Community-Based Intervention for Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence: An Efficacy Trial

A community-based intervention program was tested with 181 children ages 6-12 and their mothers exposed to intimate partner violence during the past year. A sequential assignment procedure allocated participants to 3 conditions: child-only intervention, child-plus-mother intervention (CM), and a wait-list comparison. A 2-level hierarchical linear model consisting of repeated observations within individuals and individuals assigned to conditions was used to evaluate the effects of time from baseline to postintervention comparing the 3 conditions and from postintervention to 8-month follow-up for both intervention conditions. Outcomes were individual children's externalizing and internalizing behavior problems and attitudes about violence. Of the 3 conditions, CM children showed the greatest improvement over time in externalizing problems and attitudes about violence. There were 79% fewer children with clinical range externalizing scores and 77% fewer children with clinical range internalizing scores from baseline to follow-up for CM children.