BOCYF Projects

Assessment of Family Violence Interventions

Publications: Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs (1998)

In the past three decades, family violence--which includes child maltreatment, domestic violence, and elder abuse--has emerged as a major social, health, and law enforcement issue. In addition to child and adult homicides, family violence contributes to a broad array of fatal and nonfatal injuries and medical and psychiatric disorders each year. In addition, family violence has been associated with numerous social problems, including teenage pregnancy, runaway and homeless youth, alcoholism and substance abuse, and crime and delinquency. The association of family violence victimization with such an extensive range of health, mental health, and behavioral dysfunctions suggests that interventions that can lead to the reduction or prevention of family violence would contribute to the resolution of these other problems as well.

In this context, the Board on Children, Youth, and Families convened the Committee on the Assessment of Family Violence Interventions in 1994 to examine the state of knowledge about efforts to treat, control, and prevent different forms of family violence. The committee reviewed findings and conclusions of prior research reports on family violence and identified strengths and gaps in research on the existing characterization and assessment of program interventions. Through consultations with the research and service provider community, the committee identified factors that contribute to or inhibit the development of effective interventions for family violence in health, social service, and legal settings. The 19-member committee met six times over two years, organized site visits, and sponsored two workshops to develop its findings and recommendations.

An interim workshop report, Service Provider Perspectives on Family Violence Interventions: Proceedings of a Workshop, was published in late 1995. This report contains background papers prepared by participants in the committee's first workshop. A final report, Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs, was released in February 1998.

Funding for this project was provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Prior work in this area includes the Workshop on Violence and the American Family, held in 1993 by the Board's predecessor, the National Forum on the Future of Children and Families.