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Malea Lash, PsyD, is a 2024 graduate of the PsyD Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University, Seattle.

Dissertation Committee

William Heusler, PsyD, Committee Chair

Jude Bergkamp, PsyD, Committee Member

Cynthia Cupit Swenson, PhD, Committee Member

Keywords

qualitative research, Multisystemic Therapy, Multisystemic Therapy for Intimate Partner Violence, MST, MST-IPV, reflexive thematic analysis, CPS workers, intimate partner violence, child maltreatment, child protective services

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

Although the co-occurrence rate of intimate partner violence (IPV) and child abuse and neglect (CAN) is about 40% (Appel and Holden, 1998; Herrenkohl et al., 2008), little research currently exists on integrated treatment for these concerns. Furthermore, no known published studies investigate child protective services (CPS) workers’ perspectives on such treatment. The present study explores the perspectives of CPS workers on treatment for co-occurring IPV and CAN, specifically focusing on Multisystemic Therapy for Intimate Partner Violence (MST-IPV). A total of 18 Connecticut CPS workers participated in semi-structured interviews. Seven participants had experience working with MST-IPV treatment providers, while 11 participants had no experience with MST-IPV. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis, resulting in five main themes: “Complexity of IPV Cases,” “Recommending What’s Available Rather Than What’s Best,” “Varied Treatment Effectiveness,” “Importance of Digging Deep,” and “Above and Beyond.” The findings of this study highlight CPS worker satisfaction with MST-IPV and underscore the importance of developing, researching, and funding treatments for co-occurring IPV and CAN.

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Malea Lash, PsyD, 2024

ORCID Scholar ID# 0009-0007-5815-6381

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