This article describes the development of the Intimate Partner Violence Strategies Index, an instrument measuring the nature and extent of battered women’s strategic responses to violence across specific domains of strategies, in the context of a longitudinal study of battered women’s experience over time.
When facing abuse at the hands of intimate partners, women use a wide variety of strategies to stop, prevent, or escape from the violence. Little research has been undertaken to investigate patterns in women’s use of strategies or the factors that influence choice of strategies, such as the nature of the violence they face, their economic situations, mental health, and social and community supports of which they have access. There is an absence of an instrument to measure the nature and extent of battered women’s strategic responses to violence across specific domains of strategies. This article describes the development of such an instrument, the Intimate Partner Violence Strategies Index in the context of a longitudinal study of battered women’s experience over time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 406 battered women in a major city on the Eastern Seaboard and tracked them over the course of a 3-year period. The article describes the initial sample recruitment and a portion of the interview protocol. The study, supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, demonstrates the importance of understanding the ways in which women act to stop, prevent, or escape from violence in their lives. Participants rated strategies that engaged community agencies, such as calling the police or a domestic violence agency as more helpful than strategies undertaken in the private domain. By understanding these strategies and how they work in women’s lives, interventions can be developed for victims that capitalize on their strengths. Appendix and references