Father-Focused Intervention for Reducing Family Violence and Symptoms in Children
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18+
SponsorYale University
About this trial
The goal of this clinical trial is to test the efficacy of Fathers for Change (F4C) compared to standard Batterer Intervention for fathers with a history of Intimate Partner Violence. The main question\[s\] it aims to answer are:
1. Is F4C more efficacious than standard BIP in reducing family violence and child mental health impairment? 2. What are the trajectories of therapeutic change targets across interventions? 3. Does father's emotion regulation and reflective functioning mediate the relationship between the two interventions and child-related outcomes? Participants will be randomized to either Fathers for Change on Batterer Intervention.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
have at least one 6 month to 12-year-old biological child with whom they have contact;
had an incident of IPV within the last 12 months prior to screening with their child's mother (based on court/police records, coparent or self-report);
have a currently open or recently investigated (in the last 6 months) case with CT DCF
are able to complete assessments in English or Spanish;
Disqualifiers
an active full/no contact protective order pertaining to their child because this will preclude participation in the father-child play assessment (many men will have protective orders pertaining to their partners, but it is more common for men to still be allowed contact with their children);
physiological addiction to a substance that requires detoxification. Fathers will be evaluated using the Drug Abuse Screening Test and AUDIT. If fathers report significant difficulties with physiological withdrawal (e.g., alcohol tremors or dope sickness) they will be referred for detox services. They can be re-evaluated following a detox program with documentation from the detox center of successful completion and clean urine screen;
cognitive impairment that will not allow for understanding of the study interventions (a mini mental state score <25);
current untreated psychotic disorder;
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Fathers for Change
Behavioral18 week individual therapy focused on fathers' emotion regulation, reflective functioning and family communication.
Duluth BIP
Behavioral18 week individually delivered psychoeducation and CBT focused program focused on intimate partner violence
Treatment groups
1,080 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Fathers for ChangeExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Duluth BIPActive comparator 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Change in Physical Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) overtime
The Physical Intimate Partner Violence Subscale of the Family Socialization Interview-Revised will be used to assess physical IPV. Items are coded on a 4-point scale for severity from 0 (none) to 4 (severe). Scores are averaged to achieve a total score with a range of 0 to 4. Higher scores indicate greater frequency and severity of Physical IPV.
Time frame
Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeks2
Change in Verbal Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) overtime
The Verbal Intimate Partner Violence Subscale of the Family Socialization Interview-Revised will be used to assess verbal IPV. Items are coded on a 4-point scale for severity from 0 (none) to 4 (severe). Scores are averaged to achieve a final score with a range of 0 to 4. Higher scores indicate greater frequency and severity of verbal IPV.
Time frame
Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeks3
Change in Physical Child Maltreatment overtime
Family Socialization Interview-Revised will be used to assess physical child maltreatment. The Physical scale will be used for this outcome. Items are ranked on 0-4 point scale from 0 (none) to 4 (severe) and averaged for a final score with a range of 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater frequency and severity of physical child maltreatment risk.
Time frame
Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeks4
Change in Verbal Child Maltreatment overtime
Family Socialization Interview-Revised will be used to assess physical child maltreatment. The verbal scale will be used for this outcome. Items are ranked on 0-4 point scale from 0 (none) to 4 (severe) and averaged for a final score with a range of 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater frequency and severity of verbal child maltreatment risk.
Time frame
Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeksSecondary outcomes
1
Change in Child Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms overtime
The Child Trauma Symptom Checklist will be used to assess child PTSD symptoms. Each symptom item is rated according to its frequency of occurrence using a four point scale ranging from 0 ("never") to 3 ("often"). The PTSD total raw score is converted to a t-score based on measure norms with scores ranging from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate greater severity of posttraumatic symptoms.
Time frame
Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeks2
Change in Father-child interactions overtime
Child interactive behavior coding based on 15 minute play assessment coded for dyadic reciprocity, fluency, conflict and hostility. Scores are on a 1 to 4 point scale. An average score is generated for a range of 1 to 4. Higher scores indicate more of the coded behavior.
Time frame
Baseline, 19 weeks, and 70 weeks3
Change in Coercive Controlling Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) overtime
The Coercive Controlling Intimate Partner Violence Subscale of the Family Socialization Interview-Revised will be used to assess verbal IPV. Items are coded on a 4-point scale for severity from 0 (none) to 4 (severe). Scores are averaged to achieve a final score with a range of 0 to 4. Higher scores indicate greater frequency and severity of coercive controlling IPV.
Time frame
Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeks4
Change in Child Anxiety Symptoms
The Child Trauma Symptom Checklist will be used to assess child Anxiety symptoms. Each symptom item is rated according to its frequency of occurrence using a four point scale ranging from 0 ("never") to 3 ("often"). The Anxiety subscale score is converted to a t-score based on measure norms with scores ranging from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate greater severity of anxiety symptoms.
Time frame
Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeksSponsors and contacts
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.
Yale University
Lead sponsor
University of Connecticut
Collaborator
University of Delaware
Collaborator
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov