Analyzed data on services offered to battering males in a survey of 90 agencies. Found that most agencies are young, inadequately funded, and provide diverse services independent of each other, and that batterers exhibit characteristics that need specific treatment. Described a developing model for successful treatment. (JAC)

Findings indicate that wives attempt to treat husbands' alcoholism at home long before they seek professional help. Wives' strategies reflect their changing beliefs about alcoholism, about their marital relationships, and about their failure to cope. Home treatment strategies of amelioration under stress contribute to the stress as well.…

Focuses on alcoholism in the husband/father. Disturbed personality and decompensation hypotheses were not supported by the data. Suggests systems theory alone is inadequate to conceptualize the inconsistency of the alcoholic, and his impact on the family. Proposes a combination of systems theory and Hill's (1949) crisis theory. (Author)