Role of Woman's Shelter in Empowering Women Survivors of Partner Violence

Bakić, Helena and Ajduković, Dean and Barić, Željka. (2017). Role of Woman's Shelter in Empowering Women Survivors of Partner Violence. Ljetopis socijalnog rada, 24(1). pp. 73-99. ISSN 1846-5412, 1848-7971

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Abstract

Objective of the study were to clarify the role of women’s shelters in empowering women survivors of partner violence, and to explore the connection of their empowerment to achieving their personal goals for the future and safety from violence. We tested the assumption that the more empowered women are, the better their goal-setting for the future will be, which in turn would lead to higher achievement of the goals after leaving the shelter. In this longitudinal study ten women, beneficiaries of the shelter participated. Several sources of information were used in order to triangulate the data, which included interviews with women beneficiaries and two female staff psychologists. Also, documentation about achieving individual plans of change were analysed. Interviews with women were conducted during their stay in the shelter and six to ten months after they left. The connection between women’s empowerment and the quality of their goal setting for the future was found, but answers about the perceived utility of the received psychosocial services and achieving the personal goals were not clear due to high attrition of participants at second interview. The study highlights difficulties of maintaining contact with women survivors of partner violence after leaving the shelter and ways to decrease attrition in future research. Methodology for defining personal goals based on the »SMART« principles is proposed and key elements are operationalized which can be useful in future research.

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