Adjustment and needs of African-American women who utilized a domestic violence shelter

To better understand what environmental and contextual factors influence resource acquisition and subsequent adjustment for African-American women who have been battered, this article explores the experiences of 60 women from the 6 months prior to entering a shelter through a 10-week postshelter advocacy program. Results indicate that African-American battered women who use domestic violence shelters face an array of obstacles: Most had been severely abused were likely to be living below the poverty line, were unemployed, and were in need of numerous resources. However, in spite of numerous obstacles and continued violence, African-American women overall felt confident in themselves and satisfied with their lives 10 weeks after shelter. Results also indicate that short-term advocacy services were beneficial to African-American women exiting a domestic violence shelter. Implications of these findings as they relate to formal community response and further research are discussed.