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Pre-program Attrition in Batterer Programs

NCJ Number
134311
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1991) Pages: 337-349
Author(s)
E W Gondolf; R A Foster
Date Published
1991
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Records of 200 inquirers to a batterer counseling program during 1989-1990 were examine to determine the attrition rates based on the initial number of inquirers.
Abstract
About 53 percent of the referrals were from formal referral sources such as courts/probation (8 percent), psychologists and other professional counselors (26 percent), drug and alcohol psychiatric hospitals (14 percent), and other human services (5 percent). Informal referrals from wife or women's' shelter (21 percent); friend, relative or the clergy (19 percent); and self or media (7 percent) accounted for 47 percent of the referrals. Of the total inquirers, 62 (31 percent) prepaid and scheduled an intake. Of the latter, 53 (27 percent of the pre-program inquirers) attended and intake interview. This indicates a 73-percent attrition rate from inquiry to intake completion. Of the latter, 45 (23 percent of the preprogram inquirers) were accepted for counseling, and only 27 reported to at least one counseling session. Only 13 (97 percent of the initial inquirers) attended 12 or more counseling sessions yielding an attrition rate of 93 percent; and only 1 percent actually completed the contracted 8 months of counseling sessions. Marital status was the only factor significantly associated with intake. The 1990 inquiry to counseling attrition rates were higher than the preprogram rates in the eighties and higher than a comparable program with no separate intake session. 24 references (Author abstract modified)

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