Mothers with a History of Intimate Parter Violence

Abstract This paper takes in consideration the association between child abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV), as well as its implications to children’s healthy development. In general, parenting programs do not consider the history of IPV that participants may present. Thus, they tend to not offer a special help to victimized mothers to cope with their emotional problems and other difficulties they may face in educating their children. The present article provides a description of Projeto Parceria (Partnership Project), a Brazilian program to mothers with a history of IPV after a brief review on parenting programs. Such program encompasses two units: a psychotherapeutic and an educational one. The psychotherapeutic unit deals with the emotional aspects associated with a history of IPV, thereby maximizing the aspects of parenting skills and child behavior management of the educational unit. Examples of studies using Projeto Parceria are presented indicating positive results and suggesting future research to test the project widely in randomized control evaluations