How Batterer Program Participants Avoid Reassault

Men recruited for a multisite batterer program evaluation were asked how they avoided violence at each 3-month follow-up interval over a 15-month period (n = 443), and later asked how their sense of women and being a man had changed (n = 120). More than half (53%) of the men reported relying on interruption methods, 19% on discussion, and 5% on respect of women at 3 months after intake. These percentages remained constant over the 15-month follow-up period. A fifth of the men reported positive changes in their attitudes toward women, and more than a third changed to a “great extent,” according to their female partners. Men in the longer programs were more likely to use discussion or respect methods and to have changed to a great extent.