Learning from Survivors Who Have Not Sought Family Violence Services

Background and Purpose: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) services provide help to over 70,000 Texans yearly (TCFV, 2018). The size and diverse population of the state create unique challenges for service providers seeking to meet the complex needs of survivors dealing with IPV, and planning for these services at the State level requires considering the voices of as many survivors as possible.  Data demonstrate that only a fraction of survivors actually access IPV services.  In one study, 11% of female survivors sought assistance from IPV housing programs while 14.3% sought help from a crisis center or hotline (Ansara & Hindin, 2010).  To incorporate the voices of survivors who are not receiving IPV services into the State planning process, this study within the Texas State Plan project asked: Why are some Texan survivors of IPV not accessing IPV services? What are barriers and facilitators to service access? and What do survivors who are not currently engaged with IPV services want?

Methods: Interviews were conducted in English or Spanish.  Participants (n = 37) mostly identified as women (n = 35), ranged in age from 18-48, and were ethnically diverse (25% Latinx, 42% African American, 17% White).  They were recruited with the help of medical and ancillary service providers throughout Texas.  Interviews focused on survivors’ perceptions of services, reasons for seeking/not seeking services, and desires for future service experiences using a combination of validated quantitative scales and qualitative inquiry. Quantitative scales, including measures of exposure to abuse, empowerment, depression, PTSD, barriers to help seeking, and access to support, mirrored measures being used by the team interviewing survivors recruited from IPV service agencies. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted to understand extent of service use and barriers to help-seeking. Qualitative data were analyzed through a process of inductive and deductive coding by a team of three researchers. The team merged qualitative and quantitative data streams to draw conclusions and implications for State Planning.

Results: Participants were mostly likely to have recent interactions with the child welfare system (n = 24) and counseling or psychiatric services (n = 15), and most reported high levels of empowerment related to safety (mean = 4.0).  Major qualitative themes at the system level included negative initial service interactions leading to avoiding services, being unaware of available services, and need for logistical and tangible assistance.  Interpersonal themes include stigma and shame shaping help seeking choices, and that many survivors are capable of managing without engaging additional help.  Finally, an important theme was that survivors felt that engaging formal systems would create more problems than might be solved. 

Conclusions and Implications: Enhancing the quality of a survivor’s initial formal disclosure experience, whether that disclosure occurs with police, child welfare, or the voluntary IPV service sector, could be an important step in increasing the frequency in which survivors access IPV services.  For the state of Texas, improving systems responses while maintaining a survivor-centered approach could best meet the needs of survivors.