Facilitating Women's Access to Survivor Services

Background: Significant evidence indicates that the earlier women in violent relationships seek services, the better the outcome for them and for their children. However, getting these women to access helping services is often difficult. Although a number of viable reasons for this difficulty exist (e.g., fear, denial, logistics, etc.), some suggest that understanding how to best reach survivors is impossible because their voices concerning the utility and/or effectiveness of services designed to help them are generally overlooked (Fugate, et al., 2005). To this end the current mixed-method study investigated the following research questions:

RQ1 What are women survivors' beliefs concerning why others do not seeking help?

RQ2 What are women IPV survivors' opinions about helping services (e.g., police, shelters, advocacy services, etc.)?

RQ3 How do women IPV survivors believe Domestic Violence Service Providers can better reach those women in need of services?

RQ4 Do demographic differences in the above exist (e.g. ethnic, citizenship status, socioeconomic, etc.)?

Method: To explore the above research questions the current study used a mixed-method design to analyze, abuse histories, help seeking behaviors, coping strategies, and opinions about how to best reach women who are in violent relationships. Participants for this study included 98 women survivors recruited from two helping agencies, one in an urban center and the other from a suburban setting. Participant recruitment was designed to ensure representation from a range of ethnic, citizenship status, socioeconomic, and urban/suburban classifications.

Variables were measured using the Conflict Tactic's Scale 2 (Straus et al., 1996), an 80 item survey instrument designed for this study, and open-ended interview questions. Data analysis for the quantitative portions of the survey compared response patterns based on demographic categories. Data analysis for the open-ended questions followed a concept mapping approach with 8 coders. Links between coded answers and demographic features were also conducted.

Results: Findings of the current study indicate similar coping strategies and abuse experiences between study participants. However, different help seeking behavior, opinion of helping services, and strategies for reaching survivors were found in demographic comparisons. Additionally, a number of important themes emerged from the concept mapping process including (a) marketing strategies, (b) service needs and (c) accessibility of services.

Conclusions/Implications: Promoting sustainability and (re)Building the strengths of women survivors of domestic violence is dependent on their willingness and ability to seek services from criminal justice and family violence agencies. To this end, the importance of these findings are relevant to those working with women survivors as they highlight the need to acknowledge this population's unique perceptions and opinions. Demographic considerations including socioeconomic status, citizenship status, and urban/suburban lifestyle are important considerations in all aspects of service utilization, satisfaction, and delivery. From this implications for policy, practice, and future research arise that can guide all aspects of the helping process.