Evaluating interventions with victims of intimate partner violence: a community psychology approach

Abstract

Purpose Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is one of the most common forms of domestic violence, with profound implication for women's physical and psychological health. In this text we adopted the Empowerment Process Model (EPM) by Cattaneo and Goodman (Psychol Violence 5(1):84–94) to analyse interventions provided to victims of IPV by a Support Centre for Women (SCW) in Italy, and understand its contribution to women’s empowerment. Method We conducted semi-structured interviews with ten women who had been enrolled in a program for IPV survivors at a SCW in the past three years. The interviews focused on the programs’ aims, actions undertaken to reach them, and the impact on the women’s lives, and were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological approach. Results Results showed that the interventions provided by the SWC were adapted according to women's needs. In the early phases, women’s primary aim was ending violence, and the intervention by the SCW was deemed as helpful to the extent it provided psychological support, protection and safe housing. Women’s aims subsequently moved to self-actualisation and economic and personal independence which required professional training, internships, and social support. Although satisfying the majority of the women’s expectations, other important needs (e.g., economic support or legal services) were poorly addressed, and cooperation with other services (e.g., police or social services) was sometimes deemed as critical. Conclusions By evaluating a program offered by a SCW to IPV survivors through the lens of the EPM model, we found that women deemed the program as effective when both individual resources and empowerment processes were promoted. Strengths, limitations and implications are discussed.

“Through the Things That Have Happened to Me, They’ve Made Me Stronger”: Individual and Interpersonal Sources of Violence and Resilience Among a Diverse Sample of Transgender Women in Los Angeles

“…Programs for transgender women in which women can build a sense of community with others could be a powerful means of building informational (knowledge sharing, advise), emotional (trust building, empathy), or instrumental (concrete assistance) support (Barrera, 1986; Dennis, 2003; Lelutiu-Weinberger et al, 2020). Among female survivors of intimate partner violence, for example, interventions to promote mentorship, acceptance, and community have demonstrated increased empowerment, coping, and help seeking behavior (Albanesi et al, 2021; Trabold et al, 2020). However, it is important to recognize the complex role of intragroup dynamics among transgender women elucidated by this study and consider these multiplex network dynamics in any intervention or program (Arnold et al, 2018; Scott et al, 2014; Takahashi & Magalong, 2008; Trujillo et al, 2017).…”

Victimization Experience and Perceived Benefits of Institutional and Commercial Advertising Campaigns in the Fight against Domestic Violence

“…The phenomenon of domestic violence has already been extensively studied, focusing on the personal and psychological characteristics of victims and aggressors (Berns 2004;Burgess 2019;Goodman and Epstein 2008;Lloyd 2021). In these studies, in general, women who are victims of violence are described with an emphasis on their psychological processes (Albanesi et al 2021;Brandt and Rudden 2020;Mahruliana et al 2020). Sometimes, the victim is characterized as someone who surrenders to a violent situation or as a person with a negative perception of her abilities (Aragão et al 2017;Molina and Moreno 2015).…”