Partner Violence and Anger Management

Partner Violence and Anger Management: a Randomised Controlled Study of the Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the Brøset anger management model in reducing violent behavior amongst clients who are violent in intimate partnerships and who voluntarily seek help.

Violence in intimate partnerships constitutes a serious problem worldwide and there is reason to believe that cognitive behavior therapy has some effect on the reduction of violent behavior. However, there are currently too few randomized controlled studies to conclude about the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy for this client group.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Domestic Violence; Spouse Abuse
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: The Brøset anger management model; Behavioral: Ordinary group treatment

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 185
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Trondheim, Norway, 7440
    • St Olavs University Hospital, Division of Psychiatry, Centre for research and education in forensic psychiatry Brøset

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• fluent in Norwegian language
• is in a partner relationship at inclusion. Partner relationship is defined by having an intimate partner at present, or being in regular contact with a former intimate partner so that violence is possible (e.g. they have children)
• admits being violent to his partner (physical, mental and/or sexual)

Exclusion Criteria:

• psychosis
• alcohol- or drug addiction to a level that hinders group participation free from intoxication.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: The Brøset anger management model; Group treatment	Behavioral: The Brøset anger management model; manualised structured cognitive treatment program 15 weeks (30 hours)
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: ordinary group treatment; Group treatment	Behavioral: Ordinary group treatment; group treatment 8 weeks (16 hours)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
violent behaviour, reported by partner and client	measured by using the Conflict Tactics Scale Revised (CTS2), instrument for measuring violence in intimate partnerships(10), which consists of 78 questions (0-7) about different aspects of violence (frequence of physical, psychological, sexual and material violence)	3 months between assessments, 1 year duration, i.e. baseline and 4 follow-up assessments. In accordance with the original Norwegian protocol.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The client's and their partner's mental health	measured by using the Hopkins Symptoms Check List (HSCL-25, with 25 questions about the presence and intensity of anxiety and depression symptoms, and symptoms of somatoform character)	3 months between assessments, 1 year duration, i.e. baseline and 4 follow-up assessments. In accordance with the original Norwegian protocol.
The client's and their partner's health service use and absence due to sickness		3 months between assessments, 1 year duration, i.e. baseline and 4 follow-up assessments. In accordance with the original Norwegian protocol.
Changes in emotional dysregulation	Emotional regulation will be assessed by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS, Gratz & Roemer, 2004).	3 months between assessments, 1 year duration, i.e. baseline and 4 follow-up assessments. In accordance with the original Norwegian protocol.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• Collaborators: Karolinska Institutet; St. Olavs Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Tom Palmstierna, MD PhD prof, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Nesset MB, Lara-Cabrera ML, Bjorngaard JH, Whittington R, Palmstierna T. Cognitive behavioural group therapy versus mindfulness-based stress reduction group therapy for intimate partner violence: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Psychiatry. 2020 Apr 19;20(1):178. doi: 10.1186/s12888-020-02582-4.
• Nesset MB, Bjorngaard JH, Whittington R, Palmstierna T. Does cognitive behavioural therapy or mindfulness-based therapy improve mental health and emotion regulation among men who perpetrate intimate partner violence? A randomised controlled trial. Int J Nurs Stud. 2021 Jan;113:103795. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2020.103795. Epub 2020 Oct 14.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): July 1, 2012
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): May 4, 2018
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): May 4, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 25, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 27, 2012
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): July 31, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): November 3, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 2, 2020
• Last Verified: November 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Group therapy; Behavior therapy
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2012/683

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No