| This study compared the outcomes of a forgiveness educational intervention to the outcomes of an alternative treatment (validation of anger, assertiveness, interpersonal skills) for women who had experienced spousal psychological abuse. There were 10 participants in the experimental (forgiveness education) group and 10 participants in the control (alternative education) group. Participants had all been divorced or permanently separated for at least two years from their former abusive spouse or partner. Ages ranged from 32 to 54 years, with a mean age of 44.95 (SD = 7.01). A matched, yoked, randomized, experimental-control group design was used. Participants were matched on age, duration of abusive relationship, time since permanent separation or divorce, current contact with the former abuser, and categories of psychological abuse. Each participant had weekly one-hour sessions (both forgiveness and alternative treatment) with the intervener based on a protocol specific to each treatment. The Enright Forgiveness Process Model was adapted to an intervention manual for this population as a protocol for the forgiveness intervention sessions. The treatments had a criterion ending with a mean intervention time of 7.95 months (SD = 2.61). One-tailed matched pairs t tests were used to compare the amount of change between experimental and control groups on eight dependent measures (Enright Forgiveness Inventory, Speilberger State and Trait Anxiety Inventories, Beck Depression Inventory, Ryff's Environmental Mastery Scale, Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory, Reed's Finding Meaning in Suffering Measure, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist). Qualitative data was derived from two other measures (Identity Measure, Story Measure). The outcomes of this study demonstrate that the participants in the forgiveness educational intervention experienced significantly higher gains than the participants in the alternative treatment in terms of: (1) increases in forgiveness toward the former abuser, self-esteem, environmental mastery (of every day decisions), finding meaning in suffering (moral decisions in the face of difficulty), and an identity as a competent survivor and (2) decreases in depression, trait anxiety, cognitive rehearsal of past abuse, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and in an identity as a victim of abuse. The experimental group demonstrated maintenance of these gains at follow-up (post-test two). |
