Improving the Financial Well-Being of Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence through Financial Education: Results from a Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Study

Background & Purpose:Intimate partner violence (IPV) often results in a survivor’s economic dependence on an abusive partner and entrapment in the relationship.  Perpetrators use economic exploitation and control, as well as employment sabotage to control survivors and increase their economic dependency.  The Allstate Foundation and the National Network to End Domestic Violence created a financial education curriculum to improve individual financial management skills and to improve the financial well-being of survivors.  This study evaluates the impact of this curriculum on various measures of survivors’ financial well-being guided by the Reasoned Action Approach.  It is hypothesized that survivors who participated in the curriculum will show greater improvements over time in their financial knowledge, intentions and behaviors, and a greater decrease over time in their financial stress than those who did not participate in the curriculum.

Methods:This study evaluates the impact of the curriculum using a longitudinal, randomized controlled research design, with data collected over four time periods during a span of 14 months. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling methods from 14 domestic violence agencies in seven states and Puerto Rico.  Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment (curriculum) or control (no curriculum) group before the first interview. 

Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (RM-ANOVA) was used to evaluate the impact of the curriculum over time with an analytic sample of 195 participants.  Outcome variables included: financial knowledge, financial intentions, financial behavior, and financial stress.

Results: For financial knowledge, there was a significant interaction between time and group F (2.313, 446.313) = 48.809, p < .001, with those in the treatment group (M=4.01) scoring statistically significantly better over time than those in the control group (M=3.27).  For financial intentions, the interaction between time and group was also significant, F (2.754, 526.102) = 7.919, p < .001, with those in the treatment group (M=3.59) scoring statistically significantly better over time than those in the control group (M=3.24).  For financial behaviors, there was a significant interaction effect of time and group, F (2.586, 496.486) = 8.094, p < .001, with those in the treatment group (M=3.53) scoring statistically significantly better over time than those in the control group (M=3.1).  For financial strain, there was a significant interaction effect between time and group, F (2.645, 510.531) = 13.445, p <.001, with those in the treatment group (M=1.98) scoring statistically significantly better over time than those in the control group (M=2.26).

Implications: Analyses demonstrated that the treatment group had an average improvement of between a half point to over a full point on financial knowledge, financial intentions, and financial behavior, and a decrease in financial strain.  Results also showed that the impact of the curriculum persisted over time.  The strong and lasting impact of participation in the curriculum for this study sample has critical implications for programs aimed at developing financial capabilities and improving financial well-being for survivors of IPV who are trying to establish financial independence and freedom from abuse.