DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ADVOCACY Leila Grace Wood Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Social Work, Indiana University April 2014 ii Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________ Carol Hostetter, MSW, PhD, Chair __________________ Sabrina W. Sullenberger, MSW, PhD Doctoral Committee _ _________________ William H. Barton, PhD ____________________________________ Margaret E. Adamek, PhD March 26, 2014 ___________________________________ Rebecca Sloan, PhD iii © 2014 Leila Grace Wood iv Dedication For Mom, and Molly, who make it count, every time. v Acknowledgements I first and foremost would like to thank my dissertation chair, Carol Hostetter, for her mentorship, feedback, and support during my dissertation, experience in the PhD program, and social work educational career. Over the last 11 years, she has provided me with a listening ear, a guide in my journey as a researcher, and also a role model in the field. I would not be here without her, and I am deeply grateful. I would also like to thank Sabrina Williamson Sullenberger who provided me with emotional support as a mentor and fellow mother. Sabrina also helped me to develop my qualitative analysis skill set, and set a tone for work-life balance that I will carry with me forward. Rebecca Sloan took a chance on me and agreed to be on my committee, despite retiring. Thank you, Becky for all of your guidance and fostering of my qualitative skills. I am a much better researcher for having worked with you. William Barton’s high expectations and careful editing made me a thoughtful and more rigorous student and researcher, and his role in my dissertation committee was one of a process guide. He is also one of the most challenging and best teachers I have ever had. Margaret Adamek provided last minute support on my committee, but was alongside me the whole time-helping me through the process from the moment I applied to the PhD program at IUSSW. She is, to me, what leadership in social work education should be like, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart. I also want to thank my other teachers in the PhD program: Cathy Pike, Hea-Won Kim, Kathy Lay, Bob Vernon, Jim Daley. You all helped to get me here. Big shout out to my IUSSW Bloomington crew—Kathy, Bruce, Carlene, Tammi, and Jen—who have been wonderful colleagues and supports. I wouldn’t have survived without my confidante Kori Rose Bloomquist. She was my rock in this process, and my empathic vi fellow traveler. Noël Busch-Armendariz at University of Texas provided technical support, helped with the vision of my research agenda, and inspires my path in Social Work research. My little family (Dylan, Jack, and Sam) sacrificed so much for me to get here, and they did so lovingly. Dylan, you are my heart. Thank you. My big family (Mom, Molly, Nick, Jeremy, Mary, Alex, Selene, Bethany and all my nieces and nephews) listened to many presentations in preparations for various class assignments and defenses, and provided hours of babysitting. Their belief that I would finish and receive a doctorate kept me going. My dear friends Lana, Hillary, Hannah, and Carrie dragged me away from my work to remember what fun is like, and believed in me. You are the best pals a gal could ask for and I love you all dearly. Most importantly, I want to thank the domestic violence advocates I interviewed for this study-22 women who work every day to end violence. Their dedication and vision of a world free of abuse inspired and amazed me. My work is to support these advocates, and all others, in doing their work with survivors of violence. I hope someday we are all out of a job. vii Leila Grace Wood DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ADVOCACY Advocacy, in the form of direct service, is a critical type of intervention to help intimate partner or domestic violence survivors. Little is known the best practices for social workers and other helping professionals to assist survivors of domestic violence who present for services at shelters, non-residential outreach, and legal settings. This dissertation reviews relevant research related to domestic violence direct services, which is also called advocacy. The study also outlines a brief overview of the history, theory, and paradigms of thought related to the movement to end intimate partner violence. The research project used the grounded theory method to conduct and analyze semi- structured, in-depth interviews with advocates at domestic violence agency to answer the research question what constructs and practices inform the delivery of direct services to survivors of domestic violence from shelter and non-residential service advocates? A total of 22 women working primarily with domestic violence survivors in shelters and non-residential agencies participated in the dissertation study. Participants came from one Midwestern and one Southwestern state. The interviewees had a range 1-20 years of experience in the field of domestic violence advocacy. Eighteen of 22 participants had experienced some sort of intimate violence in their lifetime. Several important findings emerged. Advocates typically enter the field because of personal motivations. The empowerment and strengths-based perspective are important to the delivery of advocacy services, as is belief in hope. Advocates typically endorse a survivor centered approach to their work. Data analysis revealed a concurrent process of advocacy that occurs within advocates and between advocates and survivors. This parallel process is marked in the viii earlier state of assessing and grounding; in the middle stage of establishing and affirming; and the ending stages of hoping and reflecting. These findings suggest the importance of personal experiences, hope, and reflection in the delivery of advocacy services. Community collaboration and support are essential to maintaining services that are aimed at the individual needs of survivors. More research is needed about the perceptions of services among survivors of domestic violence. Carol Hostetter, MSW, PhD, Chair ix Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction ...............................................................................................1 Background of the Problem .................................................................................................1 Research Study...................................................................................................................13 Chapter Two: Review of Literature ...............................................................................18 Brief Overview of Theory Connected to Domestic Violence Advocacy ..........................26 Practice ...............................................................................................................................30 Policy .................................................................................................................................57 The Experience of Being a Partner Violence Advocate ....................................................62 Chapter Three: Methods .................................................................................................78 Constructivist Grounded Theory........................................................................................80 Chapter Four: Findings ...................................................................................................94 Storyline .............................................................................................................................97 Constructs ........................................................................................................................104 Practices ...........................................................................................................................123 Advocates as Survivors ....................................................................................................139 The Process of Domestic Violence Advocacy .................................................................145 Chapter Five: Discussion ...............................................................................................150 Motivations ......................................................................................................................150 Constructs Influencing Practice .......................................................................................153 Practices ...........................................................................................................................161 Limitations .......................................................................................................................177 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................178 Appendix: Interview Protocol ......................................................................................181 References .......................................................................................................................183 Curriculum Vitae x List of Tables Table 1: Agency Characteristics ........................................................................................95 Table 2: Advocacy Characteristics ....................................................................................96