An outcome study of personal and vocational counseling for abused wives who seek services from protective agencies

Date

1986-08

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

Research showed that of the abused wives who remained in a women's protective agency for a period of at least two weeks, 50 percent returned to their abusive situation. Several theorists have advocated that battered women remained in their abusive situation because they lacked skills necessary to extricate themselves.

A program was developed to provide personal and vocational counseling for the abused women. Over a two-week period, the abused women who volunteered for the experiment were given the opportunity to participate in group counseling which provided cognitive restructuring therapy, self-assertiveness and communication skills training, problem solving training, body awareness, and vocational counseling.

Three groups participated in the experiment: a control group, a group with the COPSystem Interest Inventory and the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire, and a group with the COPSystem Interest Inventory without the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire. The group with the COPSystem Interest Inventory administration and interpretation showed significant improvement within group measures from pre- to post-treatment in anxiety, depression, hostility, assertiveness, and self-esteem. The group with the COPSystem Interest Inventory and the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire utilization showed significant improvement in self-esteem only. The control group showed no significant improvement in any of the measures.

The program designed had an effect on the women within the experimental group after a two-week period of treatment. It can be concluded that the woinen in the experimental group with the administration of the COPSystem Interest Inventory benefited from the therapy provided more than the women in the experimental group with both the COPSystem Interest Inventory and the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire administration and interpretation.

Description

Keywords

Abused wives -- Services for -- Texas -- Lubbock, Abused wives -- Texas -- Lubbock, Group counseling

Citation