Sunday, 16 January 2005 - 10:50 AM

This presentation is part of: Intimate Partner Violence

Developing Practice Guidelines: Women, Gay Men and Lesbians in Batterer Intervention Services

Purpose: The goal of the study is to evaluate how existing state standards for batter intervention services address service provision to females and individuals in same sex relationships. State standards have been developed in 43 states as well as several counties and cities to provide practice guidelines for the provision of counseling services to perpetrators of domestic violence. Many of these guidelines are based on practice models developed for heterosexual male perpetrators. Through an analysis of existing standards as well as practice knowledge for women and individuals in same-sex relationships, recommendations are offered for practice guidelines.

Methods: Fifty-three state and local standards were examined. Each were coded for guidelines related to female and gay or lesbian clients and services available. In addition practice models and specific treatment procedures were coded. Each standard was coded by a second team member to increase coding reliability. Differences were resolved to the satisfaction of both coders.

Findings: As expected the majority of standards were explicitly written for only heterosexual male perpetrators. Several were written in neutral language, indicating that the guidelines were equally applicable regardless of gender or sexual orientation. While many acknowledged that specialized services are needed for female clients, only one provided specific guidelines. No guidelines were available to address violence in same sex relationships. Because many agencies are required to follow the guidelines in order to receive funding or be accredited, these findings indicate a critical gap in practice knowledge.

Implications: Although research has indicated that the counseling needs of females and lesbian, gay and transgender clients in batterer intervention counseling are vastly different from heterosexual males, practice guidelines do not reflect the empirical practice knowledge. The Illinois guideline provides a promising model for providing gender-sensitive intervention, though none are available for same sex relationships. The study provides recommendations for the integration of existing research into practice guidelines to improve batterer intervention service provision as well as exploring the challenges to modifying existing standards.

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