Male battering of intimate partners: theoretical underpinnings, intervention approaches, and implications

Male battering of intimate partners is a serious men's health issue related to violence that calls for the profession of nursing to engage in practice, research, education, and policy initiatives. It inflicts damage and harm to society, and no one is insulated from the problem completely because of its social, health, and legal implications. Scholars and practitioners lack an adequate understanding of the confluence of myriad sociological, psychological, biological, and environmental risk factors in the developmental pathways to male battering. Prevention at the primary and secondary level of intervention is thwarted. Existing models of intervention have been useful in confronting the problem of male battering, but large-scale evaluations and clinical trials of intervention approaches are needed. Interventionists operate from varied theoretical perspectives, so that there is no general consensus on what constitutes best practices. Nursing, health-related, sociological, and criminal justice professionals have an excellent and timely opportunity to improve the health, safety, and well-being of individuals, families, and communities by addressing male battering in their scholarship and practice endeavors.