Brief Intervention to reduce drinking and intimate partner violence in women

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Intimate partner violence (IPV) results in devastating consequences. There is a growing body of research examining the link between women's alcohol use and their perpetration and victimization of IPV. Research has shown that women who perpetrate IPV or are victims of IPV are more likely than control groups to have alcohol problems. Recent research also demonstrates that women are 3-7 times more likely to be victims of IPV on days in which they consume alcohol relative to days that they do not drink. Furthermore, over onehalf of the women arrested for IPV and court-referred to batterer intervention groups drink hazardously; these women experience higher levels of violence perpetration and victimization relative to violent women who do not drink hazardously. To date, methods for reducing alcohol use in women arrested for IPV have not been explored, and the extent to which treatment for hazardous alcohol use will ameliorate subsequent IPV perpetration and victimization is currently unknown. We propose to conduct a randomized clinical trial in which 160 hazardous drinking violent women will be assigned to: (a) a brief, motivationally focused alcohol intervention plus standard batterer intervention (Bl) or (b) standard batterer intervention alone (ST). Alcohol use, alcoholrelated problems, and IPV will be assessed at baseline, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up in violent women and their relationship partners. Both partners will provide corroborating reports of the other's alcohol use and violence. Arrest records will be obtained as further indices of violence recidivism. We hypothesize that adding a brief alcohol treatment to standard batterer intervention will result in less alcohol use and less IPV perpetration and victimization at all follow-up assessments, relative to standard batterer intervention alone. If it is efficacious, this low cost, research supported brief alcohol treatment can be easily exported to community violence intervention programs across the United States Relevance to public health: The proposed study will examine whether adding a brief alcohol treatment to standard violence intervention programs for women will result in reduced drinking, reduced partner violence perpetration, and reduced partner violence victimization. If it is effective, the brief alcohol treatment can be disseminated to violence programs across the country to improve alcohol use and violence outcomes.