Finding a Safer Life: Ameliorating the Effects of Intimate Partner Violence (original) (raw)

Rothery, M. A., Tutty, L. M., Babins-Wagner, R., Walroth, K., & Weaver-Dunlop, G. (2016, January). Finding a safer life: Ameliorating the effects of intimate partner violence. Calgary, AB. Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary and the Calgary Counselling Centre. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.5190.7609 The proposal for this study stipulated a project designed to improve family services to women who have experienced Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). The goal was to develop scales for assessing readiness for change as that term is used by proponents of Prochaska’s Transtheoretical Model (Prochaska and Norcross, 2003). The proposed project was to develop three clinically useful instruments for assessing readiness for change: (1) a basic readiness for change scale comprising items asking about women’s readiness to do what they can to create a safer life; (2) a resistance scale comprising items asking about the obstacles to creating a safer life; (3) a decisional balance scale asking about likely positive versus negative effects of such changes. Stages of interest from the basic readiness for change scale include precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance (Prochaska & Norcross, 2003; see chapter 1 of the full report for more detail). Decisional balance is a scale describing ambivalence regarding change. It recognizes that increased safety may come with significant costs, a claim supported by the qualitative analysis in Chapter 2 of the full report. The steps in the measurement development process outlined in the project proposal were: (1) defining constructs, (2) generating items, (3) administering the measures, (4) refining measures, (5) subtype analysis, and (6) validation. Several modifications were required as the project proceeded. In the original project proposal it was determined that an updated literature review would be a necessary part of step 2. As revisions to the project’s goals and procedures were undertaken the need for an expanded literature review was given a high priority, and this is presented in chapter 1 of the full report. Early in the study, the team also decided to exclude the resistance scale for two reasons: (1) key informants advised that the concept of resistance as it is used in the professional literature is seen by many to be pejorative, and (2) key informants also suggested that the distinction between the proposed resistance and decisional balance scales was not sufficiently clear conceptually. Finally, important changes to the research were required as a consequence of difficulties obtaining a large enough sample to complete steps 4 through 6. Agreed-upon revisions to goals and procedures were, briefly: (1) whereas the desired sample size for administration of the measures was 250, after many attempted approaches we had just 31 completed measures in hand, and it was decided that the quantitative analysis of such a small sample should be restricted in scope and exploratory in spirit, (2) recognizing that the focus group transcripts accumulated in step two were a rich, largely untapped resource, it was decided that an extensive qualitative analysis of those data would be potentially valuable. Thus, the final project has two focuses: a qualitative piece in which focus groups’ transcripts (n=56 respondents) were thematically analyzed and a quantitative piece in which a small sample (n=31) of responses to draft stages of change measurement items were analyzed as preliminary, descriptive findings. Respecting the qualitative focus, a consensus exists in scholarship respecting engaging women that our knowledge of women’s help-seeking remains atheoretical, and it is further suggested that theory development might well fruitfully consider ecological systems theory as a promising general framework. These propositions guided the extensive of qualitative work presented in Chapter 2 of the full report. The commonest use of qualitative research methods is for exploratory purposes. Such was not the case in this study, where our purposes were confirmatory: Adding depth and detail to statistical findings is one aspect of confirmation and elucidation. Within major traditions of theory-oriented qualitative inquiry… qualitative methods are also the methods of choice in extending and deepening the theoretical propositions and understandings that have emerged from previous field studies. (Patton, 1990, page 132) The coding for our qualitative analysis was carried out using NVivo, a flexible and powerful qualitative analysis computer program. In total 1661 coding decisions were made. Structure and Agency Basic to the ecological systems perspective is the observation that people make decisions (agency) within the supports and constraints of their social contexts (structure). Prominent among the structural issues our respondents spoke of were the impacts of culture, and the special challenges that women from minority cultures face. A culture that discourages help-seeking in the broader community can make the search for a safer life even more difficult than it normally is, via social control strategies such as stigma, shaming and isolation. Given cultural variations on themes, there are still commonalities that the ecosystems perspective brings into sharp focus. There are similarities in the types of demand or stress that both motivate and impede help-seeking: • Emotional needs and resources, which refer to available relationships in which a woman can discuss her experience safely, expecting to be understood. • Informational needs and resources refer to the knowledge and skills a woman needs if she is to find a safer life for herself and her children. This can be an especially acute problem for women from some cultural minorities, whose social isolation may include language problems, and who consequently may not know about or understand resources that are in place to help them. What makes informational resources vitally important is that they serve three functions: consciousness-raising, system navigation, and motivation. • Concrete and instrumental needs and resources refer to relevant goods and services that are required to live a reasonable secure life: along with feeling unsafe, a common fear that discourages problem-solving is finding oneself and children impoverished , even homeless. • Affiliational needs and resources refer to the need for meaningful social roles within which one feels competent and welcome. As our respondents related, women who have suffered spousal abuse have often been encouraged to see themselves as globally incompetent. Following Taylor (1985) we describe the exercise of agency as a process illustrated by this example: • A woman reflects upon her troubled marital circumstances. • She evaluates the circumstances on which she is reflecting. • This exercise in values clarification implicates her sense and definition of self, of who she is and what she deserves. • When the evaluation is strong and negative it results in clarity of conviction and purpose. • She plans and takes action. Incidents of this general process are prominent in our respondents’ transcripts. Commonly, a woman begins in a state of denial. The emergence of agency from this original state begins when a turning point or critical incident motivates reflection – fresh reality testing respecting her relationship and an evaluation respecting the acceptability of her situation. Often enough, this leads to a commitment to change. The critical incident that inaugurates this process can be any number of things; consistent with the literature, our respondents most often identify an escalation of the violence they are subjected to, and/or concern for children’s safety or well-being. Recommendations A more extensive discussion of recommendations is in Chapter 4 of the full report; the following are examples: • A holistic, ecosystems assessment leads to an appreciation for the real complexity that IPV presents. One of the resulting recommendations is for systematic attention to a range of supports, and to the development of service packages. • Our data analysis indicated that part of any suitably complex plan or program should often include careful attention and response to affective issues. The current emphasis favouring Cognitive Behavioural work is not wrong, but it is not complete. • Informational resources are strongly endorsed as essential – many excellent educational resources have been developed, and they are effective. Given this, every community should have an adequately funded program for the development and dissemination of information. • Especially with informational and affiliational resources (though by no means exclusively) the special challenges facing cultural minority groups demand care and creativity on the part of service providers. • Advocating for development of adequate concrete and instrumental resources is an ongoing need and responsibility. • Systematic attention to affiliational resources and supports is recommended; this means attention to clients’ access to meaningful social roles.