Effects of Coordinated Services for Drug-Abusing Women Who Are Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

• NCJ Number: 218288
• Journal: Violence Against Women: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2007 Pages: 395-411
• Author(s): Larry Bennett; Patricia O-Brien
• Date Published: April 2007
• Length: 17 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Illinois Dept of Human Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article presents evaluation results on the effectiveness of a demonstration project that focused on delivering collaborative services for drug-abusing women who are victims of domestic violence.

Abstract

Evaluation results indicated that participants in the collaborative programming used substances less frequently and experienced more control in their lives following treatment. However, these same women also reported being more fearful of the consequences of domestic violence. Further analysis revealed that the two most important factors in treatment effectiveness were: (1) number of substance abuse days; and (2) domestic violence self-efficacy. However, the end result was that at the close of the collaborative treatment, the participating women felt more adversely affected by battering than they did at the beginning of treatment. These findings may be indicative of the women’s new found sobriety. The findings do suggest the effectiveness of substance abuse and domestic violence collaborative programming planning. Participants were 255 women who were recruited from 1 of 6 participating agencies serving those with substance abuse problems or intimate partner violence. Participants, who were suffering from both domestic violence and substance abuse, were interviewed following intake and then again 4 to 6 months later (N=128 for the second interview). Interviews focused on family history, previous arrests, attention at support meetings, treatment history, and guilt. Domestic violence assessment was completed using the Conflict Tactics Scale. The analysis focused on differences in characteristics between the 128 women who participated in the follow-up interview. The analysis used repeated-measure multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to examine three key outcomes: (1) number of days of substance abuse during previous 30 days; (2) women’s perceptions of harm from battering; and (3) domestic violence self-efficacy. Future research should focus on the increased fear of battering expressed by women who take part in both domestic violence and substance abuse programming. Tables, references