Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs

• NCJ Number: 170627
• Date Published: January 1998
• Length: 409 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored

Annotation

This study is the latest in a series of reports by the National Research Council that examine the emerging social science research base on violence and families; it focuses on the nature and scope of interventions, their impact, costs, and evaluation.

Abstract

The report begins by examining what is known about the scope of family violence, risk factors, the nature and scope of interventions, and their impact and costs. Next, it examines the state of the art of evaluations, identifies obstacles to evaluations in this field, and explores potential improvements to the use of qualitative and quantitative information. The third chapter also highlights the importance of structuring partnerships between researchers and service providers so that relevant expertise can be applied to study designs, the selection of outcomes of interest, and the use of appropriate measures. Three chapters provide a comprehensive review and assessment of existing interventions in the areas of child maltreatment, domestic violence, and elder abuse. These chapters characterize the state of evaluation research and summarize what is known about treatment and preventive interventions in social service, law enforcement, and health care sectors, respectively. Interagency family violence interventions and comprehensive services or community-change interventions are discussed in another chapter. These four chapters intend to capture the insights of the research base as well as those of service providers. Another chapter discusses a number of cross-cutting issues that arose in the assessment of treatment and prevention interventions, followed by a chapter that presents the committee's recommendations. For a separate executive summary, see NCJ 170635. 39 tables, 5 figures, 685 references, and a subject index