Pre-post changes in a child-to-parent violence psychoeducational intervention program

Abstract

Child-to-parent violence assessment has raised much concern in the last decade. The Child-to-Parent Violence Risk (CPVR) assessment tool is a recently developed guide, designed to anticipate violence recidivism, that can be used during therapy, pretrial assessment, and other circumstances were professionals need support to determinate needs and risks of cases. This study aimed to provide empirical data on the use of the CPVR in a therapeutic context, describing the prevalence of risk factors of youth attending a cognitive-behavioral program, comparing scores on CPVR in a pre-post assessment, and analyzing its ability to predict treatment results. A total of 118 youths were assessed using the CPVR before treatment, and 66 also had a post-treatment assessment. Significant changes in risk (reduction) and protective (increase) factors after program participation (due to the program or due to the professional’s consideration in post-treatment assessment) were observed, but the CPVR was not able to predict the success coded by clinicians. Future research should include recidivism data to confirm the real success after the treatment program (regardless of the professional’s opinion) and the predictive validity of the CPVR for recidivism.