Communication Skills vs. Mindfulness for IPV

NCT03672942 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: STUDY00000975
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 50
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

This tests the immediate impact of two brief interventions on couples reporting intimate partner violence using the proximal change experimental design. Couples will be randomly assigned to a mindfulness conditions, a communication exercise or a placebo condition. Outcome measures include observed and experimentally assessed aggression.

Conditions

Domestic Violence; Domestic Abuse; Family Conflict; Aggression

Keywords

intimate partner violence; aggression; batterers intervention; mindfulness; communication skills; couples

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Observed aggression

  Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF; Gottman, McCoy, Coan, Collier, 1996). SPAFF categorizes 16 emotions based on facial affect, vocal tone, body language, and content of speech.

  10 minutes: Change in observed behavior/emotion from first to second conflict discussion

• TAPS aggression paradigm

  Overt aggression will be assessed using a modified version of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP; Epstein \& Taylor, 1967). The TAP is an established method to study aggression in the laboratory. It is a deceptive, competitive reaction time task in which the participant competes against an "opponent" which is actually the computer program.

  10 minutes: Change in aggression from first to second conflict discussion

Study Arms (3)

Communication Skills

EXPERIMENTAL

Male and female participants will listen to a description of John Gottman's Gentle Start-up communication skills training exercise and practice the technique in the lab for approximately 8 minutes.

Behavioral: Communication Skills Training

Mindfulness

EXPERIMENTAL

Male and female participants will listen to a script about Acceptance/Willingness of unwanted emotions written by Amie Zarling and practice this technique in the lab for approximately 8 minutes.

Behavioral: Mindfulness

Placebo

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Male and female participants will listen to music in lieu for 8 minutes.

Behavioral: Placebo

Interventions

Communication Skills Training BEHAVIORAL

Gentle start-up is one treatment technique in the Creating Healthy Relationship Program written by John Gottman, Ph.D.

Also known as: Gentle Start-up

Communication Skills

Mindfulness BEHAVIORAL

Acceptance/willingness of unwanted emotions is treatment technique of Achieving Change through Value-Based Behavior (ACTV) written by Amie Zarling, Ph.D.

Also known as: Acceptance/Willingness of unwanted emotions

Mindfulness

Placebo BEHAVIORAL

Couples randomly assigned to this condition listen to music on headphones. This may be considered an active placebo as it is similar to a Time Out technique taught in battering interventions.

Also known as: Time Out Condition

Placebo

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Adult co-habituating couples Reporting some violence in the past year (score \> 0 on CTS2 physical abuse subscale)

You may not qualify if:

• Homosexual couples Children under 18 non-English speakers

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Houston: lead

Related Publications (1)

• Babcock JC, Graham K, Canady B, Ross JM. A proximal change experiment testing two communication exercises with intimate partner violent men. Behav Ther. 2011 Jun;42(2):336-47. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2010.08.010. Epub 2011 Feb 24.

  PMID: 21496517 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Aggression

Interventions

Mindfulness

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Aberrant Motor Behavior in Dementia; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Social Behavior

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Behavior Therapy; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities

Study Officials

• Julia C Babcock, Ph.D.

  University of Houston

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Alicia Vargas

CONTACT

713-743-9215; avargas5@central.uh.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: couples are not informed as to what condition they are assigned
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Model Details: random assignment to two active conditions vs. a placebo control

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 7, 2018
• First Posted: September 17, 2018
• Study Start: September 15, 2019
• Primary Completion: September 15, 2021
• Study Completion: September 15, 2022
• Last Updated: April 18, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF, CSR
• Time Frame: Data requests will be reviewed by a Data Panel Review Board