Prior Research on Intimate Partner Violence Victims' Services

October 16, 2014

Prior Research on Intimate Partner Violence Victims' Services
Classification	Study	Research Question	Methods	Findings	Limitations
Multiple Treatments	Bennett, Riger, Schewe, Howard and Wasco, 2004	The effectiveness of hotline, advocacy, counseling and shelter services for domestic violence victims	Using cluster evaluation, evaluated one fiscal year's worth of data from 54 programs serving victims of domestic violence.	Overall, effectiveness in all areas was supported; however, improvements in each area are noted, and counseling programs had the smallest effect but still a significant one.	Non-experimental
Multiple Treatments	Wathen and McMillan, 2003	Interventions, using a primary health care lens, for preventing abuse and re-abuse of women	Using a primary health care lens, conducted a systematic review of interventions to prevent violence against women.	Information about evidence-based approaches in the primary care setting for preventing intimate partner violence (IPV) is seriously lacking.	Review article
Victim Advocacy	Sullivan, Campbell, Angelique, Eby and Davidson, 1994	The use of experimental methods to present six-month follow-up findings for advocacy services offered to battered women post-visit to a domestic violence shelter	Using experimental methods, randomly assigned half the research participants to receive free services of an advocate four to six hours per week for the first 10 weeks post-shelter. The women were interviewed upon exit 10 weeks after and then six, 12, 18 and 24 months post-intervention.	At 6-month follow-up, both groups felt self-power, better quality of life, a weaker emotional connection to the individual who abused them, less depression and increased social support.	N/A
Civil/Protection Orders	Harrell, Smith and Newmark, 1993	The impact of court processing and effects of restraining orders for domestic violence victims	Looked at restraining order cases from courts, followed by interviews with women three months after temporary orders were issued and again nine months later (a year after issued).	After a year, 60 percent of the women reported that their partner had violated the temporary order. Women who had permanent orders were just as likely to report continued abuse.	Non-experimental; no comparison group
Civil/Protection Orders	Keilitz, Hannaford and Efkeman, 1998	The effectiveness of protection orders from the victim's perspective	Looked at 285 IPV victims' views on the effectiveness of civil protection orders (CPO) in three jurisdictions across the U.S. that used different processes and service models for providing CPOs.	Protective orders successfully deter repeated physical and psychological incidents of abuse among offenders without histories of violent crime.	Non-experimental
Community-Coordinated Intervention	Tolman and Weisz, 1995	The effectiveness of a coordinated community intervention designed to reduce domestic violence	Used police reports for all domestic calls in a three-month period to examine the effects of arrest and prosecution on repeated calls and arrests within an 18-month period following the initial incident.	Arrest deterred repeated domestic violence incidents; this effect continued over the 18-month period. Offenders who had previous histories of law enforcement interaction due to domestic violence were the most effectively deterred.	Non-experimental; no comparison group
Community-Coordinated Intervention	Steinman, 1990	The effect of a coordinated community intervention of post-arrest sanction on recidivism (beyond the initial arrest)	Conducted follow-up study of a coordinated community intervention by comparing pre- and post-implementation to examine the effects of arrest policy on abuse in relation to police responses in a baseline, pre-arrest policy period.	Police actions that were not coordinated with other sanctions led to increased violence. However, police actions that were coordinated with the community showed significant deterrent effects.	No comparison group
Community-Coordinated Intervention	Sullivan and Bybee, 1999	The effectiveness of community-based advocacy in reducing violence against battered women	Randomly assigned 278 battered women to experimental and control conditions, and then interviewed the participants over a period of two years.	Women who participated in the treatment group and worked with advocates were less likely to experience violence over time, reported higher quality of life as well as social support, and found it easier to access community resources.	N/A
Community-Coordinated Intervention	Syers and Edleson, 1992	The effectiveness of the Minneapolis Intervention Project	Conducted follow-up study to report the findings of victim interviews and archival data on incidents of abuse against women that were reported to the Minneapolis Police Department and referred to a community intervention project over a six- to 12-month period.	Police visits to the home plus arrest (all of which followed court-mandated treatment) were significantly more likely than other combinations of other criminal justice efforts to end repeat incidents of violence.	Non-experimental; no comparison group
Counseling Services	Mancoske, Standifer and Cauley, 1994	The effectiveness of brief counseling services for battered women	Using a randomized experiment, provided 10 battered women with standardized crisis intervention services followed by eight sessions of grief counseling and provided a second group of 10 battered women with feminist-oriented counseling following crisis intervention.	Significant increases were found from pre-test to post-test in participants' self-esteem, self-efficacy and attitudes.	N/A
Police	Sherman and Berk, 1984	(Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment) The deterrent effect of arrest on domestic violence	Using experimental methods in response to domestic violence calls, randomly assigned treatments of arrest, mediation or separation.	Arrest was found to be more effective in reducing subsequent violence than traditional methods of police practices, such as mediation and separation.	N/A
Police	Sherman, 1992	The deterrent effect of arrest on domestic violence	Using experimental methods, replicated the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment in Milwaukee, Miami, Colorado Springs, Omaha and Charlotte.	Arrest only effectively deterred married and employed batterers.	N/A
Police	Stover, Berkman, Desai and Marans, 2010	The efficacy of Domestic Violence Home Visit Intervention (DVHVI) following a domestic dispute	Recruited 107 women from a pool of 430 women who were eligible based on screening of police reports; 52 of the women received DVHVI and the other 55 women received standard police services. The researchers interviewed the victims after one, six and 12 months.	Participants who received DVHVI were more satisfied, had a higher likelihood of using law enforcement for a domestic dispute within 12 months' post-incident than the comparison group, and were more likely to seek mental health services and use court services.	N/A
Domestic Violence Shelters	Campbell, Sullivan and Davidson, 1995	The levels of depression reported by women who had used a domestic violence shelter	Collected longitudinal data over the span of eight and a half months.	Over time, depression receded, which is consistent with prior research findings that in time of crisis, depression is prevalent in battered women. This is important in evaluating battered women's overall psychological well-being.	Non-experimental; no comparison group
Domestic Violence Shelters	McNamara, Tamanini and Pelletier-Walker, 2007	The impact of services received at a domestic violence shelter	Incorporating a pre-test and post-test design, and using all women requiring domestic violence services and admitted to a domestic violence shelter, the study looked at clinical measures for life functioning and coping ability and post-tested only measures of satisfaction and helpfulness of services to assess outcomes of counseling and other agency services.	Significant improvements were found on clinical measures of life functioning, coping ability, sense of being helped and satisfaction with social work services received.	No comparison group
Domestic Violence Shelters	Zweig, Schlichter and Burt, 2002	The barriers to service that women might face, such as learning disabilities, mental health issues or substance abuse	Conducted a national evaluation based on interviews of staff from 20 programs that focused their services efforts on women facing multiple barriers (substance abuse disorders, mental health problems, learning disabilities, incarceration and prostitution).	The collaborative integration of services outside of victim services that specifically address the special needs and barriers of these women will help in implementing integrative strategies.	Non-experimental
Domestic Violence Shelters	Lyon, Lane and Menard, 2008	The types of services and resources available at domestic violence shelters for women	Looked at domestic violence shelters in eight states during a six-month period and collected data from 3,410 residents of 215 domestic violence shelters. Asked residents to complete a written survey upon entry and then near exit.	Detailed findings showed differences in needs across race/ethnicity, age, education, presence of children and language in which surveys were completed (Hispanics who filled out English and Spanish surveys were compared). Differences in experiences also were found related to shelter capacity.	Non-experimental
Domestic Violence Shelters	Tan, Basta, Sullivan and Davidson, 1995	The effectiveness of an intervention providing advocacy services to women who had recently left a domestic violence shelter	Used experimental methods and included 141 participants as part of a larger longitudinal study that examined the effect over a two-year period of an advocacy intervention on battered women's overall psychological well-being and ability to remain free of abuse.	A significant relationship was found between social support and psychological well-being. Participants who were satisfied with their social support also felt more positive about their quality of life.	N/A

Date Published: October 16, 2014