If I Go Where Shalt I Return? Examining the differences in the sense of danger, use of support systems and use of community services for battered women who stayed in shelters

Violence perpetrated against women by their partners is a difficult and complicated social phenomenon that not only relates to the frequency or type of violence but also to all the issues that are involved in how it affects the woman.  This field’s general and research literature state that life under the threat of perpetual danger and physical and emotional abuse, that are accompanied by  extensive social isolation of the woman and that was  created by the friction caused by the abusive partner serves to keep the current state hidden.  All of these factors contribute substantially to a decrease in the quality of life for the woman.

Battered women’s shelters are meant to provide physical safety and an immediate shelter for which a woman can go, providing her with both material and emotional support and through this strengthening and renewing her personal resources. The purpose of her stay at the shelter is to prepare her for an independent life in the community after staying for a number of months. One of the main questions that arises in this context is whether the woman’s state after completing her stay at the shelter was different than the state she was in while arriving at the shelter and whether the shelter could constitute as an agent of change, allowing her, in accordance with Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989), to strengthen and renew resources after they diminished and were lost before entering the shelter. The present study sought to examine the condition of these women today, more than a year after returning to the community, in relation to the feeling of danger, the use of support systems and community services upon entering the shelter and upon leaving. It also examined the contribution of these variables to the quality of their lives.

This study is part of Itzhaky, Dekel & Ben Porat’s ongoing longitudinal study. The study sample consists of 106 women whom spent time in a battered women’s shelter and previously completed a research questionere upon entering the shelter and upon leaving the shelter. The final part of the research was carried out while the women lived in their communities at least a year after leaving the shelter. The women were interviewed over the telephone and were asked whether they felt they were endangered and whether they were utilizing support systems and community services.  The women were asked the same question on the first two questioners and  the current research checked the differences in the variables between the different times. In the third questionere the women were also asked about the quality of their lives.

It was hypothesized that in terms of the sense of danger, the level would decline as time passed from when the woman arrived at shelter until she departed the shelter and lived in the community, and utilizing support systems and community services would grow as time passed between these points.  It was also hypothesized that there would be a negative association between the sense of danger at each three points of time in which the woman completed the questionere and the woman’s quality of life. There would also be a positive association between the woman utilizing social and community supports systems and the quality of their life.  This study also tried to establish as to whether there was an association between background variables of the woman and their quality of life.

The results of this study show that the sense of danger amongst the women declined significantly from the time they entered the battered women’s shelter until the time they left.  The results also show that now, after living in the community for a certain period of time, women tend to use less community services. As to utilizing social support systems, it was interesting to point out that there were almost no differences over the different periods of time they completed the questioneres and the results stayed the same.  Women that used the social support systems continued to do so and those that did not, did not start using the social support systems later on. It was also found that there was a positive association between the woman utilizing social support systems and her quality of life. More so, the woman’s age moderated the association between the woman’s sense of danger and woman’s quality of life and women that had high level support systems had to use community services less.

The present study emphasizes the importance of support systems in women's lives who have left shelters as contributing to the quality of their lives. Moreover, these support systems are important, since they provide these women with a protective network that can empower women, reduce the sense of danger, expand their resources and give them confidence. The results have applicable implications in developing interventions that can help prepare women about to depart the shelter and adapt to living independently within the community.