Women victims of domestic violence at the shelters: Change process measurements as predicting the woman's length of stay at the shelter and the correlation between the length of stay and the woman returning/not returning to her violent partner

Violence against women is a widespread social problem that crosses social classes and cultures. The wide extant of this problem and its complex implications on individuals and society has led many attempts to reduce the phenomenon and find different solutions for women facing violence. One of the most significant aids for women is the shelter, offering a life-saving solution in addition to a therapeutic community which gives strengths enabling change, growth and development.

During the duration in the shelters, which usually limited to six months, the women undergo treatment and rehabilitation process and are directed to the community for continuation of the process. Nonetheless, Welfare Ministry data shows large variance in the length of stay of women in the shelters, which causes a challenge for the shelter's professional staff to build a suitable treatment program for every woman. Despite the wide diversity in the stay patterns of women in shelters, there is no literature examining the variables that contribute to this variation. Therefore, the present study seeks to expand the knowledge on this issue, based on a trance theoretical change model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982; Prochaska, Norcross, & DiClemente, 2006). This model is used in the literature for understanding the actions women are taking to create a change in their lives, in particular, in order to cease the cycle of violence (Cluss et al., 2006), such as entering the shelter and duration of their stay there. Based on the model, in an attempt to locate the contributing factors to the length of stay in the shelter, the following study variables were selected: demographic background characteristics of women, the level of violence experienced, previous attempts of separation, motivation for entering the shelter, expectations and needs from the shelter. In adittion, this stady demonstrates the correlation between the women's length of stay at shelter and the women tendacy to return to the her violent partner.   

The current study is part of a large study of three researchers from the Department of Social Work at Bar Ilan University, Dr. Anat Ben-Porat, Prof. Rachel Dekel and Prof. Haya Itzhaky, which was conducted in 12 of the 14 shelters in the country for women victims of violence from September 2009 to April 2014. The study involved 506 women, who responded anonymously to self-report entry questionnaires with the assistance of the shelter's managers. .

Based on the trans-theoretical model of change and analysis of the findings according to it, results of the study indicate a certain profile of women that may predict a longer length of stay in the shelter. According to this profile, finding has shown that women who had their first separation attempt stay for a longer duration in the shelter, as well women that where referred to the shelter by social worker. Furthermore, findings has shown a correlation between high levels of mental violence and a long duration of stay in the shelter. A significant finding is the variance in the patterns of stay at shelter according to the women's ethnic origin. It was found that the length of stay of Ethiopian women is larger compared to other ethnic groups. Women from former soviet union stay longer than Arabic women, whic where found to stay the for the shortest duration compared to others groups. Moreover, it was found that women that stayed longer duration at the shelter did not return to the violent partner.

The findings of the current study enlighten the significance of the  violence characteristic, the emotional process that the woman experience and its consequences on her decision making, along with the necessity of mapping  the variables that might be influenced and affected from this process. Hence, this study emphasizes the importance of holistic and integrative approach which considers the emotional and practical aspects, and its influence on the ability to compose an accurate and suitable treatment program according to the women needs and profile that suit to the predicted duration at the shelter and her returning destination.