8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
1/24
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
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
2/24
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.
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
3/24
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-
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
4/24
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
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
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 .
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
6/24
314 Sullivan Tan Basta Rumptz and Davidson
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,
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
7/24
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 .
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
8/24
316 Sullivan Tan Basta Rumptz and Davidson
b--
v
~ ~ ~
~ 0 0 0
t -I
I I I I I I
~D
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
9/24
A d v o c a c y I n t e r v e n t i o n 3 1 7
o
o
t~
N
~ o q
cd
~ r~ cq
o ~ ~ ~
= 2
, , . . o o ~ o ~ ~
~ ~ Z
O
O
E
II
o
o E
fl3
U'3
I
t~3
tt3
~f3
_=
,.Q
E
Z
t ~
I
oO
o
O
Z
I]
II
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
10/24
318 Sullivan Tan Basta Rumptz and Davidson
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
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
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
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
12/24
320 Sullivan Tan Basta Rumptz and Davidson
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
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
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
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
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 .
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
15/24
Advocacy Intervention 323
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 ,
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
16/24
324 Sullivan Tan Basta Rumptz and Davidson
0
0)
O[
r ~ .
0
O ~ .c~ ~ .~
0 ~ ~ ~ ~ .~
O~ ~0 ~ ~ ~ ~
c~'~. 0 ~ .. ~
~ ~ - , -~ ~ '~ ~ . .~-~
E
=_
O
E
cD
~
e~
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
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
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
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 .
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
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
~
~ ~ ~
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
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
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
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
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
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 .
R E F E R E N C E S
Aguirre , B. E . (1985). Why do they re turn: Abused wives in shel ters .
Social Work, 30,
350-354.
An drew s, F . , W ithey, S . (1976). Social indicators o f w ell-being: Am erica n's perceptions o f l i fe
quality.
NY: P lenum Press .
Berk , R. A. , New ton , P ., Berk , S. (1986) . W hat a d if fe rence a day makes : A n empir ica l
s tudy o f the impac t o f she l te r s fo r ba t te red women . Journal of Marriage and the Family,
48, 481-490.
Bill ings, A . G. , M oos, R. H. (1981). Th e role of copin g respon ses and social resou rces in
at tenuating the s tress of l i fe events . Journal o f Behavioral Medicine, 4, 139-157.
Bo gat , G. A. , Ch in, R. , Sabb ath , W ., Schwartz , C. (1983). The Adul t 's Social Support
Questionnaire (Technical Report 2).
East Lansing: Michigan State Universi ty .
Bowker , L . (1984) . Cop ing wi th wife abuse : Pe rsona l and soc ia l ne tworks . In A. R. Rober t s ,
(Ed.) , Battered w om en a nd their families: Intervention strategies an d treatment programs.
New York : Spr inger .
Browne, A. (1980). Comparison of victim's reactions across traumas. P a p e r p r e s e n t e d a t t h e
Rocky Mounta in Psycho log ica l Assoc ia t ion Annua l Mee t ing , Tucson , AZ .
Browne, A. (1987). When battered women kill . New York : F ree P ress .
Ca lho un , K. S ., Atke son , B., Res ick , P . A. (1982) . A long i tud ina l exam ina t ion o f fea r
reac t ions in v ic tims o f rape . Journal o f Counseling Psychology, 29, 655-661.
Carlson, B. E . (1977). Battered women and their assai lants . Social Work, 22(6), 455-460.
Cro nkite , R. C. M oos, R. H. (1982).
The role of predisposing an d mediating factors in the
stress-illness relationship. U n p u b l i s h e d m a n u s c r i p t. P a l o A l t o , C A : S o c ia l E c o l o g y
Labora to ry , D epa r tm en t o f Psychiat ry and Behav io ra l Sc iences, S tan fo rd U nivers i ty and
V e te r a n A d m in i s t r a t i o n M e d ic a l Ce n t e r s .
Dav idson , W. S . I I , Rapp apor t , J . (1978). Advo cacy and comm uni ty psycho logy. In G. H.
W eber , G. J . McC al l , (Eds . ) ,
Social sc ntists as advocates: Views fro m the applied
disciplines. Bev erly Hil ls , C A: Sag e.
Dob ash , R. , Dob ash , R. (1979) . Violence agah ~st wives: A case against the patriarchy. N e w
York: Free Press .
Dobash , R. E . , Dobash , R. P ., Cavanagh , K. (1985) . The con tac t be twe en ba t te red wo m en
and social and medical agencies . In
Private violence an d pu blic policy.
L o n d o n : R o u t l e d g e
and Kegan Pau l .
Do hrenw end , B. S ., Do hrenw end , B. P . (1981) . Soc ioe nv i ronm enta l fac tors , s tress and
psychopathology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 129-164.
D o n a to , K . , Bo w k e r , L . ( 19 84 ). U n d e r s t a n d in g t h e h e lp s e e k ing b e h a v io r o f b a t t e r e d
women: A compar ison o f t rad i t iona l se rv ice agenc ies and women ' s g roups . International
Journal of Women's Studies, 7(2), 99-i09.
D utto n, D. (1987). The cr imina l just ice respon se to wife assault .
Law and Human Behav ior ,
11(3), 189-206.
Finn, J . (1985). The s tresses an d cop ing beha vior of bat te red w om en.
Social Casework,
66(6),
341-349.
Ford , D . A . (1983). W ife ba t te ry and c r imina l jus t ice : A s tudy o f v ic t im dec is ion-making .
Family Relations, 32, 463-475.
Gayford, J . (1978). Battered wives. In J . P . Mart in , (Ed.) , Violence and the family. Chiches te r ,
Eng land : John Wiley .
Gelles, R. (1979).
Family violence.
Beverly Hil ls , CA: Sage.
G o n d o l f , E . ( 1 9 8 8 ) .
Battered wo m en a s survivors: A n alternative to learned helplessness.
Lexing ton , MA: Lex ing ton Books .
Gott l ieb , B. H. (Ed.) (1981). Social networks and social support. Beverly Hil ls , CA: Sage.
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
23/24
Advocacy Intervention 33
Grea ves, L., Hea py, N., Wylie A. (1988). Adv ocac y services: Reassessin g the profile and
needs of bat tered women.
Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health,
7(2), 39-51.
Hilb erm an, E. Mun son, K. (1977-1978). Sixty batt ered wom en. Victimology: A n International
Journal,
2(3-4), 460-470.
Hilbert, J. , Hitbert, H. (1984). Battered wo men leaving shelter: Which way do they go?
Journal of App lied Social Sciences,
8(2), 292-297.
Hofeller, K. H. (1982). Soc ia~ psychological and situational factors in wife abuse. Palo Alto,
CA: R E Resea rch Associates Inc.
Ho rnu ng, C. A., McC ullough , B. C., Sugim oto, T. (1981). Status relationships in mar riage:
Risk factors in spouse abuse. Journal of Marriage and the Family, August, 675-692.
Ho rto n, A. L., Simonidis, K. M., Simonidis, L.L. (1987). Lega l rem edie s for spouse abuse:
Victim characteristics, expectations, and satisfaction. Journal of Family Violence, 2(3),
265-279.
House, J. S. (1981). Work Stress and Social Support. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Kilpatrick, D. G. (1988) Rap e Afterm ath Symptom Test. In M. Hers en A. S. Bellack (Eds.),
Dictionary o f behavioral assessment techniques (pp. 366-367). New York: Pergamon Press.
Kuhl, A. F. (1982). Com mun ity responses to bat tered women. Victimology: International
Journal,
7(1-4), 49-59.
Labell, L. S. (1979). Wife abuse: A sociological study of battered women and their mates.
Victimology: A n International Journal, 9(3-4), 450-463.
Levenson, H. (1972). Distinctions within the concept of internal-external locus of control:
Develop ment o f a new scale. Proceedings of the 80th A nnual Convention of the American
Psychological Association. (pp. 261-262).
Martin, D. (1976). Battered wives. San Francisco: Glide.
Martin, D. (1989). Research note: The response of the clergy to spouse abuse in a suburban
county, Violence and Victims, 4(3), 217-225.
Mitch ell, R., Ho dso n, C. (1983). Copin g with dom estic violence : Social supp ort and
psychological health among battered women. American Journal o f Co mmu nity Psychology,
11,
629-654.
Mitchell, R. E. Tricke tt, E. J. (1980). Social netwo rks as med iators of social supp ort: An
analysis of the effects and determinants of social networks. Community Mental Health
Journal, 16, 27-44.
Okun, L. (1986). Wom an abuse: Facts replacing myths. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Pagelow, M. (1981). Woman battering: Victims and their experiences. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Prescott, S., Lesko, C. (1977). Batt ered wom en: A social psychological pers pective. In M.
Roy (Ed.), Battered women. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Radlo ff, L. S. (1977). The CE S-D scale: A self rep ort d epress ion scale for research in the
general population.
Applied Psychological Measurement, 1(3),
385-401.
Resick, P. A., Vero nen , L. J., Kilpatrick, D. G., Calhoun , K. S., Atke son, B. M. (1986).
Assessment of fear reactions in sexual assault victims: A factor analytic study of the
Veronen-Kilpatrick modified fear survey.
Behavioral Assessment, 8,
271-283.
Roberts, A, R. (Ed.) (1984). Battered women and their families: Intervention strategies and
treatment programs. New York: Springer.
Rounsaville, B. J. (1978). Theories in marital violence: Evidence from a study of battered
women.
Victimology. An International Journal,
3(1-2), 11-31.
Roy, M. (Ed.) (1977).
Battered women: A psychosocial study of battered women.
New York:
Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Schulman, M. A. (1979). A survey of spousal violence against women in Kentucky. Lexington:
Kentucky Commission on Women.
Schutte, N.S., Malou ff, J. M., Doy le, J. S. (1988). Th e relationsh ip betw een characteristics
of the vic t im, persuas ive techniques of the bat terer , and re turning to a bat ter ing
relationship. The
Journal o f Social Psychology, 128(5),
605-610.
Sidel, R. (1986).
Wom en and children last: The plight o f po or w ome n in affluent America.
New
York: Viking.
Stacey, W. A. Shupe, A. (1983).
The FamUy Secret.
Boston: Beacon Press.
8/10/2019 An Advocacy Program for Women
24/24
332 Sullivan Tan Basta Rumptz and Davidson
Straus, M. A. (1979). Me asurin g intrafamily conflict and vio lence: Th e Co nflict Tactics (CT )
Scales.
Journal of Marriage and the Family February
75-88.
Straus, M., Gelles, R. (1986). Societal chang e and chan ge in family viole nce from 19 75 to
1985 as revea led by two natio nal surveys.
Journal of Marriage and the Family 48
465-479.
Strube , M., Barb our, L. ~1_983). Th e decision to leave an abusive relationship: Eco no mic
dependence and psychological commitment .
Journa l of Marriage and the Family
November
785-793.
Sullivan, C. M. (1989).
Community Advocacy Project training manual.
Unpublished manuscript,
East Lansing: Michigan State University.
Sullivan, C. M. (1991). The provision of advocacy services to women leaving abusive partners:
An exploratory study. Journal o f Interpersonal kiolence 6(1), 45-54.
Sullivan, C. M., David son, W.S., II. (1991). Brie f Rep ort: The prov ision of advoc acy services
to women leaving abusive partners: An examination of short- term effects. American
Journal of Community Psychology
19(6), 953-960.
Walker, L. (1979). The battered woman. New York: Harper and Row.
Walker, L. (1983). The battered woman syndrome study. D. Finkelhor, (Ed.), The dark side
of families.
Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Walker, L. (1984).
The battered woman syndrome.
New York: Springer.
Walke r, L. (1985). Psychological impac t of the criminalization o f dome stic violenc e on victims.
Victimology: An International Journal 19(1-4), 281-300.