Understanding Violence Against Women by Panel on Research on Violence Against Women

Author:Panel on Research on Violence Against Women
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Behavioral and Social Sciences : Women and Minorities
Publisher: NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Published: 1997-11-04T00:00:00+00:00

Other Services and Service Seeking

In order to better understand what services are important to battered women, Gondolf and Fisher (1988) studied a sample of 1,482 battered women in shelters and 650 battered women using nonresident shelter-based programs in Texas. They looked at seven categories of services offered to shelter residents: referral, transportation, medical care, child services, counseling, legal services, and employment services.

Gondolf and Fisher concluded that shelters play a pivotal role in facilitating help seeking. These women used the shelter for much more than just refuge. An average of 3.3 services were used: 45 percent of the Texas women used only one or two services, 37 percent used three or four services, and 20 percent used five, six, or seven services. The most used services were counseling (85 percent), transportation (73 percent), and referral (67 percent). On average, the women anticipated using two services after leaving the shelter; nearly one-third said they would use three or more services. The services they anticipated using the most were the crisis hotline (70 percent), counseling (61 percent), and referral services (52 percent).

Taylor (1995) surveyed 250 victims of battering in New York City who had called 911 for help. The most common services sought were help with seeking an order of protection (58.5 percent), counseling (43.1 percent), and discussion of troubling feelings (42 percent). Nearly 80 percent of those who wanted help with protection orders or other legal assistance received that help. Table 4.1 details the services sought and received by these battered women.

Various studies of rape victims reveal an important finding: a majority do not seek crisis or advocacy services or treatment in spite of service availability. Koss (1988) found that only 4 percent of college student victims had contacted rape crisis centers. In a study conducted by Kimerling and Calhoun (1994), victims were assessed prospectively over 1 year following their rapes. Although victims continued to experience more psychological symptoms than a comparison group of nonvictims, only one-fifth sought mental health treatment even though they had access to rape crisis services. This lack of use of service contrasts with an increased use of medical services during the period.

Treatment outcome studies report that among the victims serving as subjects, many had waited years to seek treatment. For example, in both the Koss (1988) and Kimerling and Calhoun (1994) studies, in spite of the fact that all of the victims met diagnostic criteria for PTSD, the average length of time since the assault was about 6 years.

TABLE 4.1 Services Sought and Received by Victims of Battering in New York City Who Called 911

Service

Percentage Who Sought Service

Percentage Who Received Servicea

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.