NCJ Number
225094
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 23 Issue: 7 Dated: October 2008 Pages: 597-604
Date Published
October 2008
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined the differences between woman who left shelters for battered women and returned to their partners and those who remained.
Abstract
Findings show that among women who stayed in the shelter, personal resources such as self-esteem and empowerment, and organizational resources such as participation, and commitment contributed to life satisfaction. However among the women who left the shelter, commitment was the only resource that contributed to life satisfaction. The contribution of personal resources to life satisfaction among women who stayed in the shelter is consistent with the findings of studies conducted among other populations which revealed positive correlations between self-esteem and life satisfaction as well as between empowerment and life satisfaction. Participation and commitment were also revealed as contributing factors to life satisfaction among women who stayed in the shelter. Interventions aimed at increasing women’s personal resources should focus on providing information, expanding the external resources available to the women, and developing therapeutic practices that enhance those practices. The finding that the level of participation in the shelter contributed to life satisfaction highlights the need to provide women residing in shelters with opportunities to participate in decisionmaking and planning in their daily lives. Data were collected from 77 women aged 18 to 52 who were staying at 8 battered women’s shelters in Israel; of these women, 37 left the shelter after a brief stay of up to 1 month and went back to their partners, and 40 stayed at the shelter for at least 3 months. Tables, references