Multimodal Counselling Therapy in the Management of Intimate Partner Violence among Married Couples in Owerri, Nigeria

The study investigated the effectiveness of Multimodal Counselling Therapy (MCT) in managing intimate partner violence such as all forms of wife battering, whether physical, psychological or emotional and marital rape. The study adopts pretest, post test, and control group quasi experimental design using a 2x2 method. Participants for the study included (10) identified married couples (20 subjects) experiencing domestic violence. They were randomly assigned into MCT treatment group and the control. Participants in the MCT group received treatment on multimodal therapy while the control group received placebo. Components of the MCT therapy include: empathy, rapport, anxiety management self-control, conflict resolution skills, effective communication skills, assertiveness and social skills training. Findings reveal that MCT was very effective in reducing intimate partner violence. It was also discovered that participants with higher educational level yielded more to treatment effects than their counterparts with low educational level. Recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.