Understanding and facilitating the change process in perpetrators and victims of intimate partner violence: An introduction and commentary

This chapter provides an introduction to the topics to be discussed throughout the chapters of this book. This book provides a sound and promising basis for applying transtheoretical model of behavior change (TTM) and motivational interviewing (MI) concepts to facilitate change in both victims and perpetrators of intimate partner abuse. These studies also illustrate both the benefits and the challenges inherent in assessing and applying the concepts of readiness and motivation to change in this area. Despite many conceptual and measurement challenges, their results indicate that greater attention to stages of change and motivation to change in interventions for both perpetrators and victims of intimate partner abuse may have considerable payoff in refining our intervention methods for domestic violence and abuse. We hope this collection of studies will be useful not only as a summary and discussion of our present understanding but also as a stimulus for future development of the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)