an advocacy program for women

8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women

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Ame rican Journal of Com mu nity Psychology Vol. 20 No. 3 1992

A n A d v o c a cy I n t e r v e n ti o n P r o g r a m f or W o m e n

wi t h Abus i v e Pa rt ners In i ti a l E v a l ua t i o n I

Cris M. Sullivan 2 Cheribeth Tan Joann a Basta

Mau reen Rumptz and W illiam S. Davidson II

Michigan Stale University

Experimentally tested the hypotheses that (1) battered women are in need of

nu m ero us co m m un ity resources up on exit fr om a domestic violence shelter,

(2) wo rking with advocates increases w om en s effectiveness in obtaining neede d

resources and social support, and (3) success in obtaining resources and social

supp ort increases w om en s levels o f life satisfaction an d decreases their risk of

fur the r abuse. The initial findin gs o f a short-term intervention proje ct designed

to provide postshelter advocacy services to women with abusive partners are

p r e s e n t ed . O n e - h u n d r e d f o r t y - o n e b a t te r e d w o m e n w e r e i n t er v i ew e d

imm ediately up on their exit fr om a dom estic violence shelter as well as 10

week s thereafter. H a lf the sam ple wa s ran dom ly assigned to receive the services

of t rained advocates who ass is ted them in access ing needed communi ty

resources. W om en wh o work ed with advocates reported b eing m ore effective

in accessing resources and had higher levels of social support and overall

quality o f life postintervention. Al tho ug h all w om en reported so m e decrease in

postshelter abuse, there were no differences between those with and those

without advocates, and abuse continued to be a problem for ma ny women.

A rev iew o f the ex i s t ing l i t e r a tu re r eve a l s tha t the re a r e s t il l ma ny mo re

q u e s t i o n s t h a n a n s w e r s i n t h e d o m e s t i c v i o l e n c e fi el d. T h e r e is n o o n e

o v e r a l l t h e o r y w h i c h e x p l a i n s w h a t c a u s e s w o m a n b a t t e r i n g o r w h y i t i s s o

1The authors would l ike to

thank the

edi tor and three anonymous rev iewers for the i r he lpfu l

a nd

constructive comments on early drafts of this

art ic le . This work was supported by

Nat iona l Ins t i tu te of Menta l Hea l th Grant 1R01 MH 48849.

2All corre spon denc e should be sent to Cris Sullivan Psychology Dep artm ent Michigan State

University Ea st Lansing Mic higan 48824-1117.

3 9

0091-0562/92/0600-0309506.50/0 1992 Plenum PublishingCorporation


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310 Sullivan Tan Basta Rumptz and avidson

prevalent . There is , however , consensus among researchers on a number

of dimensions: woman battering is prevalent, affecting approximately 1.6

mill ion women each year (Straus & Gelles, 1986); violence in intimate

relat ionships increases in sever ity and frequ ency over t ime (Hilber t &

Hilbert , 1984; Hornung, McCullough, & Sugimoto, 1981; Okun, 1986;

Ro bert s , 1984; Stacey & Shupe , 1983; W alker , 1985); and nu m er ou s

barr iers exis t which l imit women's abi l i t ies to leave abusive par tners

(Aguirre, 1985; Gond olf, 1988; Hilbert & Hilbert , 1984; Hofeller, 1982;

Ho rton , Simonidis, & Simonidis, 1987 ; Sidel, 1986; Strube & Barb our,

1983).

arriers to Ending the Violence

On e of the most f requent ly asked quest ions in the domest ic violence

l i terature cont inues to be Why does she s tay? Some bel ieve that the nega-

tive psychological effects of battering serve to keep women in dangerous

relationships. Others point out, however, that numerous barriers exist to

keep women trapped in violent homes, including the assailants ' threats to

kil l the w om en an d their children should they try to escape (Browne, 1987;

Greaves, Heapy & Wylie, 1988; Schutte, Malouff, & Doyle, 1988; Walker,

1983).

M an y res ear che rs (i.e., Aguirr e, 1985; Carlson, 1977; Gelles, 1979;

Greaves, Heap y, & Wylie, 1988; Hofeller, 1982; Rounsaville, 1978; Roy,

1977; Strube & Barbour, 1983) have found that lack of adequate resources

i s a pr imary reason for remaining wi th or re turn ing to abus ive men.

S p e c i f i c a l l y , m a n y b a t t e r e d w o m e n l a c k t h e e m p l o y m e n t , h o u s i n g ,

education, f inances, legal assistance, and social support systems needed to

enable them to l ive independently of their batterers.

Lack of Community Resources Lack of employment and inadequate

f inances are f requent ly ment ioned by women as reasons for remaining in

abusive relationships. In her study of 50 battered women, Hofeller (1982)

found that 58% of her sample s tayed because they fel t they could not sup-

port themselves (and their children, wh ere applicable) on their own. Strube

and Barbour (1983) also found that employment contributed heavily to the

decision of whether to stay or leave. The results of Carlson's (1977) re-

search also led her to conclude that the mo re resources a wom an had

(for example, a job) the more l ikely she was to seek outside intervention

(p. 459). Similarly, Ag uirre (1985) teste d fou r an tec ed en t variables and fo ur

covar iates to examine which inf luenced the decis ion of whether to return

to the abuser. The only variable which affected this decision was a wo ma n's

economic dependence on her husband.


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Advocacy Intervention 3

Ineffective Community Response I t has been the conclus ion of many

studies tha t women rare ly f ind the help they seek f rom their communit ies

when t ry ing to end the abuse in the i r l ives (Dobash, Dobash, & Cavanagh,

1985; Donato & Bowker, 1984; Dutton, 1987; Ford, 1983; Gondolf, 1988;

Hofeller, 1982; Kuhl, 1982; Martin, 1989; Schulman, 1979). Women have

repor ted needing many community resources , inc luding ass is tance f rom the

police, the legal system, counseling, the health-care system, and social serv-

ice agencies. Schulman (1979) discovered that help was received in only 1

of 12 cases where bat tered women sought i t . Hofel ler (1982) found that

96 of the wo m en in her s tudy had sought legal services; of these wom en,

40 we re m ode rately or com pletely dissatisf ied with the services they re-

ce ived. O f the 52 that had ca l led the pol ice for help, 82 were mo der-

ately or completely dissatisf ied. I t is therefore not surprising that so many

bat tered women, unable to f ind the help they need to l ive on thei r own,

feel forced to remain with or return to their assailants.

Social Isolation~Lack of Social Support

In addition to finding little, if

any, he lp f rom formal community sources , ba t tered women of ten f ind no

support from their family or fr iends (Dobash & Dobash, 1979; Kuhl, 1982;

Martin, 1976). Th e cultural value of the wife keeping the m arriage tog ethe r

at al l costs , together with many people 's reluctance to get involved in do-

mestic affairs , combine to pressure women into remaining in abusive rela-

t ionsh ips . Converse ly , women who have

r e p o r t e d r e c e i v i n g h e l p f r o m

relatives or fr iends have rated i t as very important to their being able to

leave their assailants (Bowker, 1984; Donato & Bowker, 1984).

There is increasing evidence that supportive social networks contrib-

ute to posit ive psychological well-being. Supportive fr iends can provide

needed emotional and mater ia l suppor t dur ing t raumat ic t imes , which can

red uce the r isk of becom ing i ll due to overstress (Gottl ieb, 1981; Hou se,

1981; Mitchell and Hodson, 1983; Mitchell & Trickett , 1980). Further,

Mitchell & Hodson (1983) found that lack of informal social support was

re la ted to more severe depress ive symptoms in bat tered women.

i mi ta t i ons o f Prev i ous Res earch

Although numerous s tudies have been conducted on the dynamics

and effec ts of wo ma n bat ter ing, they tend to have m ajor methodological

weaknesses. These weaknesses l imit our abil i ty to draw definit ive conclu-

sions about the factors influencing women's abil i t ies to escape abusive part-

ners . Al though community resources have been hypothes ized to inf luence

a wo man 's abi li ty to end her par tner 's v io lence , a thorough search of pub-

lished studies over the last 17 years has fai led to uncover even one experi-


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312 Sullivan Tan Basta Rumptz and Davidson

mental s tudy des igned to increase the avai labi l i ty of such resources to ba t-

t e r e d w o m e n . To u n d e r s t a n d c l e ar ly t h e d y n a m ic p r o c e s s i n vo lv e d f o r

wo m en cop ing wi th abusive pa rtne rs , exper imen ta l , long i tud inal s tud ies a re

critical.

The C urrent R es ea rch

This a r t i c le p resen ts the in i t i a l f ind ings o f a 10 -week in te rven t ion

des igned to p rov ide pos t she l te r advocacy se rv ices to w om en w i th abus ive

par tners . This research is unique in tha t i t u t i l izes a longi tudinal , exper-

imen ta l des ign to examine the e f fec t s o f an advocacy in te rven t ion wi th a

sample of wom en with abusive par tners . Specifical ly, th is resea rch tes ted

th e h y p o th e s e s t h a t ( 1 ) b a t t e r e d w o m e n w o u ld b e in n e e d o f n u m e r o u s

resources upon the ir shel ter ex i t ; (2) working with advocates would increase

wo me n ' s e f fec t iveness in ob ta in ing needed resources and socia l suppor t ;

and (3) success in obta in ing resources and socia l support would increase

women ' s l eve l o f l i f e sa t i s fac t ion and dec rease the i r r i sk o f fu r the r abuse .

Th e s tudy was based o n the pre l im inary f indings of a p i lo t s tudy (Sul l ivan ,

1991; Sul l ivan Davids on, 1991) and was pre dica ted on an ecologica l

in tervent ion approach. The ecologica l approach to socia l problems is based

o n th e e n v i r o n m e n ta l r e s o u r c e s c o n c e p t io n o f h u m a n b e h a v io r, w h ic h

s t re sses tha t a l l ind iv idua ls have the r igh t to communi ty re sources ( see

Dav idson Ra ppa por t , 1978). This is the f i rs t ins ta l lme nt in a la rger s tudy

examining the effec ts of such an in tervent ion over a per iod of 2 years .

M E T H O D

R es ea rch P a r t i c i pa nt s

Recruitment

All re sea rch pa r t ic ipan ts were rec ru i ted f rom a ba t te red

wo me n ' s she l te r loca ted in a med ium -s ized c ity in the Midwes t . On e p ro jec t

s taff m em be r w as responsib le fo r locat ing shel ter res id ents (by dai ly v isi ts

to the she l te r ) and exp la in ing the p ro jec t to them. Al l women who s tayed

a t the she l te r 1 n igh t o r more and who d id no t move ou t o f the genera l

v ic in ity we re co nsidere d e l ig ib le for the projec t , regardless of wh eth er o r

no t they re tu rned to the i r a ssa i lan ts . Po ten t ia l pa r t ic ipan ts were to ld tha t ,

should t hey agree to par t ic ipa te , th ey would be in terv iewed s ix t imes af te r

the i r she l te r ex i t - - imm edia te ly upon exi t, 10 weeks th e rea f t e r (pos t -in te r-

vent ion) , and a t 6 , 12 , 18 , and 24 months post in tervent ion . Women were

to ld tha t in terv iews wou ld las t approximate ly 1 .5 hr in a locat ion co nven ient


5/24

dvocacy Intervention

313

for them and that they would be paid for all interviews. Dollar increments

were increased per interview to encourage continued participation.

Potential participants were also told that half of the women being

interviewed would also receive the free services of a trained advocate for

10 weeks, 4 to 6 hr per week, after their shelter stay. It was explained that,

due to limited project resources, only half of the women would receive

advocates and that this selection would be done randomly.

During the 13 months of recruitment for this study, 301 women were

residents of the shelter. Thirteen percent stayed less than a day and were

not spoken to about the project. Twenty-one percent planned to leave the

general vicinity and were not eligible for the project. Nine percent ex-

pressed an interest in the project but could not be found after their shelter

exit. Three women were incarcerated immediately upon their exit, one en-

tered an inpatient drug rehabilitation program, and two spoke no English.

Only 7 of the eligible shelter residents declined to participate in the pro-

ject. One hundred forty-six women completed initial interviews.

In order to be considered a research participant, women had to be

involved in the study for a minimum of 3 weeks. This time period was

chosen in order to give women working with advocates adequate time to

get acquainted and begin working. Of the 146 initial study participants,

four women ended their participation within the first 2 weeks, and one

woman was murdered 1 week into the intervention. Data presented are

based on the 141 remaining participants.

Condition Assignment. All project participants were interviewed within

a week upon their shelter exit. Most interviews were conducted in women's

homes, and all were conducted in private rooms where conversation could

not be overheard. Immediately upon completion of the first interview, the

interviewer opened a sealed envelope which indicated whether the woman

would receive the services of an advocate. The interviewer did not know

to which group a woman would be assigned until after the interview was

completed, decreasing the risk of selection or coding bias. Group selection

was random, stratifying for order and for whether or not a woman was

romantically involved with her assailant) Women who were assigned to the

experimental condition began working with their advocates within the week.

Women assigned to the control condition were not contacted again until

their subsequent interview 10 weeks later.

Demographics. Forty-five percent of the study participants were

White. Forty-three percent were Black, 8 were Hispanic, 1 were Asian

3As invo lv eme nt wi th assa i l an t had a h igh po ten t i a l f o r in f luenc ing a wo ma n s overa l l

a d j u s t m e n t o v e r ti m e , it w a s i m p o r t a n t t o e n s u r e t h a t e q u a l n u m b e r s o f w o m e n i n t h i s

s i tua t ion be inc luded in each cond i t ion .


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American, and the remainder were Native American, Arab American, or

of mixed heritage. Ages ranged from 17 to 61 years of age, with a mean

of 28.5 years. All but 22 of the women had at least one child living with

them.

Eighty-two percent were unemployed, and 81 were receiving some

type of governmental assistance. Sixty-four percent had completed high

school or had obtained a graduate equivalency degree. Thirty-one percent

of the participants had at least some college experience.

The mean length of stay at the shelter had been 17 days (range = 1-

45,

SD

= 12.3). Before arriving at the shelter, a third of the women had

been married to and living with their assailants. An additional 44 had

been living with their assailants but were not married. Six percent of the

women were romantically involved with their assailants but were not living

together, and 15 were no longer involved with their partners at the time

of the last assault (either separated, divorced, or no longer dating). The

participants were demographically similar to the samples of other studies

(Berk, Newton, & Berk, 1986; Finn, 1985; Gondolf, 1988; Greaves et al.,

1988; Hilbert & Hilbert, 1984; Mitchell & Hodson, 1983; Okun, 1986; Page-

low, 1981; Schutte et al., 1988; Stacey & Shupe, 1983), indicating that they

are representative of women who utilize domestic violence shelters. Table I

provides a breakdown of these demographic variables for all project par-

ticipants, by condition assignment.

Over two-thirds of the sample (79 ) reported at least one separation

from their assailants prior to their arrival at the shelter, with one woman

reporting as many as 216 prior separations. Nineteen percent of the women

had left at least 10 times in the past (range = 0-216, X = 7.3, me-

dian = 3). Violence against the women in the prior six months was quite

severe, ranging from being pushed (94 ) to being raped (48 ) and/or

threatened with a gun or a knife (38 ). Injuries sustained during this same

time period ranged from cuts and bruises (87 ), strains and sprains (40 ),

and broken bones or fractures (21 ) to loose or broken teeth (9 ) and

knife or gunshot wounds (4 ). These findings resemble results from pre-

vious studies (e.g., Dobash & Dobash, 1979; Pagelow, 1981; Sullivan, 1991)

and are considered typical of this shelter's residents.

Three-fourths of the sample had called the police at least once in the

last 6 months, and 40 had sought medical attention. Over half of the

women who had known their assailants at least 6 months reported that the

violence within that time period had grown more severe.

Homogeneity of Conditions The women in the control condition were

compared with the experimental group to ensure that they were not sig-

nificantly different at the outset. To this end, parametric and chi square

statistics were performed on the following demographic variables: race, age,


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dvocacy

Intervent ion 3 5

num ber of chi ldren, em ploym ent s ta tus , whether receiving governmen ta l

assistance, education level , whether currently a student, access to a car,

number of days at the shelter , severi ty of abuse, length of relat ionship with

assailant, and nu m be r of previous separations. Th e only significant differ-

ence (a tp < .05) was mo re employed wom en in the control condi t ion than

in the ex perime ntal con dit ion (26 vs 10 ) . Given prior studies ' tentative

suppor t for the corre la t ion between employment and abi l i ty to escape abu-

sive partners, this f inding suggests that women in the control condit ion may

have init ial ly had an advantage over women in the experimental condit ion.

However, given the l ikelihood of detecting one significant difference of 12

tests conducted, there was no stat ist ically rel iable evidence to reject the

hypothes is tha t the two groups were comparable overa l l .

The n tervent i on

Training of Advocates Advoca tes were female undergradua tes re -

cruited from a large Midwestern universi ty. They agreed to enroll for two

consecut ive terms of a comm unity psychology course , through which they

earned college credits . Advocates received extensive training in empathy

and active listening skills, facts surrounding woman battering, and strategies

for generating, mobilizing, and accessing community resources during the

first term of this course. After training, advocates received 2 hr of super-

vis ion weekly and were required to work 4-6 hr per week with or on behalf

of their clients. I t canno t be overem phasize d that th e intervention foc used

on making the community more responsive in the deliverance and distr i-

bution of l imited and/or inaccessible resources. An instruction manual was

developed for the course which explains training in more detail (Sull ivan,

1989).

A to ta l o f 69 advoca tes pa r t i c ipa ted in th is p ro jec t . Com ple te da ta

on 67 advoc a tes ind ica ted tha t they were p r imar ily upperc lassw om en

(43 jun io rs and 48 sen io rs ) wi th above -averag e g rade-p o in t ave r -

ages (X = 2 .79 on the s tandard univers i ty 1 .0-4 .0 sca le ; range = 1 .82-

3 .92) . Ages ranged f rom 19 to 39 , wi th a mean o f 21 .8 and a mode o f

20. S light ly over ha l f (61 ) were psycho logy majors , wi th o the r ma jo rs

d i s t r ibu ted ac ross man y f i elds. Typ ical o f the un ive rs i ty 's popu la t ion ,

t h e ma j o r i t y o f t h e a d v o c a t e s wa s W h i t e ( 8 1 ) , f o l l o we d b y B l a c k

( 1 3 ) , H i s p a n i c ( 2 ) , a n d As i a n Am e r i c a n ( 2 ) . T we l v e p e r c e n t o f

the advo ca tes ind ica ted tha t they had b een abu sed a t l eas t once by an

i n t ima t e p a r t n e r , a n d 7 6 k n e w o f a t l e a st o n e o t h e r wo m a n wh o h a d

b e e n b a t t e r e d .


8/24


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10/24


The Intervention Process

The intervention can be viewed as comprising

five distinct phases: assessment, initiation of the intervention, monitoring,

secondary advocacy strategies, and terminat ion (Davidson Rappaport,

1978; Melton, 1983).

Assessment

was the process by which the advocate be-

came acquainted with her client and the significant others in the client's

environment (family, friends, etc.). This was the information-gathering stage,

during which the project participant and advocate decided upon those goals

they would like to accomplish during their time together.

The assessment phase then naturally led into

initiating the intervention

Specifically, once an unmet need had been identified it was the role of the

community advocate to help generate and mobilize those community resources

necessary to meet that need. This included brainstorming possible resources,

locating critical individuals within agencies or systems who held those re-

sources, and devising strategies to access said resources. This phase involved

making phone calls, obtaining printed materials, applying for resources in per-

s o n - any methods which would aid in creating positive change.

The third phase was to

monitor

the success of the implemented in-

tervention. The advocate and woman with whom she worked examined if

the resource had been obtained and if that resource was satisfactory in

meeting the unmet need. If it was not, the advocate initiated a

secondary

advocacy effort

in this area, with the goal of meeting the client's need more

adequately.

Termination

began at about week 7 of the 10-week intervention. Dur-

ing this phase the advocate intensified her efforts of transferring to her

client the knowledge she had learned during training in how to make the

community more responsive. The advocate gradually played less and less

of a role in intervention activities to ensure that each project participant

had the necessary information needed to access resources on her own after

the program had ended.

While the process of advocacy intervention has been explained here

as five discrete stages for clarification purposes, in reality advocates en-

gaged in various phases simultaneously. For instance, assessment was a con-

tinuous process, as additional areas of unmet need arose throughout the

10 weeks. Hence, multiple interventions were implemented at various

points so that, for example, the advocate may have been monitoring one

intervention effort while initiating another.

M e a s u r e s

The study employed preexisting measures as well as those created

specifically for this research project. They were chosen or constructed to


11/24

Advocacy Intervention 3 9

examine the interrelat ionships among all variables present in the concep-

tual framework of this research. Specifically, instruments measured were

as follows:

(1 ) T h o s e p s y c h o e m o t i o n a l v a r i a b le s h y p o t h e s i z e d b y p r e v i o u s

research to be af fected by battering: depression, fea r and anxiety,

locus of control , em ot ional a t tach me nt to assa ilant, and se l f-

efficacy.

(2) W om en's possess ion of resources perceived to be ins t rumenta l in

determining success in escaping abuse: housing, legal assistance,

educat ion, employment , f inances , t ranspor ta t ion, medical care ,

child care, issues regarding children, social support, and material

goods.

(3) In tervent ion effec ts , specif ica l ly the degree to which desi red

resources and socia l suppor t were obta ined.

(4) O ut co m e variables, specifically the ex tent of psychological and

physical violence in participants' lives over time, level of depression,

fea r and anx ie ty , locus o f con t ro l , emo t iona l a t t ach m ent to

assa i lant , se l f -ef f icacy, level of socia l suppor t , and perceived

overall psychological well-being.

In ord er to me asure involvem ent with assailant , each part icipant

was asked, a t each of the assessment per iods , what her current re la t ionship

was wi th her assa ilant . Wo m en were considered to be involved wi th the i r

assailants if they were (1) m arried and living together , (2) living toge ther ,

unmarried, (3) romantically involved, not l iving together, or (4) dating.

Emotional attachment was m eas ured by a 13-item, true -fa lse scale devel-

oped for this study. I tems included such statements as

I

don't think I could

f ind anothe r m an to love the way I love him and I try to see only the

best in him. I te m -to tal correlat ions ranged from .35 to .65, with an alpha

of .84.

Exper ience of

physical abuse

was measured by a modif ied vers ion of

Straus ' (1979) Conflict-Tactics Scale Violence subscale, found in this study

to have an internal co nsistency of .90. Tw o items we re dr opp ed from this

scale ( burne d and drove recklessly so tha t you fe lt endan gered ) due

to lack o f variance. T he Index of Psychological Abu se was specifically de-

veloped for this study and is a 33-item measure of r idicule, harassment,

and cr i t ic ism exper ienced. Women were asked, for example , how of ten in

the last 6 m onth s (1 = never to 4 = often) their assailants had called yo u

nam es and cri ticized you r intel ligence. Internal consistency of this scale

was .97, with i tem-total correlat ions ranging from .51 to .90.

Depression was assessed by the CES-D (Radloff , 1977), a self-report

checklist of psychological distress within the gene ral po pulatio n (coefficient


12/24


alpha = .88).

Long term fear and anxiety

was me asured by the f i rst 40 i tems

of the Ki lpatr ick 's (1988) Ra pe Afterm ath Sym ptom Test (RA ST). This

scale 's internal consistency was .94, with i tem -to tal correlat ions ranging

from .33 to .68.

Self efficacy

i tems were created specifically for this study. Three hy-

pothet ica l s i tua t ions were developed to examine what each woman would

specifically do to obtain inexpensive furniture, a new job, and a new ho me .

Women were asked in an open-ended fashion to expla in what exact ly they

would do (or instruct a fr iend to do) in these si tuations, how effective they

thought these s t ra tegies would be in meet ing thei r goals (on a 7-point

scale) , and how confident they were in their abil i t ies to engage in the men-

tioned behaviors (on a 7-point scale) . Internal consistency of this six-i tem

scale was .78, with item-total correlations ranging from .46 to .61.

Locus

of control was measured by Levenson 's (1972) In ternal-Powerful Others-

Chance ( IPC) scale , which has been used in pr ior research wi th bat tered

wom en. T he In ternal subscale of this sca le was drop ped f rom analyses due

to low internal rel iabil i ty. The Powerful Others subscale was combined with

the Chance subscale (due to high intercorrelat ions) to create an External

subscale, with alpha = .83 and i te m -tot al correlat ions ranging from .24 to

.56.

Effectiveness in obtaining resources

was assessed, post in tervent ion, in

11 areas : housing, mater ia l goods and resources , educat ion, employment ,

heal th , chi ld care , t ranspor ta t ion , socia l suppor t , legal ass is tance , f i -

nances , and issues regarding the chi ldren. Response ca tegor ies were in

the form of a Like r t - typ e scale , ranging f rom 1 = very ineffec t ive to

4 = ve ry e f fec tive . The Ef fec t iveness o f Obta in ing Re sou rces (E O R )

scale was then ob ta ined fo r each wom an by ca lcu lat ing the mean o f he r

se l f - repor t perceived effec t iveness scores across a l l a reas in which she

worked . In te rna l cons is tency o f the Ef fec t iveness o f Obta in ing Res ourc es

scale was .64.

Social support was assessed by a measure developed by Bogat , Chin ,

Sabbath, and Schwartz (1983), which has a coefficient alpha of .87. This

ins t rument me asured the perceived quant i ty and quali ty of wo me n 's overa l l

social support , as well as specific domains of support: companionship, ad-

vice and information, practical assistance, and emotional support .

Overall

psychological well being was measured by a shor tened vers ion of Andrews &

Withey's (1976) Quali ty of Life measure. Twenty-five i tems measuring feel-

ings about respondents ' interpersonal relat ionships, self , neighborhood, and

overall well-being were selected to predict overall quali ty of l ife (coefficient

alpha = .90, ite m -to ta l corre lations ranging fro m .30 to .65). Tw o examples

of such i tems were Ho w do you feel about your life overa l l? and H ow do


13/24

dvocacy Intervention

321

you feel about the amount of fun and enjoyment you have? Response

categories ranged from 1 = terrible to 7 = extremely pleased. 4

Interviewer Training

Undergraduate women received college credits in exchange for con-

ducting interviews for this project. All interviewers made a commitment to

work at least two 10-week terms, as part of a community psychology course

in which they learned community research techniques. Training included

gaining in-depth familiarity with all interviews, conducting mock interviews,

and learning proper coding procedures. New groups of five to seven inter-

viewers received training every 3 months so that at any time trained inter-

viewers were available to conduct project interviews.

Interrater Agreement Over a period of 1 year and 7 months, or seven

college terms, a total of 32 interviewers received training. On average, five

new interviewers were trained every 4 months, and each interviewer worked

for the project for 6 months. Interrater agreement was calculated at the

completion of the 5-week mandatory training period for all seven groups

of interviewers. A percentage-agreement score was calculated after all in-

terviewers coded the same in-person mock interview. Due to the extensive

nature of training and the fact that the vast majority of interview questions

was closed-ended, interrater agreement was consistently high. On average,

the percentage agreement calculation was 97%.

To ensure that all interviewers continued to code correctly over time,

tapes of completed interviews were randomly assigned to interviewers to

recode. Again, interrater agreement was consistently above 97%.

RESULTS

Resources Women Reported Needing fter Leaving the Shelter

At the preinterview each woman was presented with 11 areas of pos-

sible unmet need and asked if she thought she would want to see change

in any of them in the upcoming 10 weeks. She was then asked if there was

anything else she would want to be working on (Other). The category most

often chosen by women (84%) was obtaining material goods or services (i.e.,

furniture, clothing, a plumber), followed by social support (79%) and edu-

cation (71%). Ten of the eleven categories (material goods and services,

4 C o m p l e t e m e a s u r e s a r e a v a i l a b l e f r o m t h e f i r s t a u t h o r


14/24

322 Sullivan Tan, Bas ta , Rumptz and Davidson

education, transportation, f inances, legal assistance, health issues, social sup-

por t , e mplo yme nt , ch i ld care , and issues regarding the chi ldren) were chos en

b y o v e r h a l f o f t h e r e s p o n d e n t s , s u p p o r t i n g t h e a r g u m e n t t h a t b a t t e r e d

women who use she l te r s a re in need o f many se rv ices when a t tempt ing to

leave the ir assa ilants . A s izable minori ty of the w om en a lso indica ted a nee d

to work on hous ing (39 ) . 5 There was on e s ign i fican t d i f fe rence be tw een

the exper imen ta l and con t ro l g roups wi th re spec t to wha t re sources they

repor ted need ing upon the i r exi t f rom the she l ter : wo me n in the exper imen-

ta l condi t io n were m ore apt to me nt ion n eeding mate r ia l goods (Z2 = 5 .56,

df = 1 , p < .05). Table I I provides a brea kdo wn o f the types of resources

women repor ted need ing immedia te ly upon she l te r ex i t .

The ntervention Process

Da ta f rom in te rv iews wi th wom en w ho rece ived advocacy se rv ices in-

d ica ted tha t pa r t ic ipan ts genera l ly saw the i r advoca tes twice a week . They

spen t an ave rage o f 6.9 h r pe r week wi th them in pe rson (mod e = 6 h r )

and an add i t iona l 2.5 h r pe r week on the phone . A ful l 97 o f the p ro jec t

pa r t ic ipan ts repor ted be ing somewha t (4 ) o r ve ry (93 ) sa t is f ied wi th

the p rogram, and 99 foun d i t to have been he lp fu l to them.

Data f rom advoca tes ' p rogress repor t s revea led tha t advoca tes ca l led

resource p rov ide rs an ave rage o f 22 t imes th roughou t the i r in te rven t ions

(SD = 14.1 ) and tha t they p rov ided wom en wi th wr i t t en in fo rmat io n an

average of 15 t imes (SD = 9 .8). Advoc ates were less like ly to con tac t re-

source p rov ide rs in pe rson , ave rag ing seven t imes th ro ugh ou t the i r 10 -week

interven t ions (SD = 6 .7).

Resources Women Tried To Access During the post in terv iew, par t ic i -

p a n t s w e r e a s k e d w h e th e r t h e y h a d wanted to work in va r ious a reas and

whe the r they in fac t

had

worked in these areas . As was t rue a t the in i t ia l

p re in te rv iew, more women in the exper imen ta l g roup expressed tha t they

h a d w a n te d t o w o r k o n o b t a in in g m a te r i a l g o o d s c o m p a r e d t o w o m e n in

the contro l group (85 vs 64 ; Z2 = 8.03, df = 1, p < .05). A dd itio na lly ,

m o r e w o m e n in t h e e x p e r im e n ta l g r o u p m e n t io n e d w a n t in g t o h a v e w o r k e d

on housin g (70 vs 52 ; Zz = 4.85, df = 1, p < .05) while mo re wo m en in

the con t ro l g roup wan ted to ob ta in hea l th ca re (79 vs 54 ; Z2 = 9.32,

d f = 1, p < .05).

5It is l ikely that housing was chosen by only 39 of the respo nden ts because ini tia l interviews

were con duc ted a f te r wom en h ad le f t the she l te r and h ad o bta ined p laces of res idence . This

number should not be used to minimize the diff icul ty many women have f inding housing

post-shel ter (especial ly low-income housing) . This percentage would undoubtedly have been

much higher had the interview taken place when women were s t i l l in the shel ter .


15/24


Table II Resources Women Reported Needing Immediately Upon

Shelte r Exit

Percentage

Expt. Control Tot al

Ma terial good s 92 77 84*

Social sup por t 80 77 79

Edu cation 70 71 71

Health 70 69 70

Child car e 63 70 67a

Issues for kids 67 65 66a

Finances 69 59 63

Em ploym ent 62 63 62

Legal issues 62 61 62

Tran sportatio n 61 56 58

Housing 45 33 39

Oth er 24 23 23

Note

Immediately upon exit ing the shelter, women were asked

whether they thought they would be working on any of 12 areas.

Th e are as are presen ted in the ord er in which they were chosen m ost

frequently.

a Refers to the percen tage of the m others in the sample.

*Significant at p < .05.

O f t h e w o m e n w h o m e n t i o n e d h a v in g w a n t e d t o w o r k o n o b t a i n in g

v a r i o u s r e s o u r c e s , w o m e n w i t h a d v o c a t e s w e r e m o r e l ik e ly a c t u a ll y t o h a v e

w o r k e d i n 6 o f t h e 11 a re a s . T h e s ix a r e a s w e r e e d u c a t i o n , e m p l o y m e n t ,

r e s o u r c e s f o r t h e i r c h i l d r e n , f i n a n c i a l is s ue s , c h i ld c a r e , a n d s o c i a l s u p p o r t

( s e e T a b l e I I I) . A n o t h e r n o t a b l e d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n t h e t w o g r o u p s w a s

t h a t , i n 8 o f t h e 1 1 a r e a s , 1 0 0 o f t h e w o m e n i n t h e e x p e r i m e n t a l g r o u p

w h o h a d w a n t e d t o w o r k o n o b t a i n i n g t h a t r e s o u r c e a c t u a ll y d i d so . T h i s

w a s n e v e r t h e c a s e fo r w o m e n i n th e c o n t r o l g r o u p .

M a j o r F i n d i n g s

Effectiveness in Obtaining Resources

T o t e s t t h e h y p o t h e s i s t h a t

w o m e n in t he e x p e r i m e n t a l c o n d i t io n w o u ld b e m o r e

effective

i n o b t a i n i n g

d e s i r e d r e s o u r c e s t h a n w o m e n i n t h e c o n t r o l c o n d i t i o n , a t w o - t a il e d t t e s t

w a s p e r f o r m e d b e t w e e n t h e t w o g r o u p s , w it h th e E f f e c t i v e n es s i n O b t a i n i n g

R e s o u r c e s ( E O R ) s c al e a s t h e d e p e n d e n t v a r i a b l e . T h i s te s t r e v e a l e d t h a t

w o m e n w h o h a d w o r k e d w i t h a d v o c a t e s r e p o r t e d b e i n g m o r e e f f e c t i v e i n

r e a c h i n g t h e i r g o a l s t h a n w o m e n i n t h e c o n t r o l c o n d i t i o n [t(129 = 5 .1 2 ,


16/24


0

0)

O[

r ~ .

0

O ~ .c~ ~ .~

0 ~ ~ ~ ~ .~

O~ ~0 ~ ~ ~ ~

c~'~. 0 ~ .. ~

~ ~ - , -~ ~ '~ ~ . .~-~

E

=_

O

E

cD

~

e~


17/24

Advocacy Intervention 3 5

co2 = .16, p < .05]. Means for the two groups were 2.8 for the control con-

dition and 3.3 for the experimental group.

Program Intervention Effects

A repeated-measures doubly multivariate

analysis of variance was conducted, with two time periods (pre-post), one

independent variable (experimental vs control group), and nine outcome

variables: physical abuse, psychological abuse, depression, fear ' and anxiety,

locus of control, self-efficacy, emotional attachment to assailant, social sup-

port, and overall quality of life. A time x intervention interaction effect

was marginally significant [F(9,1 21 ) --- 1.90, p = .058]; therefore, significant

univariate tests within the MANOVA were examined.

Univariate analyses suggested a monotonic interaction between the

two conditions. At the postinterview, both groups reported significantly

lower levels of physical abuse, psychological abuse, depression, fear and

a1~iety, and emotional attachment to their assailants. They also reported

increased feelings of personal control and mastery and social support and

an overall higher quality of life. An especially notable effect involved de-

pression level: at the preinterview a full third of the respondents could be

classified as severely depressed, according to CES-D classifications. Only

17 indicated no depression at all. Ten weeks later only 12 were severely

depressed, while 42 indicated no depression whatsoever.

While both groups improved significantly on eight of the nine vari-

ables tested over time, women who received the services of advocates

showed even greater improvement on two of the nine scales: social support

[F(2,131) = 11.71, p < .05] and quality of life []7(2 ,131 ) ---- 4.10, p < .05].

Within the control group, women's feelings about their level of social sup-

port changed from a mean of 4.57 to 4.59. Within the experimental group,

the mean increased from 4.86 to 5.50 (7-point scale; 1 = terrible, 7 = ex-

tremely pleased).

Similarly, across the first 10 weeks post-shelter, women's perceptions

of their quality of life increased from a mean of 4.19 to a mean of 4.33 in

the control group and 4.28 to 4.69 in the experimental group (7-point scale;

1 = terrible, 7 = extremely pleased). Figure 1 illustrates the monotonic in-

teraction between the two groups over time through a graphic repre-

sentation of the changes within social support and quality of life.

dditional Findings

Involvement wi th Assailants Upon exit from the shelter, 65 of the

project participants indicated that they were not involved with or were end-

ing their relationships with their assailants. At the 10-week interview 88

of these women were uninvolved with the men who had abused them. Of


18/24

3 2 6 S u l l iv a n T a n B a s t a R u m p t z a n d D a v i d s o n

Pleased 6.0

5 . 5

5 . 0

M o s t l y

Satisfied

4 . 5

M i x e d 4 . 0

S S - E

/

/ /

Q L - E

S S - C

J

L J

Q L - C

l

S h e l t e r E x i t 1 0 Weeks Post Shelter

S o c i a l S u p p o r t -

Experimental

S o c i a l S u p p o r t -

Control

- - - - Q u a l i t y o f L i f e -

Experimental

- - Q u a l i t y o f L i f e - Control

F i g 1

M o n o t o n i c i n t e ra c t io n b e t w e e n t h e t w o g r o u p s f o r p e r c e iv e d l e v e l o f s o c ia l s u p p o r t

a n d q u a l i t y o f l i f e o v e r t h e f i rs t 1 0 w e e k s p o s t s h e l t e r . R e s p o n s e s b a s e d o n a 7 - p o in t L ik e r t - t y p e

s c a le r a n g in g f r o m

1 =

terrible to

7 =

e x t r e me ly p le a s e d .

t h e w o m e n w h o in i ti a ll y r e t u r n e d t o t h e i r a s s a il a n ts , 9 0 w e r e s ti ll i n v o l v e d

w i t h t h e m 1 0 w e e k s l a te r. N o s i g n if ic a n t b e t w e e n - g r o u p d i f f e r e n c e s e x i s t e d

o n t h i s v a r ia b le .

Experi ence of A bu se Postshelter

W h e n p a r t i c i p a n t s w e r e i n t e r v i e w e d

1 0 w e e k s a f t er t h e i r s h e l t e r e x it , 4 6 r e p o r t e d h a v i n g e x p e r i e n c e d f u r t h e r

p h y s i c a l a b u s e f r o m th e i r a s s a il a n t s ( 4 0 o f t h e e x p e r i m e n t a l g r o u p ; 5 1

o f t h e c o n t r o l g r o u p ) . T h e i n c i d e n c e o f p s y c h o l o g ic a l a b u s e w a s s im i la r ,

h a v i n g b e e n e x p e r i e n c e d b y 4 9 o f t h e s a m p l e ( 4 2 o f t h e e x p e r i m e n t a l

g r o u p ; 5 6 o f t h e c o n t r o l g r o u p ) . W h i l e t h e p e r c e n t a g e s s u g g e s t t h a t

w o m e n i n th e c o n t r o l g r o u p e x p e r i e n c e d h i g h e r ra t es o f p h y si c a l a n d p sy -

ch o lo g i ca l a b u s e , t h e d i f f eren ces w ere n o t s t a ti s ti ca l ly s i g n i f i ca n t (p = . 2 2 5

f o r p h y s ic a l a b u s e a n d p = . 1 0 0 f o r p s y c h o l o g i c a l a b u s e ) . T a b l e 1 V p r o -

v i d e s m o r e e x t e n s iv e i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e t y p e s o f v io l e n c e a n d i n j u ri e s

e x p e r i e n c e d b y t h e s t u d y p a r t i c i p a n t s .


19/24

A d v o c a c y I n t e r v e n t i o n 3 7

l

o

~

~ ~ ~


20/24

328 Sullivan Tan Basta Rum ptz and Davidson

Women who were involved with their assailants reported the highest

rates of physical and psychological abuse, with 70 having been physically

harmed again and 91 psychologically abused. Of those o t involved with

their assailants, 29 had been assaulted and 20 psychologically abused.

While women not involved with their assailants experienced much less

abuse within the first 10 weeks postshelter, it is important to note that

ending the relationship did not necessarily end the abuse. More than one-

fourth of the women who had ended their relationships continued to ex-

perience physical abuse.

Twenty percent of the women who had been battered again reported

having needed medical attention, and 44 had called the police at least

once (range = 0-30 times). Of those who called the police, a third were

somewhat or very dissatisfied with the police response. Arrests were made

22 of the time, resulting in one conviction.

DISCUSSION

The initial results of this research study supported the hypotheses

that women would be in need of numerous resources upon their shelter

exit and that advocates can be effective change agents in helping battered

women access needed resources. In their initial interviews, conducted

immediately after leaving the shelter, over half of the research participants

mentioned needing the following resources: material goods and services,

education, transportation, finances, legal assistance, health issues, social

support, employment, child care and issues for their children. Further, in

the postinterviews conducted 10 weeks later, women working with

advocates were more likely to have worked on obtaining the resources

they desired and reported greater success in acquiring those resources.

Ninety-three percent of all women working with advocates also reported

being very satisfied with the program.

The longitudinal experimental design of the study allowed for the

examination of time effects of the intervention. Although 10 weeks is a

fairly short period of time in which to observe psychological and environ-

mental fluctuations, initial findings did suggest a monotonic interaction

effect between the experimental and the control groups. Specifically, while

all participants reported a decrease in abuse, fear and anxiety, depression,

and emotional attachment to their assailants, as well as an increase in

social support and sense of personal control and a higher quality of life,

women in the experimental group reported being even more pleased than

the women in the control group with the level of social support in their

lives and reported having an overall higher quality of life. They also


21/24

dvocacy Intervention 3 9

reported greater effectiveness in obtaining resources. These findings sug-

gest two phenomena. First, the average woman exiting a battered women's

shelter is extremely resilient in spite of further violence and adverse com-

munity responses. An example of this is the change in women's levels of

depression across the 10-week time period. At the preinterview a full third

of the respondents could be classified as severely depressed, according to

CES-D guidelines. However, within the first 10 weeks postshelter, 42

indicated no depression at all, and only 12 were severely depressed.

Second, the provision of extensive, short-term advocacy services appears

to be beneficial to women exiting domestic violence shelters in the areas

of social support, perceived quality of life, and perceived ability to access

resources.

Initial interviews revealed the severity of psychological and physical

abuse experienced by the women and the negative impacts of such

battering on their emotional and psychological well-being. One notable

finding of this study was that almost half of the sample experienced further

physical and/or psychological abuse in the first 10 weeks after their shelter

exit. While the women who were involved with their assailants were more

likely to have been assaulted (70 ), over one-fourth of the women not

involved with their ss il nts

experienced additional physical abuse as well.

This finding contradicts the assumption that ending the relationship is, in

and of itself, an effective means of ending the violence. Clearly, women

continue to need physical protection and assistance from the criminal

justice system, regardless of their involvement with the men who have

battered them.

One aim of this research was to determine what influences a woman's

ability successfully to end the violence she is experiencing from her partner.

It is important to stress that no woman should

h ve

to be responsible for

ending her partner's violence. Physical assault is a crime and, as such, falls

under the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system. Further, batterers

themselves are responsible for changing their abusive behaviors. Unfortu-

nately, until such time that a battered woman can count on an effective

systems-level response to ending male violence against women, the women

themselves will be forced to use creative, innovative, and sometimes des-

perate means to escape and/or end their partners' violence.

This initial installment of the research indicated that working with

advocates increased a woman's chances of obtaining needed resources and

social support. However, at the 10-week follow-up assessment there were

no statistically reliable differences between experimental groups on whether

women had experienced further abuse. Additional follow-ups are necessary

to examine the effects of community resources, community response, and


22/24

330 Sul l ivan Tan Basta Rum ptz and Davidson

s o c i a l s u p p o r t o n w o m e n s d e c i s i o n s t o r e m a i n i n o r le a v e a b u s i v e r e l a t io n -

s h ip s a n d o n t h e i r s u c c e s s i n r e m a i n i n g f r e e o f t h e ir p a r t n e rs v i o l e n c e .

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