Advocacy for battered women: A national survey - Springer Link

Journal of Family Violence, Vol. 9, No. 3, 1994

Advocacy for Battered Women: A National Survey E i n a t P e l e d 1 a n d J e f f r e y L. E d l e s o n 2

The literature defining advocacy for battered women is almost nonexistent and there is no systematic research on its parameters. This article reports the results of a national survey of 379 advocacy services in the United States. Findings on organizational context, definitions of advocacy, client issues and concerns, advocate activities, and advocate interactions with other social systems are presented. Possible explanations of an apparent emphasis on individual over system change are discussed. KEY WORDS: battered women; advocacy;women's services.

INTRODUCTION Violent conflict between men and their intimate women partners has received wide scale public attention for almost two decades (Martin, 1976; Walker, 1979). Early intervention efforts mostly involved the provision of emergency shelter for women and children. Shelters have since evolved to include supplementary services such as legal aid, counseling, and job readiness programs (Saunders and Azar, 1989). Independent programs offering services but not shelter have also been widely established (e.g., Brygger and Edleson, 1987). Staff of these programs frequently identify themselves as "advocates" and the term has been prominently used since the birth of the modern Battered Women's Movement. For example, one of the first American shelters 1Bob ShapeU School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University. 2School of Social Work, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455; and Domestic Abuse Project, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455. 285 0885-748RD4/0900-0285507.00/0 ~ 1994 Plenum Publishing Corporation

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called itself Battered Women's Advocates (St. Paul, Minnesota). It is also common to find staff called "advocates" providing such diverse services as transportation, child counseling, women's support groups, and community education. Another, more specific use of the term "advocate" is evident in the creation over the past decade of a new role within the criminal justice system, that of legal advocate. Most often, legal advocates work on behalf of individual battered women and aim to both change and coordinate the responses of criminal justice systems to cases of violent domestic conflict (see Edleson, 1991). Legal advocates can now be found at work across North America, in cities such as Minneapolis, Duluth, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Denver (Domestic Violence Manual Task Force, 1988; Goolkasian, 1986; Pence and Shepard, 1988; Soler, 1987). Building on the role of legal advocate, others have expanded the role of "advocate" to include work in multiple social systems. For example, Sullivan (1991) has r e p o r t e d the results of a project in which volunteer advocates helped battered women gain access to a wide range of community r e s o u r c e s such as housing, e d u c a t i o n , financial assistance, and childcare. Sullivan and her colleagues found that battered women working with advocates were more effective in meeting their own goals than a comparison group of women not working with advocates. While the roles of advocates for battered women have multiplied, the literature defining advocacy is almost nonexistent and there is no systematic research on the parameters of advocacy. Accountability to both battered women and funding sources demands that we know more about whether advocacy services achieve their goals and how they do so. Evaluating the effectiveness of advocacy requires a clear definition of its goals and the activities performed by advocates. It is with this in mind that we set about to conduct an exploratory national survey to answer two questions: 1. 2.

What are the definitions of advocacy for battered women? W h a t are the parameters that describe advocacy for battered women?

We wanted to learn more about advocacy and the professional identity of those providing it. There is no universally accepted definition of advocacy; therefore, we turned to those doing the work and asked them directly about the definition and parameters of their efforts. In the following sections, we present both the m e t h o d s we followed when seeking answers and the responses to our survey.

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METHOD

Sample A random sample of services in the United States was generated in August 1992 from the database of the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Institute (FVSAI) in Tyler, Texas. The FVSAI database consisted of 35,000 entries of individuals and programs concerned with a variety of family violence issues (e.g., child abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse of women, rape, elder abuse). Due to pragmatic considerations, we included only those programs seen as most likely to provide advocacy to battered women. Hence, we used as our survey population the 2400 woman abuse and 1200 sexual assault services included in the FVSAI database. A final sample of 775 programs was generated through systematic random sampling of this list of woman abuse and sexual assault services.

Procedure A short questionnaire aimed at programs providing advocacy services to battered women was developed. The absence of a significant body of literature on advocacy for battered women did not allow the design of a highly structured questionnaire. Hence, we chose an open-ended questionnaire to elicit a wide range of responses from respondents. The questionnaire included eight items requesting each program's definition of advocacy for battered women and information on the organizational context, primary activities performed by advocates, client issues and concerns, and systems with which advocates worked. Programs not providing advocacy services were requested to indicate this in the first item but to still return the questionnaire. The survey mailing was carried out according to procedures set forth by Dillman (1978). The questionnaire was printed in pamphlet format and sent to each sampled program with both a postage-paid envelope and a cover letter from the Executive Director of the sponsoring agency. This mailing was followed one week later by a reminder postcard. A third mailing included a new copy of the questionnaire, another postage-paid envelope and a reminder cover letter. It was sent 3 weeks after the postcard to only those services that had not yet responded. Twenty-one surveys were returned due to incorrect addresses, bringing the total possible sample to 754.

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The overall response rate was 67% (n = 507). These responses included 128 programs that were not providing advocacy to battered women and respondents at 379 advocacy services that returned completed questionnaires. RESULTS A preliminary content analysis of the open-ended survey questions generated a coding format that was used for subsequent data analysis. This coding format included categories reflecting the variety of responses in five major areas: (1) organizational context of the service; (2) definition of advocacy for battered women; (3) major issues and concerns of clients; (4) activities performed by advocates in a typical week; and (5) systems with which advocates worked. The results of our data analysis in each of these five areas are presented below.

Agencies and Clients The results indicated that 337 (88.9%) of the services were either independent, non-profit agencies or part of larger programs. The bulk of the remaining programs (n = 31, 8.2%) belonged to the public sector. The great majority of the responding services (n = 232, 61.8%) were affiliated with or part of a battered women's shelter, or offered temporary safe housing. A total of 91 services (24%) served sexual assault victims in addition to battered women and 15 (3.9%) focused exclusively on sexual assault victims. Other services providing advocacy for battered women were located in settings such as hospitals, universities, state and national coalitions, men's treatment centers, crime victim units, and army bases. Respondents provided only sketchy data on clients served by their services. Typically, the picture that emerged was of a young woman client with children and a low income.

Definition of Advocacy The survey asked "How would you define advocacy for battered women?" and we received a variety of answers. Consider the following examples: [Advocacy is] educating, manipulating, and holding accountable systems and key players in the systems which impact on the safety and well-being of families in which there is domestic violence. (sn. 049)


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I define advocacy as 'support.' My responsibility is to inform battered women of

their options...I mention the word 'support' because I see my role as a supporter of the women and a supporter of their decisions. I can give our clients the options but in the end it is her choice. (sn. 085) An advocate is a friend who listens to the client, believes her story and knows the system and how to access it. Advocacy begins by increasing self-awareness of injustice and becoming a creative thinker to find option where there seems to be none. Advocacy is a biased position, an adversarial position for the client against the system in which the client has a problem. Ninety eight percent of advocacy is 'hanging in there' until the end. (sn. 574) C o n t e n t analysis of the answers identified two m a j o r categories: (1) definitions centered around outcome goals of advocacy for battered women (n = 213, 56.5%); and (2) definitions focused on process goals of advocacy, or the activities included in a "job d e s c r i p t i o n " o f a typical b a t t e r e d w o m e n ' s advocate (n = 235, 62.3%). R e s p o n d e n t s noted four general o u t c o m e goals of advocacy for battered women: (1) m e e t the needs of battered w o m e n through direct service (n = 147, 69%); (2) e m p o w e r battered w o m e n (n = 68, 31.9%); (3) meet the needs of battered women through system change (n = 58, 27.2%); and, (4) end violence (n = 6, 2.8%). Definitions that referred to process goals of advocacy included three m a j o r categories: (1) providing direct services to battered w o m e n (n = 187, 79.5%); (2) representing battered women and working as their liaison in other systems (n = 159, 67.6%); and, (3) c o m m u n i t y education and policy work (n = 56, 23.8%). Major Issues and Concerns of Battered Women

Twenty-three categories of w o m e n ' s issues and concerns were identified in the initial coding. These categories were later regrouped into five general categories. As shown in Fig. 1, the most frequent issue reported was clients' difficulties in receiving n e e d e d services (n = 298, 78.6%). These services included financial aid, medical care, housing, child care, employment, education, and legal assistance. Service providers were described in the surveys as not being responsive to clients needs, not having enough knowledge of domestic violence issues or as being outright biased against battered women. F o r example, one survey noted the following: M o s t clients are terrified o f the court system and d i s c o u r a g e d with police response . . .The biggest problem we encounter is that [our state] does not have mandatory arrest and often the police leaves it up to the victims to arrest, thus placing burden on her. (sn. 247)

More than half of the respondents (n = 237, 62.5%) noted fear of the abuser and safety of the woman and her children as being a major concern.

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Included in this category was the need for immediate safe shelter. Over half of respondents (n = 212, 55.9%) mentioned legal issues as a primary concern of their clients including securing an Order for Protection, and custody and visitation agreements with the abuser. Less common were cases of arrest of the battered woman for assaulting the abuser. For example: Women are court-ordered to therapy after being arrested for domestic violence. They are often defending themselves from the abuser, but police interpret law such that both parties get ordered. They are really revictimized by the law. (sn. 014)

Almost half of the respondents (n = 182, 48%) noted women's need for support around a variety of emotional and interpersonal issues. Prominent among these issues were women's low self-esteem, and work on the dynamics of and options to living with a violent partner. Many of the surveys noted women's self-blame, protectiveness, and caretaking of their


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abusers. These problems were described using terms such as "battered women's accommodation syndrome," "misplaced compassion," and "codependency." Other personal and emotional support issues mentioned were dysfunction in family of origin (e.g., incest), denial and minimization of the abuse, empowerment, social isolation and the general need for counseling. Consider, for example, the following quote: C o n c e r n s are fear, insecurity, immature i n n e r structure, anger, c o n f u s i o n . . . T h e s e w o m e n need help to a s s u m e an inner structure that responds to their own needs - - t o break the 'hostage s y n d r o m e ' (sn. 164)

Finally, 46 respondents (12.1%) noted women's concerns regarding children, including the effects of witnessing abuse, child abuse, and parenting under stress. Activities Performed by Advocates in a Typical Week

Three major categories of activities performed by advocates were identified and are shown in Fig. 2. Not surprisingly, these categories resembled those mentioned by respondents who also mostly defined advocacy in terms of objectives. Almost all the programs surveyed (n = 331, 87.3%) provided advocacy in the form of direct services for battered women. These services included counseling and emotional support, information and referrals, provision of physical needs to women and children (e.g., food, transportation, clothing), and office work. Three-fourth of the programs (n = 287, 75.7%) reported working with other systems on behalf, or together with battered women. Such work included accompaniment of women to meetings, help with paperwork required by other systems (e.g., filing an Order for Protection in court) and advocacy on women's behalf with other professionals. Less than a fourth of the programs (n = 88, 23.2%) reported community education and policy work as activities typically performed by their advocates. Systems With Which Advocates Work

Advocates for battered women were reported to interact with 10 major systems as part of their daily work. As shown in Fig. 3, the legal system was mentioned most frequently. A total of 329 programs (86.8%) reported working in both family and criminal court with different representatives including district attorneys and prosecutors, private attorneys and legal aid, judges, court commissioners and referees, court clerks, probation and parole

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Fig. 2. Advocates' activities.

officers, and victim advocates. Advocates reported frequently working with police and sheriffs (n = 182, 48%). Almost two-thirds of the programs (n = 245, 64.6%) reported working with the public welfare system including income assistance programs such as AFDC, WIC and Food Stamps, child protection services, and general services for families and children. A total of 133 programs (35.1%) reported interaction with either public housing authorities and/or private landlords. A similar number of programs (n = 129, 34%) reported interaction with the health and mental health systems (e.g., hospitals, mental health services, counselors, substance abuse programs). Lower frequency of contact was reported with other domestic violence programs (n = 61, 16.1%), the educational system (n = 51, 13.5%), community services (e.g., charities, food banks, child care providers) (n = 29, 7.7%), employers and employment agencies (n = 22, 5.8%), and clients' families (n = 5, 1.3%).


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Fig. 3. Advocates' work with systems.

DISCUSSION This survey was exploratory in nature; we purposefully designed a survey that was both brief and contained mostly open-ended questions. We expected this design to elicit a high return rate and a wide variety of responses using respondents' own terminology. The results supported this approach and created considerable data that were content analyzed. The limitation of this strategy is that it did not facilitate a systematic examination of the relevance of each possible category to each respondent. A more structured survey containing multiple choice questions might have generated more exacting answers but would have missed the qualitative answers we desired. The data generated in this open-ended survey can serve as a basis for a future study combining in-depth interviews of targeted informants with a more structured survey. Our findings provide initial information on how advocates for battered women define their roles and on the different parameters of their work. The results supported our initial understanding of the term "advocacy for battered women" as reflecting a wide variety of professional activities performed in multiple settings. In their definitions of advocacy, respondents stressed immediate

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objectives rather than long-term goals. More than half of the respondents defined the goals of advocacy as the activities performed. Further, the majority of those who included outcome goals in their definition suggested service related goals. It was especially interesting to note that only 3% identified "ending violence" as an outcome goal of advocacy. This emphasis on short-term over long-term goals was also evident in the data on systems with which advocates worked. Systems dealing with safety and immediate physical needs (e.g., criminal justice, housing, income assistance, physical and mental health) were mentioned by most respondents. Data on both definitions of advocacy and activities performed by advocates stressed work with individual battered women over structural change efforts. Both types of intervention aim to improve the situation of battered women; however, they employ different strategies. Work with individual women included direct services, such as emotional support, and representation of individual in the systems identified in Fig. 3. Structural work included institutional efforts to facilitate the responsiveness of systems to battered women. It also included efforts to make the necessary changes in policies and social values that would ensure greater access for battered women and prevent future violence. The respondents' emphasis on direct service over systems change may, in part, be related to advocates' self-perceived identity as direct service providers. This is ironic given the underlying feminist ideology of the Battered W o m e n ' s Movement that views structural change as the most effective strategy and a prerequisite for ending violence against women (Dobash and Dobash, 1992). There may be several reasons for this focus on serving the individual. Our data on issues and concerns of clients suggest that advocates face women and children in life-threatening circumstances who are in need of immediate and concrete help. Under these circumstances, it is understandable that many advocates appear to feel compelled to concentrate all of their limited resources on the provision of short-term, emergency services. Some advocates also view their work With individuals as contributing to change in larger systems and, hence, may not see an irony in their choice of strategy. Another factor pointing toward individual over structural change may be related to funding. Most advocacy was reported to take place in nonprofit agencies that are likely to have small staffs and limited resources. Many of these programs depend on charities, such as United Way, as well as contracts with local governments for specific services. Clearly, battered women's advocates have been increasingly successful in convincing governments and charities to support services for battered women. On the other

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hand, as these services b e c o m e m o r e and m o r e d e p e n d e n t on public dollars to support their budgets, they also b e c o m e more tied to the very systems that m a n y advocates originally hoped to change. As Sullivan (1982) points out, "service delivery depends on utilizing the resources of the system which p r o m o t e s battering, and which can hardly be expected to alleviate it. This contradiction makes the battered w o m e n ' s m o v e m e n t . . .particularly susceptible to cooptation" (p. 40). Examining the field of social work, Davis (1987) has d o c u m e n t e d a shift f r o m attention to social causes of violence against w o m e n in the 1970s to a focus on individual t r e a t m e n t in the 1980s. It may be that a similar shift has occurred a m o n g advocates. This particularly N o r t h A m e r i c a n focus on individual explanations and t r e a t m e n t has led D o b a s h and D o b a s h (1992) to label us "the therapeutic society." O u r findings raise concerns regarding a possible imbalance between advocacy with individuals and advocacy for social change. W e suggest there is a need for closer examination of how and why advocates place their emphasis on individuals m o r e than social structures.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Dr. Peled is a Lecturer in the Bob Shapell School of Social W o r k at Tel Aviv University, Israel, and was at the time of this study a Research Associate at the Domestic Abuse Project in Minneapolis. Dr. Edleson is a Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Social W o r k and Director of Evaluation and Research at the Domestic A b u s e Project. The study was funded through grants from the Conflict & Change Center of the University of Minnesota and the Domestic Abuse Project, Inc.

REFERENCES Brygger, M. P., and Edleson, J. L. (1987). The Domestic Abuse Project: A multi-systems intervention in woman battering. J. lnterpers. Viol. 3: 324-336. Davis, L. V. (1987). Battered women: The transformation of a social problem. Social Work 32: 306-311. Dobash, R. E., and Dobash, R. P. (1992). Women, Violence and Social Change, Routledge, New York. Domestic Violence Task Force (1988). The Denver Domestic Violence Manual, Denver, CO. Dillman, D. A. (1978). Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method, Wiley, NY. Edleson, J. L. (1991). Coordinated community responses to woman battering. In Steinman, M. (ed.), Woman Battering: Policy Responses, Anderson Press, Cincinnati, OH, pp. 203-219. Eisikovits, Z. C., and Edleson, J. L. (1989). Intervening with men who batter: A critical review of the literature. Social Serv. Rev. 63: 384-414.

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Goolkasian, G. A. (1986). Confronting Domestic Violence: A Guide for Criminal Justice Agencies, National Institute of Justice, Washington, DC. Martin, D. (1976). Battered Wives, Pocket Books, New York. Pence, E., and Shepard, M. (1988). Integrating feminist theory and practice: The challenge of the Battered Women's Movement. In Yllo, K., and Bograd, M. (eds.), Femirdst Approaches on Wife Abuse, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 282-298. Soler, E. (1987). Domestic violence is a crime: A case s t u d y - - S a n Francisco Family Violence Project. In Sonkin, D. J. (ed.), Domestic Violence on Tria~ Springer, New York, pp. 21-35. Saunders, D. G., and Azar, S. T. (1989). Treatment programs for family violence. In Ohlin, L., and Tonry, M. (eds.), Family Violence, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, pp. 481-546. Sullivan, C. M. (1991). The provision of advocacy services to women leaving abusive partners: An exploratory study. J. Interpers. Viol. 6: 41-54. Sullivan, G. (1982). Cooptation of alternative services: The Battered Women's Movement as a case study. Catalyst 14: 39-56. Walker, L. E. (1979). The Battered Woman, Harper & Row, New York.