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Evidence summaries

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Cbt) for Intimate Partner Physical Abuse

There is no evidence on the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on men who physically abuse their female partner. Level of evidence: "D"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 6 studies with a total of 2 343 subjects. All studies were from the USA. There were two types of comparisons; four studies compared CBT with a non-intervention control, while two studies compared CBT with another active treatment.

A meta-analysis of four trials comparing CBT with a no-intervention control with 1 771 participants, reported that the RR of violence was 0.86 favouring the intervention group (95% CI 0.54 to 1.38). The results of individual studies varied from harmful (1 study) to no effect (1 study) and positive effect (2 studies). One study compared CBT with process-psychodynamic group treatment and found a relative risk of new violence of 1.07 (95% CI 0.68 to 1.68). One small study (N = 64) compared a combined treatment for substance abuse and domestic violence (SADV) with a Twelve-Step Facilitation (TSF) group. An analysis involving 58 participants investigated the effect on reduction in frequency of physical violence episodes. The effect size was 0.30 favouring TSF (95% Cl -0.22 to 0.81).

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by inconsistency (variability in results across studies) and imprecise results (few patients and wide confidence intervals).

    References

    • Smedslund G, Dalsbø TK, Steiro AK, Winsvold A, Clench-Aas J. Cognitive behavioural therapy for men who physically abuse their female partner. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2007 Jul 18;(3):CD006048 [Review content assessed as up-to-date: 3 July 2010]. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords