Abstract
Background: Intimate Partner Violence affects an estimated one in four women in their lifetime. The negative consequences on wellbeing as well as economic impact demonstrate the importance of finding ways to alleviate this widespread concern. An opportune time to intervene is in adolescence as people start forming romantic relationships. This is particularly pertinent with girls who often experience more harm from abusive relationships. Aims: To evaluate whether a bibliotherapy approach, using the book ‘Twilight, True Love and You’ (Deacon 2011), was effective in altering beliefs about romantic relationships that underlie dating abuse in adolescent girls. Methods: A cluster-randomised trial design was used. Eight A-level Psychology classes from different schools were randomly allocated to the control or intervention group. Participants were 16-19 year old females and those in the intervention group received the book. Measures were completed at baseline and follow-up (eight weeks) and included indicators of agreement with romantic myths, knowledge of warning signs, violent-tolerant attitudes, behavioural intentions and reported dating abuse. The intervention acceptability was also explored. Results: Participants in the intervention group were significantly more likely to disagree with romantic myths after the intervention, (p=. 02; Cohen’s d=45), although this effect was not significant after adjustment for clustering. No significant differences between groups were found for knowledge of warning signs, violent-tolerant attitudes or behavioural intentions. Participants in the intervention group reported significantly more ‘controlling behaviour’ after the intervention compared to the control group (p=. 003, Cohen’s d=. 95 for individual analysis & p= 03, Cohen’s d= 1 after adjusting for clustering). Over half the participants read at least half the book indicating acceptability. Conclusions: The bibliotherapy approach was acceptable to the participants. The intervention did not demonstrate clear effects on the study variables but there was some indication of change in attitudes regarding romantic myths and identification of controlling behaviours in relationships.