Forgiveness intervention with postabortion men.

ABSTRACT

PIP: The effectiveness of an intervention based on a process model of interpersonal forgiveness was investigated in a study of 10 US men who self-identified as hurt by their female partner's abortion decision. Participants were randomly assigned to immediate intervention (n = 5) or to a 12-week waiting period before exposure to the intervention (n = 5). Men in the experimental group showed a significantly greater increase in forgiveness as measured by the Enright Forgiveness Scale both before and after the intervention than controls (p 0.05). In addition, the experimental group's mean change scores on anxiety and grief were significantly reduced compared with controls (p 0.05). After the 12-week delay, when controls were exposed to the same intervention, they also demonstrated significant increases in forgiveness and decreases in anxiety, grief, and anger. Maintenance of psychological benefits among the men who received the intervention first was demonstrated at a 12-week follow-up. These findings provide preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at promoting forgiveness and emotional healing among postabortion men.