Model, and/or Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT). Participants in this group will not be exposed to IFS during TAU, to preserve the integrity of the study design. The number of individual counseling sessions during TAU will be tracked, but it can vary based on need in the treatment as usual modalities.
Locations (2)
- Cambridge Health Alliance Center for Mindfulness and CompassionMalden, Massachusetts
- Waterland CounselingTumwater, Washington