Engagement of men in group treatment programs

Valérie Roy; Marie-Andrée Gourde; Éric Couto

doi:10.1921/gpwk.v21i1.712

Authors

Valérie Roy
Marie-Andrée Gourde
Éric Couto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1921/gpwk.v21i1.712

Keywords:

engagement, group, men, male client groups, treatment, ecological model

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to arrive at a better understanding of the process of men’s engagement in treatment groups. Given the low perseverance rate of men in such groups, engagement is crucial to program continuance and results. A number of treatment factors and strategies that can influence engagement in group therapy programs are drawn from a review of the literature. To gain a better understanding of the factors and how they interrelate, the literature was reviewed from the perspective of Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model. The studies reviewed show that engagement is influenced by various factors associated with the characteristics of the participants, their family environment, treatment program, and cultural and social values. Current knowledge is discussed to highlight the main research and practice issues concerning men’s engagement in treatment groups. The review underscores the importance of exploring the influence of male socialization on men’s engagement, given that some traditional norms may curb their involvement and willingness to invest in group programs.

References

Adlaf, E.M., Begin, P. and Sawka, E. (2005) Enquête sur les toxicomanies au Canada (ETC) : Une enquête nationale sur la consommation d’alcool et d’autres drogues par les Canadiens : La prévalence de l’usage et les méfaits : Rapport détaillé, Ottawa: Centre canadien de lutte contre l’alcoolisme et les toxicomanies\nAllard, D., Kimpton, M.-A., Papineau, É., and Audet, C. (2006) Évaluation du programme expérimental sur le jeu pathologique. Rapport synthèse. Québec: Institut national de santé publique du Québec\nAmodeo, M., Chassler, D., Oettinger, C., Labiosa, W., and Lundgren, L.M. (2008) Client retention in residential drug treatment for Latinos. Evaluation and Program Planning, 31, 102-112\nBennett, L.W., Stoops, C., Call, C., and Flett, H. (2007) Program completion and re-arrest in a batterer intervention system. Research on Social Work Practice, 17, 42-54\nBrekke, J.S. (1989) The use of orientation groups to engage hard-to-reach clients: Model, method and evaluation. Social Work with Groups, 12, 75-88\nBronfenbrenner, U. (1979) The Ecology of Human Development : Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press\nBrooks, G.R. (1998) A New Psychotherapy for Traditional Men. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass\nButtel, F.P. and Carney, M.M. (2008) A large sample investigation of batterer intervention program attrition: Evaluating the impact of state program standards. Research on Social Work Practice, 18, 177-188\nChovanec, M. (2009) Facilitating change in group work with abusive men: Examining stages of change. Social Work with Groups, 32, 125-142\nComfort, M., Loverro, J., and Kaltenbach, K. (2000) A search for strategies to engage women in substance abuse treatment. Social Work in Health Care, 31, 59-70\nConnell, R.W., Hearn, J., and Kimmel, M.S. (2005) Introduction. in M.S. Kimmel, J. Hearn, and R.W. Connell (Eds.) Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage\nContrino, K.M., Dermen, K.H., Nochajski, T.H., Wieczorek, W.F., and Navratil, P.K. (2007) Compliance and learning in an intervention program for partner-violent men. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22, 1555-1566\nDakof, G.A., Tejeda, M. and Liddle, H.A. (2001) Predictors of engagement in adolescent drug abuse treatment. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 274-281\nDaly, J E., Power, T.G. and Gondolf, E.W. (2001) Predictors of batterer program attendance. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16, 971-991\nDavey-Rothwell, M.A., Kuramoto, S.J., and Latkin, C.A. (2008) Social networks, norms, and 12-step group participation The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 34, 185-193\nDavid, D. and Brannon, R. (1976) The Forty-Nine Percent Majority: The male sex role. Reading, MA: Wesley\nDe Civita, M., Dobkin, P.L., and Robertson, E. (2000) A study of barriers to the engagement of significant others in adult addiction treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 19, 135-144\nDulac, G. (2001) Aider les hommes … aussi, Montréal: VLB\nFiorentine, R. and Hillhouse, M.P. (1999b) Drug treatment effectiveness and client-counselor empathy: exploring the effects of gender and ethnic congruency. Journal of Drug Issues, 29, 59-74\nFiorentine, R., Nakashima, J., and Anglin, M.D. (1999a) Client engagement in drug treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 17, 199-206\nGarland, J.A., Jones, H.E., and Kolodny, R.L. (1976) A model for stages of development in social work. in S. Berstein (Ed.) Explorations in Group Work: Essays in theory and practice. Boston: Charles River Books\nGraff, F.S., Griffin, M.L., and Weiss, R.D. (2008) Predictors of dropout from group therapy among patients with bipolar and substance use disorders. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 94, 272-275\nGragg, J.B B. (2006) Therapeutic engagement involving Hispanic families with substance using adolescents. Dissertation Abstracts International, 67, 1105\nGreif, G.L. (2011) Group work with men. in G.L. Greif and P.H. Ephross, (Eds.) Group work with Populations at Risk. (3rd ed.) New York, Oxford University Press\nHanson, R.K., Gordon, A., Harris, A.J.R., Marques, J.K., Murphy, W., Quinsey, V.L., and Seto, M.C. (2002) First report of the collaborative outcome data project on the effectiveness of psychological treatment for sex offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 14, 169-194\nHowells, K. and Day, A. (2006) Affective determinants of treatment engagement in violent offenders. International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, 50, 174-186\nHser, Y.I., Evans, E., Huang, D., and Anglin, D.M. (2004) Relationship between drug treatment services, retention, and outcomes. American Psychiatric Association, 55, 767-774\nHuebner, B. and Cobbina, J. (2007) The effect of drug use, drug treatment participation, and treatment completion on probationer recidivism. Journal of Drug Issues, 37, 619-642\nInstitut de la Statistique du Québec (2008) Troubles mentaux, toxicomanie et autres problèmes liés à la santé mentale chez les adultes québécois: Enquête sur la santé dans les collectivités canadiennes (cycle 1.2), Québec: Gouvernement du Québec\nJoe, G.W., Simpson, D.D., Greener, J.M., and Rowan-Szal, G.A. (1999) Integrative modeling of client engagement and outcomes during the first 6 months of methadone treatment. Addictive Behaviors, 24, 649-659\nLaudet, A.B. (2003) Attitudes and beliefs about 12-step groups among addiction treatment clients and clinicians: Toward identifying obstacles to participation. Substance Use and Misuse, 38, 2017-2047\nLevenson, J.S. and Macgowan, M. J. (2004) Engagement, denial, and treatment progress among sex offenders in group therapy. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 16, 49-63\nLevin, K.G. (2005) Involuntary clients in groups: An examination of factors that influence engagement. Dissertation Abstracts International, 66, 1959\nLindsay, J. and Roy, V. (2010) Training in group intervention in the field of substance abuse. Changing Health Conference, July 2010, Dublin\nLittell, J.H., Alexander, L.B., and Reynolds, W.W. (2001) Client participation: Central and underinvestigated elements of intervention. Social Service Review, 75, 1-28\nMacgowan, M.J. (2006) The Group Engagement Measure: A review of its conceptual and empirical properties. Journal of Groups in Addiction and Recovery, 1, 33-52\nMaiuro, R.D. and Eberle, J.A. (2008) State standards for domestic violence perpetrator treatment: Current status, trends, and recommendations. Violence and Victims, 23, 133-155\nOrford, J., Hodgson, R., Copello, A., Wilton, S., and Slegg, G. (2009) To what factors do clients attribute change? Content analysis of follow-up interviews with clients of the UK Alcohol Treatment Trial. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 36, 49-58\nPassos, S.R.L. and Camacho, L.A.B. (2000) Factors associated with immediate dropout of outpatient treatment for drug abuse in Rio de Janeiro. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 35, 513-517\nPeled, E. and Edleson, J.L. (1998) Predicting children’s domestic violence service participation and completion. Research on Social Work Practice, 8, 698-712\nPlasse, B.R. (2000) Components of engagement: Women in a psychoeducational parenting skills group in substance abuse treatment. Social Work with Groups, 22, 33-50\nPrado, G., Pantin, H., Schwartz, S.J., Lupei, N.S., and Szapocznik, J. (2006) Predictors of engagement and retention into a parent-centered, ecodevelopmental HIV preventive intervention for Hispanic adolescents and their families. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 31, 874-890\nRespect (2004) Statement of Principles and Mininum Standards of Practice for Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programmes and Associated Women’s Services. London: Respect\nRoffman, R A., Klepsch, R., Wertz, J.S., Simpson, E.E., and Stephen, R.S. (1993) Predictors of attrition from an outpatient marijuana-dependence counseling program. Addictive Behaviors, 18, 553-566\nRondeau, G. (2004) Les hommes : S’ouvrir à leur réalité et répondre à leurs besoins. Rapport du Comité de travail en matière de prévention et d’aide aux hommes. Québec: Ministre de la Santé et des Services sociaux\nRondeau, G., Brochu, S., Lemire, G., and Brodeur, N. (1999) La persévérance des conjoints violents dans les programmes de traitement qui leur sont proposés, Montréal: CRI-VIFF\nRondeau, G., Brodeur, N., Brochu, S. and Lemire, G. (2001) Dropout and completion of treatment among spouse abusers. Violence and Victims, 16, 127-143\nRoy, V. (2009-2012) Une analyse écologique du processus d’engagement des hommes dans les programmes d’intervention de groupe visant à contrer la violence conjugale. Québec: Subvention du FQRSC\nRoy, V. (2010) Être femme, être un homme et intervenir auprès des clientèles masculines: Les points de vue de conjoints qui ont des comportements violents. in J.-M. Deslauriers, G. Tremblay, S. Genest-Dufault, D. Blanchette, and J.Y. Desgagnés (Eds.) Regards sur les Hommes et les Masculinités: Comprendre et intervenir. Québec, Les Presses de l’Université Laval\nRoy, V., Turcotte, D., Montminy, L., and Lindsay, J. (2005) Therapeutic factors at the beginning of the intervention process in groups for men who batter. Small Group Research, 36, 106-133\nSaunders, D.G. (2008) Group interventions for men who batter: A summary of program descriptions and research. Violence and Victims, 23, 156-172\nStatistics Canada (2002) Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS): Mental health and well-being, Cycle 1.2, [online] <a target="_blank" href='http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/030903/dq030903a-eng.htm'>http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/030903/dq030903a-eng.htm,</a>\nStatistics Canada (2009) Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile, Ottawa, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics\nStaudt, M. (2007) Treatment engagement with caregivers of at-risk children: Gaps in research and conceptualization. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16, 183-196\nStein, L.A.R., Colby, S.M., Barnett, N.P., Monti, P.M., Golembeske, C., Lebeau-Craven, R., and Miranda, R. (2006) Enhancing substance abuse treatment engagement in incarcerated adolescents. Psychological Services, 3, 25-34\nSternbach, J. (2001) Men connecting and changing - stages of relational growth in men’s groups. Social Work with Groups, 23, 59-69\nTaft, C.T., Murphy, C.M., King, D.W., Musser, P.H. and Dedeyn, J.M. (2003) Process and treatment adherence factors in group cognitivo-behavioral therapy for partner violent men. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 812-820\nTerra, M.B., Barros, H.M.T., Stein, A.T., Figueira, I., Athayde, L.D., Palermo, L.H., Tergolina, L.P., Rovani, J.S., and Silveira, D.X. (2007) Predictors of engagement in the Alcoholics Anonymous group or to psychotherapy among Brazilian alcoholics. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 257, 237-244\nTing, L., Jordan-Green, L., Murphy, C.M., and Pitts, S.C. (2009) Substance use problems, treatment, engagement, and outcomes in partner violent men. Research on Social Work Practice, 19, 395-406\nTremblay, G. and L’heureux, P. (2010) Des outils efficaces pour mieux intervenir auprès des hommes plus traditionnels. in J.-M. Deslauriers, G. Tremblay, S. Genest-Dufault, D. Blanchette, and J.-Y. Desgagnés (Eds.) Regards sur les hommes et les masculinités : Comprendre et intervenir. Québec: PUL\nTurcotte, D., Dulac, G., Lindsay, J., Rondeau, G., and Turcotte, P. (2002) Les trajectoires de demande d’aide des hommes en difficulté, Québec, CRI-VIFF\nWalitzer, K.S., Dermen, K.H., and Barrick, C. (2008) Facilitating involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous during out-patient treatment: A randomized clinical trial. Addiction, 104, 391-401\nWangsgaard, S.M. (2000) The participants’ perspectives: Factors of batterer group treatment that facilitate change. Dissertation Abstracts International, 61, 6153\nWard, T., Day, A., Howells, K., and Birgden, A. (2004) The multifactor offender readiness model. Aggression and Violent Behavior 9, 645-673\nYatchmenoff, D.K. (2005) Measuring client engagement from the client’s perspective in nonvoluntary child protective services. Research on Social Work Practice, 15, 84-96.\n