Treino de habilidades online baseado em terapia comportamental dialética (DBT) para mulheres com histórico de violência entre parceiros íntimos no Brasil: estudo de viabilidade

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined as any violent act perpetrated by one of the partners within an intimate relationship. Due to difficulties in coping with emotionally distressing situations, as well as the presence of inadequate coping skills in relational contexts, emotion dysregulation is considered a risk factor for many couples who experience abuse and violence in their romantic relationships. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has received increasing attention due to its demonstrated effectiveness in improving self-esteem, self-efficacy, and emotion regulation among victims of violence. The present research aimed to analyze the feasibility of an online intervention based on DBT Skills Training for women who are victims of IPV. To achieve this objective, two studies were conducted. The first consisted of a systematic review of the literature on DBT-based interventions for this population. The databases PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, Scopus, the Virtual Health Library (VHL), and the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) were searched using the descriptors “Dialectical Behavior Therapy,” “DBT,” “prevention strategies,” “violence against women,” “intimate partner violence,” and “IPV,” in both Portuguese and English, combined with the Boolean operators AND and OR. Article selection and categorization followed the recommendations of the PRISMA protocol. The selected studies were summarized and grouped according to analytical categories. The results indicated a limited number of DBT interventions targeting this population, with none identified in the Brazilian context. Study 2 aimed to apply a protocol identified in the first study, adapted to the Brazilian context, in a sample of women who were victims of IPV, and to evaluate its feasibility according to the following criteria: intervention acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, post-implementation sustainability, and fidelity to the original protocol. Participants were recruited through social media and services aimed at women. Three women who had experienced IPV within the six months prior to the intervention were randomly selected. Measures (DASS-21, RSES, DERS-16, IES-R, Beck Hopelessness Scale, and NSGE) were administered before, during, and after the intervention. The skills training consisted of eight weekly synchronous sessions lasting approximately one hour, conducted via the Google Meet platform. Data were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The results indicated improvements in participants’ symptoms and suggest that the application of the protocol is feasible in the Brazilian context.