Exploring the relevance of moral development as a treatment issue in batterer intervention

The study reported in this article investigated the pretreatment level of moral reasoning of 92 African American and white batterers beginning court-mandated treatment and whether the current standardized treatment program was effective in altering the level of moral reasoning of these batterers. A nonequivalent control group design was used. Analysis of the pretest data indicated that the entire sample of batterers was using a level of moral reasoning two standard deviations lower than adults in general. Analysis of the posttest data demonstrated that there was no significant increase in moral reasoning at the conclusion of the treatment program. Implications of the findings for creating culturally relevant intervention strategies for batterers are discussed. Key words: batterers; moral development; treatment ********** In an effort to eradicate violence against women, many researchers have evaluated intervention programs for men who batter their female partners (Eisikovits & Edleson, 1989; Gondolf, 1997; Holtzworth-Munroe, Bates, Smultzer, & Sandin, 1997; Rosenfeld, 1992; Tolman & Bennett, 1990). Although the evaluation literature is generally positive (for an excellent discussion of the methodological limitations of this body of literature, see Rosenfeld), an issue not addressed in the evaluation literature is the appropriateness of these programs for the ethnic minority population. Although there is no empirical research on the differential effect of the standard cognitive-behavioral treatment program on outcomes for white and African American batterers, some authors have argued that the lack of cultural competence among treatment programs has a negative impact on African American participants (Bennett & Williams, 2001; Williams, 1992, 1994; Williams & Becker, 1994). Survey research has documented the absence of culturally sensitive intervention approaches among treatment providers nationally (Williams, 1994). This absence of culturally sensitive intervention approaches is disturbing, given the high rate of violence that occurs in African American relationships (Plass, 1993; Williams, 2000; Wyatt, Axelrod, Chin, Carmona, & Loeb, 2000) and the high attrition rate among African American men in batterer treatment programs (Gondolf, Williams, 1995). One factor operating against the identification of culturally appropriate intervention strategies for ethnic minority batterers is the national legislative trend to institutionalize the "one size fits all" treatment model discussed in the literature (Moore, Greenfield, Wilson, & Kok, 1997; Williams, 1992). In an effort to create uniformity in batterer intervention programs, states have legislated standards for treatment providers. In fact, by 1997 more than one-half of the states had instituted standards (Bennett & Williams, 2001). Among the many aspects of batterer intervention addressed by these standards is the formalization of program structure and length. As a result, most treatment programs nationally, regardless of theoretical perspective, offer a feminist-informed, cognitive-behavioral, group treatment approach for batterers. The implication of this trend for treatment programs seeking to create culturally sensitive approaches for ethnic minority batterers is that they must now create such services within the constraints of the one-size-fits-all model. Treatment providers are faced with a contradiction in attempting to develop programs that account for diverse client groups. The primary question is how to provide specialized, culturally sensitive intervention services to diverse groups of batterers while adhering to state standards that insist that all batterers, regardless of cultural differences, receive the same intervention. This dilemma has prominent domestic violence researchers arguing against the adoption of state program standards (Gelles, 2002). …