NCJ Number
227197
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 15 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2009 Pages: 736-744
Date Published
June 2009
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examined email accessibility of prior intimate partner shelter residents for follow-up purposes.
Abstract
The results suggest that among the sample access to email was prevalent (47 percent). Those with more education and who resided in suburban settings were more likely to report having current, working email accounts than were those with less education or from urban areas. These differences and safety considerations notwithstanding, the findings suggest that email might be an underutilized method for maintaining contact with up to half of shelter residents following their departure from domestic violence shelter programs. It was noted that with some safety-minded planning, email could be a resource for advocates and their clients. Despite a handful of studies which have evaluated shelter services for intimate partner violence survivors, most researchers have cited the inability to locate potential respondents and the lack of response to repeated contact attempts as a major validity threat. This small-scale, exploratory study was designed to provide a benchmark estimate of the prevalence of email use among women in 11 Massachusetts battered women's shelters. Tables and references