Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrator Treatment: Tailoring Interventions to Individual Needs

Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a devastating public health issue in the United States. Given the high stakes of IPV, it is imperative that treatment provided to perpetrators be efficacious to prevent further victimization and not lull survivors into a false sense of security. Unfortunately, the historically dominant modalities of perpetrator treatment, group-based Duluth and cognitive-behavioral therapy, show small effects at best in deterring re-assault. Because of this, new directions are needed. In this article, we report on a literature review that centered on IPV perpetrator treatment. Results suggest a prominent theme in the literature is a shift from these blanket approaches to treatment based on individual need and co-occurring issues. Specifically, practitioners should be aware of (1) demographic factors affecting treatment completion and re-assault, (2) perpetrator typologies, (3) perpetrator readiness to change and use of motivation-based approaches, and (4) common individual co-occurring concerns, including substance use and mental health issues. For each of these, we discuss treatment implications and make recommendations for future research. We envision a future where the landscape of perpetrator treatment is tailored to individual treatment needs and argue that social work practitioners bring a critical person-centered perspective to IPV perpetrator treatment.