Counseling interventions to reduce domestic violence against women: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials

Purpose: Domestic violence (DV) or intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prominent global problem endangering the lives of women. This systematic review of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) explored the effectiveness of counseling for women, couples and families as an intervention to reduce and/or prevent DV. Methods: A systematic search for peer reviewed literature was conducted in the following databases: CINAHL (EBSCO Host) all databases, Psych INFO (EBSCO host), OVID Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, PUBMED, and the Cochrane library. The JBI critical appraisal checklists for Randomized Controlled Trials (Barker et al., 2023) was used by two independent reviewers to assess rigor of the studies. Studies reporting reduction in DV as a primary or secondary outcome were included. Studies on DV in relation to psychotherapies such as CBT were excluded. Results: 1373 records were screened by title and abstract, of which 1354 were excluded. Out of the 19 remaining papers, two additional papers were found via reference checking. After full text screening, a final total of eight papers was included in this review. Four of the eight studies included in this review reported a significant reduction of DV in the counseling intervention arm, with the other four studies finding no difference in DV outcomes between the intervention and control groups. However, the positive effects of counseling were short-lived. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to develop counseling interventions that have lasting impacts on the enduring prevalence of DV.