Studying the effectiveness of Maternal Empowerment Program (MEP) on reducing the use of corporal punishment in mothers exposed to domestic violence

The amount of use of corporal punishment is higher among mothers exposed to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Children's assessment of domestic violence and their low ability to deal with this phenomenon causes behavioral, emotional and adjustment problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Maternal Empowerment Program (MEP) on reducing the use of corporal punishment in mothers exposed to domestic violence. This research was conducted by A-B-A design method. The participants of this study were all mothers who had experienced IPV during the last two years. The Mothers Empowerment Program was trained to 8 abused mothers in ten 90-minute sessions based on the Sandra Graham Berman protocol. The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) was used to collect data in this study. The results of Cohen’d which is in the range of 1.13 to 1.82, showed that the empowerment program for mothers has been effective in reducing the use of corporal punishment of mothers exposed to IPV with children 6 to 12. The results of the present study show that a relatively short intervention program can reduce the use of corporal punishment of parents even in deprived populations with stressful conditions.