Intimate Partner Violence and Family Dispute Resolution: 1-Year Follow-Up Findings From a Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Shuttle Mediation, Videoconferencing Mediation, and Litigation

We report 1-year follow-up outcomes from a randomized controlled trial involving parents resolving separation or divorce-related disputes and reporting high levels of intimate partner violence (IPV). We compared traditional litigation to two mediation approaches designed to protect parent safety (i.e., shuttle and videoconferencing) at a court-annexed mediation division. The sample was not nationally representative, limiting generalizability. We found no significant differences across conditions in parent reports of satisfaction with the process, level of continuing IPV or interparental conflict, parenting quality, parent functioning, or child functioning. Parents in traditional litigation, relative to parents in mediation, reported significantly more social support. Also, parents in videoconferencing, versus those in shuttle, mediation reported more PTSD symptoms from IPV. Based on coding of legal records, no significant condition differences emerged in relitigation rates in the family court case or charges of study case IPV-related incidents. Given few differences across study conditions, including in satisfaction levels, in contrast to the immediate outcomes, the 1-year follow-up findings do not clearly favor mediation or litigation. We conclude that when both parents in cases with reported high IPV are willing to mediate, mediation designed with safety protocols and carried out in a protected environment by well-trained staff may be an appropriate alternative to traditional litigation. We consider implications of our findings; for example, we discuss implications of the form of videoconferencing mediation examined for conducting online mediation, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.