Parent Group Facilitators' Perceptions of Physical and Emotional Sibling Violence

Background and Purpose: Despite growing evidence that physical and emotional sibling violence (SV) is a common type of family violence in the US (Finkelhor et al., 2015), it is often overlooked in the literature, as conflicts between siblings are seen as common and there is no consensus regarding when it crosses the line to develop into abuse (DeKeseredy & Ellis, 1997; Perkins, 2014). Research shows that SV is associated with psychological maladjustment such as long-term mental illness (Pike et al., 2005) and poorer psychosocial well-being (Morrill-Richards & Leierer, 2010). There is scant research about practitioners' perceptions of SV. It is important for practitioners to understand SV and realize that SV occurs within a broader sociocultural context (Khan & Rogers, 2015). Previous research has not examined group facilitators’ perceptions of SV in the context of parent intervention groups.

Methods: This exploratory study used data from group facilitators from an organization that provides services to parents who have perpetrated or are considered at-risk for child maltreatment. The agency is in a large city in the Mid-Atlantic region. A non-probability, purposive sample of group facilitators from the agency was included in the study. The eight eligible participants were contacted and five agreed to participate, resulting in a 63 percent participation rate. Participants all identified as female and were between 35-51, with a minimum of three years of clinical experience. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted to better understand what group facilitators have heard regarding SV from parents during parenting intervention groups. Interviews lasted between 30-45 minutes. Two members of the research team separately engaged in open coding of the data from all five interviews and created their own list of initial codes (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Nowell et al., 2017) using constant comparison analysis (Glaser & Straus, 1967). The authors used both lists of codes to reexamine the data while considering how the codes fit together to create overarching themes. Discussion continued until both authors reached consensus regarding the themes.

Results: Analysis of the participants’ interviews resulted in the identification of five major themes, each containing subthemes. Themes included: Parents’ lack of knowledge and awareness regarding SV, Stress in parents and the family system, Crossing the line, Individual and developmental aspects, and Mechanisms to help parents address SV. Participants identified challenges with definition and assessment of SV, potential contributing factors for the occurrence of SV, as well as strategies to help these families.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings in this study suggest that practitioners have varied perspectives on SV including definition, assessment, treatment, and understanding individual and family risk factors. Participants noted the parents they work with often lack a sense of normal versus problematic sibling behavior, frequently normalizing SV. Participants expressed frustration with a lack of services available to assist these families. They also suggested tools and strategies to help families within the group setting. The results from this study may serve as a helpful starting place for practitioners, researchers, and educators, to increase their awareness of sibling violence.