MFT-6113: Assessing and Treating Family Violence

Taft, C. T., Murphy, C. M., & Creech, S. K. (2016). Assessment. In Trauma-informed treatment and prevention of intimate partner violence (pp. 41–65). American Psychological Association.
This chapter offers useful trauma-informed strategies for assessing perpetrators of IPV. This assessment information is designed more for perpetrators who will participant in non-couples therapy forms of treatment such as individual or group.

Stith, S. M., McCollum, E. E., & Rosen, K. H. (2011). Assessment for intimate partner violence and screening for inclusion in the treatment program. In Couples therapy for domestic violence: Finding safe solutions (pp. 21–30). American Psychological Association.

Bograd, M., & Mederos, F. (1999). Battering and couples therapy: Universal screening and selection of treatment modality. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 25, 291–312.
Although this article is more than 20 years old, it is considered a seminal article on the topic of IPV assessment for couples therapy and provides recommendations that are still relevant for assessment and case conceptualization. Recommendations are specifically designed for heterosexual couples with male perpetrators of IPV.

Greene, K., & Bogo, M. (2002). The different faces of intimate violence: Implications for assessment and treatment. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 28, 455– 466.
This article provides guidelines to differentiate SCV and IT as well as considerations for treatment decisions. Note that this article uses the old term, “common couple violence,” which has now since been re-termed as “situation couple violence.”

Jory, B. (2004). The Intimate Justice Scale: An instrument to screen for psychological abuse and physical violence in clinical practice. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 30(1), 29–44.
This resource provides one of the few formal assessments developed for IPV to help determine the appropriateness of couples therapy.

Creech, S. K., Macdonald, A., Benzer, J. K., Poole, G. M., Murphy, C. M., & Taft, C. T. (2017). PTSD symptoms predict outcome in trauma-informed treatment of intimate partner aggression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 85(10), 966–974

Likcani, A., Stith, S., Spencer, C., Webb, F., & Peterson, F. R. (2017). Differentiation and intimate partner violence. American Journal of Family Therapy, 45(5), 235–249.
Highlights that assessing differentiation levels may be useful in the prevention and treatment of IPV.

Johnson, M. P. (2008). Typology of domestic violence: Intimate terrorism, violent resistance, and situational couple violence. Northeastern University Press.
This textbook provides a more thorough overview of Michael Johnson’s IPV typologies.