LEARNING TO CHANGE: IDENTIFYING ELEMENTS OF TRANSFORMATION IN FORMERLY ABUSIVE MEN

This qualitative study examines the content from interviews with 10 formerly abusive men who self-identify as having changed their perspectives about abuse toward their partners. The study was conducted to uncover the causes for their change, and to show how this change is explained and supported by transformative learning theories. The purpose of this study is to examine how formerly abusive men learn to become nonabusive, and to look at the ideological changes in their understanding of abuse, women, and the tenets of patriarchy that have resulted in the cessation of their abusive behaviors. Programs aimed at educating men about abuse against women are proliferating in the United States and throughout the world. Some look at the problem of abuse toward women as a value-laden construct of the culture (McKeown, 1997; Kauffman, 2000). Increasingly, more programs utilize treatment methods that explore the problems of a patriarchal society and men’s privileged position within that society to deal with this catastrophic injury against women and against society (Mills, 2000; Jacobson & Gottman, 1998; Hearn, 1998). These programs employ a profeminist point of view and offer the most promising framework for true ideological change. Support for equality for women and a deconstruction of patriarchy as a means of the oppression of women is the focus of pro-feminist thought. Learning within the context of abuse is problematic to say the least. The educational concepts that may serve to ground this learning must encompass a process that allows for the deconstruction of old paradigms and the reconstruction of modes of thinking that encourage a sense of respect for the self and others along with a belief in equality among people that is not affected by gender. Theories of adult education that view learning as transformative are constructionist in nature and provide a framework that supports ideological change. (Boyd & Meyers 1988; Brookfield, 1990, 2000; Cranton, 1997; Kegan, 2000; Mezirow, 1991, 2000). In long held meanings about gender issues and abuse, it can move the learner toward a perspective of social justice and equality Supportive Literature Since the 1970s many abuse intervention programs have adopted an approach that focuses on the issues of power and control as the primary constructs responsible for domestic abuse against women. The Domestic Abuse Intervention Project – the Duluth Model is a program for treatment developed by Pence and Paymar (1982) in the early 1980s that expanded on these early programs and incorporated a community based framework that provides a construct for victim safety, public awareness and prevention, along with batterer treatment programs that emphasize responsibility and accountability for abusive men. Group counseling sessions within these programs acknowledge the problems produced by a patriarchal society. The issues of domination and male control are challenged and men are confronted with the problems caused by their patriarchal belief systems (Shephard & Pence, 1999). The psychological literature provides theoretical support for change within the realm of addictive behaviors that serves as a model for cessation of abusive behaviors. Among others, the