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01-05-2016 | Original Article

You’re Not Alone: Mental Health Outcomes in Therapy Groups for Abused Women

Authors: Leslie M. Tutty, Rochelle (Robbie) Babins-Wagner, Michael A. Rothery

Published in: Journal of Family Violence | Issue 4/2016

Abstract

Few evaluations have assessed the outcomes of group therapy for women abused by intimate partners. Most group programs emphasize support rather than offering therapy, although women abused by partners often present with significant clinical mental health issues. This paper describes, “You’re Not Alone,” a 14-week therapy group model for women abused by intimate partners informed by a narrative approach Jenkins (The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 12 (4), 186-195 1991). The results present the demographic characteristics of the 379 women who began group, and a comparison of those who completed treatment (N = 214) versus those who dropped out (N = 165). Women with less income and a psychiatric history were less likely to complete group, as were women with higher depression, clinical stress, and mental health symptoms. The pretest/posttest outcome evaluation for the completers used measures of mental health symptoms, self-esteem, depression, and clinical stress, finding statistically significant improvements on most measures with moderate effect sizes. Practice implications and suggestions are presented.

In many variables, the total is not 272, due to missing information.

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Title: You’re Not Alone: Mental Health Outcomes in Therapy Groups for Abused Women
Authors: Leslie M. Tutty
Rochelle (Robbie) Babins-Wagner
Michael A. Rothery
Publication date: 01-05-2016
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Family Violence / Issue 4/2016
Print ISSN: 0885-7482
Electronic ISSN: 1573-2851
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9779-6

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You’re Not Alone: Mental Health Outcomes in Therapy Groups for Abused Women

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