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Preliminary Report on the Accountability Scale: A Change and Outcome Measure for Intimate Partner Violence Research

NCJ Number
221125
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 22 Issue: 5 Dated: 2007 Pages: 515-530
Author(s)
Daniela M. Costa Ph.D.; Brittany Canady Ph.D.; Julia C. Babcock Ph.D.
Date Published
2007
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the reliability of a new self-report questionnaire assessing accountability for the perpetration of intimate partner violence.
Abstract
Preliminary analyses suggest that the Accountability Scale (AS) may be useful in assessing both male and female perpetrators in community and clinical settings. However, the sample sizes in both studies were small, and these findings should be considered preliminary. Future research is recommended to examine if the two factors of accountability function as mechanisms of change and outcome measures in intimate partner violence intervention research. The Accountability Scale was designed to measure attitudes about past abuse that may be amenable to change. It is a brief, Likert-type measure designed to assess the degree to which perpetrators acknowledge and accept responsibility for their violent actions. The current study represents the initial development and test of the AS from both clinical and community samples. In the first study, clinical samples of men and women arrested for family violence completed a preliminary version of the scale. In the second study, the exploratory factor structure was replicated on a community sample of couples experiencing some intimate partner violence in the past year, using confirmatory factor analyses. Tables, figure, references and appendix