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