An advocacy intervention program for women with abusive partners: initial evaluation

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Domestic Violence Research
• Intervention Studies

Background:

• Battered women often require extensive community resources after leaving domestic violence shelters.
• Post-shelter support is crucial for survivors' well-being and safety.
• The effectiveness of advocacy services in resource acquisition needs empirical validation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test if advocacy services improve resource acquisition and social support for women exiting domestic violence shelters.
• To examine the impact of resource acquisition and social support on life satisfaction and risk of re-abuse.
• To evaluate a short-term intervention providing post-shelter advocacy.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 141 battered women exiting shelters.
• Intervention group received advocacy services for accessing community resources; control group did not.
• Data collected via interviews at shelter exit and 10 weeks post-intervention.

Main Results:

• Women working with advocates reported greater effectiveness in accessing resources.
• Advocacy services were associated with higher levels of social support and quality of life.
• While all participants reported some decrease in abuse, advocacy did not significantly reduce post-shelter abuse rates.

Conclusions:

• Advocacy services are effective in enhancing resource access and social support for domestic violence survivors.
• Improved resource access and social support correlate with better quality of life.
• Further interventions are needed to address the persistent issue of post-shelter abuse.