Recruiting

Father-Focused Intervention

Sponsor:

Yale University

Code:

NCT06074068

Conditions

Intimate Partner Violence

Child Maltreatment

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Fathers for Change

Duluth BIP

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the efficacy of Fathers for Change (F4C) compared to standard Batterer Intervention for fathers with a history of Intimate Partner Violence. The main question\[s\] it aims to answer are:

1. Is F4C more efficacious than standard BIP in reducing family violence and child mental health impairment?
2. What are the trajectories of therapeutic change targets across interventions?
3. Does father's emotion regulation and reflective functioning mediate the relationship between the two interventions and child-related outcomes? Participants will be randomized to either Fathers for Change on Batterer Intervention.

Conditions

Intimate Partner Violence

Child Maltreatment

Study ID

NCT06074068

Start date

Jan 11, 2024

Status verified date

Apr, 2026

Completion date

Dec 31, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Aug 31, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • have at least one 6 month to 12-year-old biological child with whom they have contact;
  • had an incident of IPV within the last 12 months prior to screening with their child's mother (based on court/police records, coparent or self-report);
  • have a currently open or recently investigated (in the last 6 months) case with CT DCF
  • are able to complete assessments in English or Spanish;
  • agree to have their female coparents (mother of target child) contacted as collateral informants and for consent for participation of their child. If a participant has more than one child in the age range, the youngest will be selected;
  • female coparents (i.e., biological mother who need not be in a relationship with the father) consents to (at minimum) provide parent-report on child; however, may opt out of child participation. If the coparent agrees to participate by providing caregiver-report on child symptoms, but declines participation of their shared child, the father may still participate in the study if he meets eligibility criteria outlined below; thus, preventing any possible retaliation against co-parents for not consenting to child participation.

Exclusion Criteria:

Fathers will be excluded based on the following exclusion criteria:

  • an active full/no contact protective order pertaining to their child because this will preclude participation in the father-child play assessment (many men will have protective orders pertaining to their partners, but it is more common for men to still be allowed contact with their children);
  • physiological addiction to a substance that requires detoxification. Fathers will be evaluated using the Drug Abuse Screening Test and AUDIT. If fathers report significant difficulties with physiological withdrawal (e.g., alcohol tremors or dope sickness) they will be referred for detox services. They can be re-evaluated following a detox program with documentation from the detox center of successful completion and clean urine screen;
  • cognitive impairment that will not allow for understanding of the study interventions (a mini mental state score <25);
  • current untreated psychotic disorder;
  • currently suicidal or homicidal ideation based on screening using the BSI; or
  • previously participated in F4C or a BIP.

Study Design

Enrollment

1080 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Fathers for Change

Defining features of F4C include: 1) focus on the fathering role to facilitate engagement, 2) focus on RF to understand self, partner and children and emotion regulation skills to reduce IPV and child maltreatment. F4C focuses on understanding of emotional experiences, how they impact thinking and behaviors related to partners, co-parents and children. F4C clients will meet individually with their F4C therapist for 60 minutes per week over 18 weeks.

active comparator: Duluth BIP

The BIP is a psychoeducational intervention that will be delivered in 60- minute individual weekly sessions over 18 weeks. The intervention focuses on the impact of violence on victims, power and control tactics, and societal influences supporting men's violence toward women. The intervention includes didactics and experiential exercises including video vignettes and role plays to teach anger management skills.

Interventions

Fathers for Change

18 week individual therapy focused on fathers' emotion regulation, reflective functioning and family communication.

Duluth BIP

18 week individually delivered psychoeducation and CBT focused program focused on intimate partner violence

Primary outcome measure

  • Change in Physical Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) overtime [ Time Frame: Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeks ]
  • Change in Verbal Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) overtime [ Time Frame: Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeks ]
  • Change in Physical Child Maltreatment overtime [ Time Frame: Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeks ]
  • Change in Verbal Child Maltreatment overtime [ Time Frame: Baseline, 19 weeks, 43 weeks and 70 weeks ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Carla S Stover, PhD

2037853486carla.stover@yale.edu

Locations

Yale

Recruiting

New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06520

UCONN Health Center

Recruiting

West Hartford, Connecticut, United States, 06119

More Information

Sponsor

Yale University

Last update posted

Apr 15, 2026

Last verified

Apr, 2026

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Yale University on 2026-04-15.