Voices of women: Perspectives on decision-making and the management of partner violence

The voices of women who may or may not choose to engage helping systems, such as hotline and shelter services, child welfare and other civil and criminal justice remedies, are conspicuously absent from the research literature on domestic violence. A phenomenological qualitative study was conducted to address the need for studies that examine the effectiveness of domestic violence policy and practice interventions from the perspective of women utilizing these services. Multiple, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten women recruited from a non-residential, community-based domestic violence program in New York City. All participants were at various stages within an abusive relationship, with differences in the duration and severity of the abuse, and who have had a variety of experiences of the domestic violence system. Participants expressed their overall frustration and dissatisfaction with the domestic violence system's apparent inability to hold their partners accountable; for the burden that the system places on the victim to secure her own safety and to manage the safety of the children; and the expectation that she should give up everything and leave her community to secure her safety.