| The purpose of this dissertation is to evaluate the effectiveness of an 8-week psycho-educational group intervention for battered and abused women. A passive response to violence/abuse is understood within the context of the theories of learned helplessness and self-efficacy. The intervention aims to reduce learned helplessness and promote self-efficacy. The assessment of the intervention included pretreatment and posttreatment measures of: (1) beliefs about self-blame, personal rights and assertiveness; (2) self-efficacy in the areas of abuse prevention and economic independence; and (3) self-protective empowerment behaviors including the use of legal sanctions and job training and employment.; A total of 66 participants yielded 60 sets of comparable pretreatment and posttreatment scores using the institutional cycle design. Data analyses indicate participants made significant gains in knowledge, relief from self-blame, in beliefs regarding personal rights, personal self-efficacy, self-esteem and in some empowerment behaviors. The study demonstrates that this is an effective intervention. |
