| For the past 30 years, efforts to address domestic violence in the U.S. have included legal interventions, court-mandated treatment for offenders, and shelter services for victims, neglecting the needs of the couple. The appropriateness of couple's treatment for domestic violence is an ongoing topic of debate in the field. The current study contributes to this debate and fills a gap in the literature by exploring the experiences of both offenders and victims in an intimate relationship. This study was a combined qualitative and quantitative study with a two-fold purpose: (a) to understand the experiences of couples as they attempt to rebuild their relationship following domestic violence and a man's completion of a 52-week treatment program and (b) to identify treatment issues specific to the relationship subsequent to an offender's completion of a court-mandated program. Four couples participated in the current study. The qualitative data yielded 11 major and eight minor themes describing the ongoing challenges faced by couples with a history of domestic violence. Using the Conflict Tactics Scale-2 and the Silencing the Self Scale, the study also assessed the similarities and differences in men's and women's perceptions of past violence and degree of self-silencing. It further examined the relationship between violence and self-silencing. In addition to other variables that are characteristic of previously violent couples, the current study suggests that self-silencing may be a dyadic variable which precedes psychological and physical violence. Participants endorsed the need for couple's treatment subsequent to a man's completion of a domestic violence program and identified treatment targets. Because the experiences of couples have not been fully explored in the literature, the current study offers tentative hypotheses that present many opportunities for future research and theory development. |
