Perpetrators of abuse and violence against women and children are often reluctant participants in intervention programs. They frequently fail to attend scheduled appointments, are sometimes openly hostile to intervention staff, and often judge program materials as irrelevant to their situation. Recognizing this problem, researchers and practitioners have begun to develop models and tools to more appropriately assess and intervene with reluctant clients. Unfortunately, the resulting proliferation and inconsistent application of terms and theories have led to considerable confusion in characterizing reluctant clients and have significantly hampered research on strategies that may be helpful to better meet the needs of this client group. The purpose of this review is to help standardize the definition and measurement of treatment reluctance as it applies to violence perpetration and to review evidence for the importance of these aspects of client reluctance to intervention. Recommendations for assessing reluctance in research and clinical practice are also provided.
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