Are Men With a History of Head Injury Less Responsive to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Intimate Partner Violence

: Head injury is highly prevalent among intimate partner violence (IPV) offenders. This study investigates responsiveness to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for partnerviolent men with and without a history of head injury using archival data on 310 males seeking IPV counseling at a community domestic violence agency. Participants reported on their history of head injury, age at injury, and length of time unconscious in a structured interview at program intake. Criminal justice outcomes were assessed for the 2-year period after scheduled completion of treatment using a publicly available state database. A significantly greater percentage of men with a history of head injury (N = 84) than those without (N = 226) had criminal involvement for incidents of partner abuse during the follow-up period. In addition, men with a history of moderate-to-severe head injury (n = 25) had more criminal involvement for general violence than those with no history of head injury. The findings highlight the need to screen partner-violent men for head injury and to develop and investigate intervention enhancements for those individuals.