Predictors of veteran attendance in an intimate partner violence intervention.

This study examined session attendance data from 2,754 veterans who participated in a national implementation of a trauma-informed intimate partner violence intervention, Strength at Home, across the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. Potential correlates of attendance were demographic characteristics, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, alcohol use, court involvement, current military involvement, and intervention modality (in-person vs. virtual). Given the trauma-informed nature of the intervention, it was expected that trauma-relevant risk factors, specifically PTSD symptom severity and racial minority status, would be less strongly associated with attendance than barriers related to other demographic variables and higher alcohol use, intervention modality, and court involvement. Results indicated that age, education level, employment status, retirement status, PTSD symptom severity, alcohol use, and court involvement were associated with session attendance in the expected direction at the bivariate level. Only education level, employment status, retirement status, alcohol use, and court involvement emerged as unique predictors of attendance such that more educated, employed, retired, and court-mandated veterans with less alcohol use attended more sessions. These findings suggest the importance of a trauma-informed, coordinated community response to intimate partner violence intervention and integration of motivational components surrounding problematic alcohol use to enhance compliance and mitigate barriers to attendance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Women's Disengagement Behaviors During Couple Conflict: Investigating Risk Indicators of Intimate Partner Violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health concern, leading to prevention efforts focused on identifying risk indicators of escalating conflict between partners. Certain behaviors during conflict discussions have been uniquely linked to IPV, and there is evidence that disengagement behaviors-an emerging construct-are associated with IPV as well. However, research on disengagement and IPV has largely been limited to self-report, and available observational research is largely cross-sectional. Addressing these limitations, this study prospectively examined the association between observed disengagement behaviors during couple's conflict discussions and IPV 1 year later, using a sample of 83 heterosexual married or cohabitating partners. Behavioral coding was used to assess each partner's observed disengagement behaviors and each partner's psychological and physical IPV was assessed via questionnaire 1 year later. Linear regressions were used to investigate links between indicators of engagement (i.e., listening, questions, eye contact) and psychological and physical IPV perpetration and victimization. Less question asking and higher eye contact by women were associated with greater psychological and physical IPV perpetrated by both women and men 1 year later. Lower listening behaviors by women were associated with greater psychological (but not physical) IPV perpetrated by men 1 year later. In contrast, no disengagement behaviors displayed by men were significantly related to IPV. Applying a latent change score framework using baseline IPV data, findings indicated replicability of results, though with less consistency, suggesting that women's disengagement behaviors may reflect a larger pattern of abuse that predates and follows disengaged couple interactions. Findings suggest that a unique blend of verbal and nonverbal indicators of women's disengagement during couple conflict provides a meaningful signal of the emotional climate of the relationship.