Intimate Partner Violence and Fatherhood Intervention in Residential Substance Abuse Treatment

The proposed stage 1 intervention development study is designed to address two significant co-occurring issues for fathers with substance abuse (SA) problems: Intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment (CM). SA treatment programs are an important avenue to reduce family violence because SA treatment alone does not result in an end to these behaviors. Currently available interventions have had little success in reducing male IPV. Fathers for Change, an integrated outpatient intervention, shows promise as an intervention model targeting the intersection of SA, IPV, and CM. The intervention uses men's roles as fathers as a motivation for change and targets factors that are known to trigger SA, IPV and CM: hostile cognitions and poor emotion regulation. An intervention of this sort has not been integrated and tested as part of a residential substance abuse program for men. This project is a pilot study of 60 fathers randomly assigned to Fathers for Change or a Parent Education Program (PE) comparison. The initial feasibility of the Fathers for Change will be assessed by comparing it to PE in the areas of: participant completion rates, hostile cognitions, emotion regulation, SA relapse, IPV, and CM risk behaviors (negative parenting). Change in hostile cognitions and emotion regulation will be examined as the mechanisms through which Fathers for Change reduces relapse, IPV and CM risk behaviors.


Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

1. meet current DSM-5 criteria for substance use disorder of alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, or opiates at the time of admission to Westcare; (2) report physical violence in an intimate relationship (pushing, slapping, kicking) within 6 months of admission to the program (based on court/police records or self- report); and (3) have at least one biological child under the age of 12 with whom they lived or had at least once per month visitation prior to admission to Westcare. Each will agree to have their female co-parents contacted for participation as collateral informants and will provide the contact information. If a participant has more than one child in the age range, the youngest child will be the target of assessment. Female co-parents (the target children's mothers) will be invited to participate as collateral informants on research assessments and to participate in a portion (2 -4) of the intervention sessions. If a female co-parent does not consent to participate, a male participant will still be allowed to enroll in the study if he meets eligibility criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

* Individuals will be excluded who: 1) Have histories of severe physical violence (e.g. strangulation, causing hospitalization) based on police records, self or partner reports; 2) Men who have an active FULL/NO CONTACT protective order pertaining to their partner or child (Westcare has access to criminal record/court information for all of it's residential clients. Participants will sign releases of information during informed consent to allow the study team to access this information to determine eligibility); 3) Have cognitive impairment (a mini mental state score \<25); 4) Have major medical complications such as a head injury or HIV dementia that may also be a confound in the study interventions; 5) Have current untreated psychotic or bipolar disorder (reported by history, as part of the Westcare record, or self-report); or 6) Are currently suicidal or homicidal. If potential participants have a prior diagnosis of bipolar or psychotic disorder that is currently treated and symptoms are well managed based on initial study interview and after collateral contact with the Westcare treatment team, they may participate in the study.