Social Support Training for Abusive Mothers

Abstract

This paper describes a twelve-week group program designed to help low-income abusive mothers build more effective bases of social support in their daily lives with friends, family and neighbors. The group, conducted at a therapeutic day nursery, was supplemental to ongoing services for maltreated children and their families. The group incorporated training in a range of interpersonal competencies including basic conversational skills, self-protection, and assertion. Sessions were designed around a metaphoric Relationship Roadmap for friendship which visually depicted definitional terms and time frameworks appropriate to various friendship stages. Humor, stress-reduction, and visual aids were components of the teaching process. Individualized goals and skill rehearsal were used to increase relevance and mastery of content. Socialization of mothers to group norms and expectations was enhanced by pregroup induction procedures and by members' previous involvement in an agency-based parenting support group.