Efficacy of a group intervention program with women victims of gender violence in the framework of contextual therapies.

Abstract

The goal of this study was to empirically evaluate the efficacy of an intervention programme with women victims of gender violence. Spe-cifically, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) has been used, com-bined with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Behavioural Activation (BA). This study was undertaken us intragroup format, during 11 sessions of 2 hours each session. A total of 21 women participated (with an average age of 45 years), who had suffered physical violence and/or emotional abuse by their partners, with different degrees and inten-sity, and at different periods in their lives. An intra-group design with pre-post measures was used. Three treatment groups were effected in different cities with 6 to 8 women in each city. To measure the intervention, the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) questionnaire was applied. The results show a statistically significant de-crease in the severity of discomfort, decreased suicide risk indicators, im-proved problem behaviour both inside and outside of the sessions, and in-creased openness to others. The usefulness of contextual therapies in im-proving the quality of life of battered women and the usefulness of those therapies for application in groups in public institutions are discussed.