The mothering of women abused by their partner: An outcome evaluation of a group intervention

Findings of an outcome evaluation of a mothering group intervention with women abused by their partners are presented, based on measurements of intervention and control groups before, immediately after, and 3 months after the intervention. At Time 1, both groups reported moderate well-being, high parental self-efficacy, and low mothering-related stress. Comparisons within the intervention group revealed an increase in parental self-efficacy and in emotional well-being at Time 2 and a decrease in mothering-related stress between Time 1 and Time 3. Moreover, in comparison with the control group, at Time 2, the parental self-efficacy of women in the intervention group increased, their mothering-related stress decreased, and they reported a greater optimism with regard to their predicted well-being, whereas the control group showed declines in parental self-efficacy and predicted well-being and a greater mothering-related stress. Yet, the improvement on the mothering-related stress was the only one maintained at Time 3.