-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: This study sought to extend our understanding of the mechanisms by which intimate partner violence (IPV) harms women economically. We examined the mediating role of job instability on the IPV-economic well-being relationship among 503 welfare recipients. IPV had significant negative effects on women's job stability and economic well-being. Job stability was at least partly responsible for the deleterious economic consequences of IPV, and the effects lasted up to three years after the IPV ended. This study demonstrates the need for services and policies that address barriers to employment as a means of improving the economic well-being of low-income women with abusive partners.
Violence Against Women 12/2012; 18(12):1345-67. · 1.33 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Guided by an intersectional feminist perspective, we examined sexual victimization, witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV) in the family, and familial physical abuse among a sample of 180 urban African American adolescent women. We used cluster analysis to better understand the profiles of cumulative victimization, and the relationships between profiles and IPV victimization and personal exposure to the sex trade. Just under one third of the sample reported sexual victimization, with cooccurrence with both forms of family violence common. The cluster profile with high levels of severe family violence was associated with the highest rate of IPV victimization and sex trade exposure.
Violence Against Women 11/2012; 18(11):1319-1338. · 1.33 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Individuals with a severe mental illness now have greater opportunities to pursue normal adult roles, including parenting. The research reported involved 379 women carrying out parenting responsibilities, recruited from the public mental health system in an urban area. The sample displayed great heterogeneity in educational levels, number of children, number of fathers for their children, and family living arrangements, except that most women were very poor. These women faced many significant stresses: living alone with their children, significant child behavior problems, and financial worries. Still, most of the women endorsed the significance of motherhood in their lives. Inattention by most mental health providers to parenting issues leaves many important needs unmet and is likely to have adverse consequences for these women and their children. Implications for psychosocial rehabilitation practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal 10/2012; · 0.75 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Satisfaction data have recently returned to popularity, as an outcome measure in managed behavioral healthcare systems. However, there are few examples of management uses of such data. The authors collected data 12 mo after participants (aged 17–75 yrs) completed a supported education program, concerning their satisfaction and the barriers, needs, and personal difficulties currently experienced in their attempts to pursue post-secondary education or training. Results supported participants' continuing satisfaction, and identified particular information items which were endorsed as most helpful. However, the data indicated that personal difficulties presented obstacles to many participants and that a majority of participants had current needs for financial aid, tutoring, job placements, support groups, and transportation. Following completion of the supported education program, many participants had continuing contacts in support of their educational plans. The amount of contact was generally low, however. In the future, supported education programs need to build in mechanisms to ensure students receive ongoing support for education, since this support was found to positively and significantly affect individuals' enrolling in college or training, (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal 10/2012; · 0.75 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Consumer-run programs and clubhouses are 2 important models in the emerging field of psychosocial rehabilitation according to the 1999 Surgeon General's report (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). However, no published studies have compared the operations and services of these 2 models. The research reported here involves a statewide study of a matched sample of 29 clubhouses and 29 consumer-run drop-in centers (CDIs), with data gathered by obtaining documents from and conducting on-site interviews with agency directors. As expected, the authors found greater member control and involvement at CDIs and more instrumental services and activities at clubhouses. The authors also found that clubhouses had substantially more resources than CDIs and that CDIs showed significantly greater variance across programs on most measures. Implications for planning and further research are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychological Services 10/2012; 2(1):54-64. · 1.08 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Despite evidence that gender and race/ethnicity matter in the relation between functioning and diagnosis, studies often fail to separate results for women or to include sufficient non-Whites for analyses. The present study investigated personal characteristics, contextual factors, and current functioning of women (N = 379) across major diagnostic groups. Using statistical controls for race, multivariate analyses indicated significant differences across diagnoses. In paired comparison tests, women with major depression had significantly higher education, higher socioeconomic status, less severe clinical histories, and better current status. Women with schizoaffective diagnoses were most impaired in functioning, and women with schizophrenia diagnoses were most positive in their subjective perceptions. Analyses explored alternative explanations for these differences. Implications for treatment and research are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychological Services 10/2012; 1(1):5-21. · 1.08 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Examined are the interrelationships between women's experience of physical and emotional abuse, their parenting stress, quality of maternal parenting, and children's behavioral adjustment. Eighty women who had a history of recent domestic violence and their children aged 7-11 participated in the study. Mothers and their children agreed that the mothers were emotionally available to their children, and that mothers were more likely to use noncorporal punishment with their children than corporal punishment. Multivariate analysis indicated that mothers' experience of physical and emotional abuse had no direct impact on their level of parenting stress or use of discipline with their children. Rather, assailants' abuse of mothers had a direct impact on children's behavioral adjustment. The study illuminates the importance of identifying battered women's parenting strengths and assets. Research and policy implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Journal of Emotional Abuse 10/2012;
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Most sexual assaults are never reported to law enforcement, and even among reported cases, most will never be successfully prosecuted. This reality has been a long-standing source of frustration for survivors, victim advocates, as well as members of the criminal justice system. To address this problem, communities throughout the United States have implemented multidisciplinary response interventions to improve post-assault care for victims and increase reporting and prosecution rates. One such model is the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program, whereby specially trained nurses (rather than hospital emergency department [ED] physicians) provide comprehensive psychological, medical, and forensic services for sexual assault victims. The purpose of this study was to examine whether adult sexual assault cases were more likely to be investigated and prosecuted after the implementation of a SANE program within a large Midwestern county. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare criminal justice system case progression pre-SANE to post-SANE. Results from longitudinal multilevel ordinal regression modeling revealed that case progression through the criminal justice system significantly increased pre- to post-SANE: more cases reached the "final" stages of prosecution (i.e., conviction at trial and/or guilty plea bargains) post-SANE. These findings are robust after accounting for changes in operation at the focal county prosecutors' office and seasonal variation in rape reporting. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.
Violence Against Women 02/2012; 18(2):223-44. · 1.33 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: As empirical evidence has demonstrated the pervasiveness of sexual assault and intimate partner violence in the lives of women, and the links to poor mental health outcomes, attention has turned to examining how women seek and access formal help. We present a conceptual model that addresses prior limitations and makes three key contributions: It foregrounds the influence of social location and multiple contextual factors; emphasizes the importance of the attainment of effective formal help that meets women's needs and leads to positive mental health outcomes; and highlights the role of interventions in facilitating help attainment. We conclude with research and practice implications.
American Journal of Community Psychology 01/2012; 50(1-2):217-28. · 1.74 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Adolescents are at high risk for sexual assault, but few of these crimes are reported to the police and prosecuted by the criminal justice system. To address this problem, communities throughout the United States have implemented multidisciplinary interventions to improve post-assault care for victims and increase prosecution rates. The two most commonly implemented interventions are Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Programs and Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs). The purpose of this study was to determine whether community-level context (i.e., stakeholder engagement and collaboration) was predictive of adolescent legal case outcomes, after accounting for "standard" factors that affect prosecution success (i.e., victim, assault, and evidence characteristics). Overall, 40% of the adolescent cases from these two SANE-SART programs (over a 10-year period) were successfully prosecuted. Cases were more likely to be prosecuted for younger victims, those with disabilities, those who knew their offenders, and instances in which the rape evidence collection kit was submitted by police for analysis. After accounting for these influences, multi-level modeling results revealed that in one site decreased allocation of community resources to adolescent sexual assault cases had a significant negative effect on prosecution case outcomes. Results are explained in terms of Wolff's (Am J Community Psychol 29:173-191, 2001) concept of "over-coalitioned" communities and Kelly's (1968) ecological principles.
American Journal of Community Psychology 11/2011; 50(1-2):141-54. · 1.74 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: This study examined the relationship between experiences of day-to-day discrimination and two measures of health among Gujaratis, one of the largest ethnic groups of Asian Indians in the U.S. Data were collected via computer-assisted telephone interviews with a random sample of Gujarati men and women aged 18-64 in Metropolitan Detroit (N = 423). Using structural equation modeling, we tested two gender-moderated models of the relationship between day-to-day discrimination and health, one using the single-item general health status and the other using the 4-item emotional wellbeing measure. For both women and men, controlling for socio-demographic and other relevant characteristics, the experience of day-to-day discrimination was associated with worse emotional wellbeing. However, day-to-day discrimination was associated with the single-item self-rated general health status only for men. This study identified not only gender differences in discrimination-health associations but also the importance of using multiple questions in assessing perceived health status.
Journal of Behavioral Medicine 09/2011; 35(5):471-83. · 3.10 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: This article reviews current epistemological and design issues in the mixed methods literature and then examines the application of one specific design, a sequential explanatory mixed methods design, in an evaluation of a community-based intervention to improve postassault care for sexual assault survivors. Guided by a pragmatist epistemological framework, this study collected quantitative and qualitative data to understand how the implementation of a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program affected prosecution rates of adult sexual assault cases in a large midwestern community. Quantitative results indicated that the program was successful in affecting legal systems change and the qualitative data revealed the mediating mechanisms of the intervention's effectiveness. Challenges of implementing this design are discussed, including epistemological and practical difficulties that developed from blending methodologies into a single project.
Violence Against Women 02/2011; · 1.33 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive social problem impacting the psychological well-being of millions of US women annually. The extant literature draws our attention to the devastating mental health effects of IPV, but largely overlooks how ecological factors may further explain survivors' well-being. This study examined how neighborhood disadvantage may contribute to survivors' compromised well-being, in addition to the abuse women experienced. Neighborhood disorder and fear of victimization significantly impacted survivors' well-being, over and above abuse. Although between-women effects of neighborhood disorder and fear were unrelated to change in women's depression or quality of life (QOL), significant within-woman effects were detected. Change in neighborhood disorder was negatively associated with change in QOL, and this relationship was fully mediated by fear. While no direct relationship between change in neighborhood disorder and depression was detected, an indirect effect through survivors' fear was revealed. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
American Journal of Community Psychology 12/2010; 47(3-4):287-306. · 1.74 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: This study examined the impact of resource constraints on the psychological well-being of survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), testing whether resource constraints is one mechanism that partially mediates the relationship between IPV and women's well-being. Although within-woman changes in resource constraints did not mediate the relationship between change in physical abuse and change in well-being, change in resource constraints fully explained the relationship between change in psychological abuse and change in psychological well-being over time. Survivors' resource constraints were fully responsible for the significant mental health consequences that women experienced after psychological abuse. Between-women differences in initial resource constraints were also examined; however, they did not mediate the relationship between women's earlier experiences of abuse and change in their well-being over time. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Journal of Community Psychology 10/2010; 38(8):943 - 959. · 0.99 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is prevalent in the lives of women across the globe and has been found to be associated with substance use among women. As part of the World Health Organization's (WHO) cross-national research effort, this study examined the relationship between the experience of IPV and use of alcohol and tobacco among a probability sample of women aged 18-49 in Yokohama, Japan. Using retrospective data for 2000-2001, we employed methods of survival analysis that allowed an examination of the probability of initiating smoking and drinking subsequent to the experience of IPV. Experiencing IPV was associated with current smoking as well as initiation of smoking and current patterns of drinking. Women who had experienced IPV were more likely to be smoking at the time of the interview and tended to initiate smoking at earlier ages compared to those who had not experienced IPV. At any time point, the risk of starting to smoke was more than twice as high for women who had previously experienced IPV than for women who had not. In addition, women who had experienced IPV were more likely to drink heavily. The present study's findings clearly point to the need to enhance coordination between IPV prevention and substance abuse programs in order to improve the safety and wellbeing of women who have experienced IPV.
Social Science [?] Medicine 09/2010; 71(6):1199-207. · 2.70 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We hypothesised a gender specific relationship between efficacy and three components of racial identity, feeling that achievement is part of being black, feeling connected to the black community, and sensitivity to, awareness of outgroup barriers and racism. Because male gender socialisation downplays relationality, the "connectedness" component of racial identity was posited to be particularly helpful for boys. Because female gender socialisation downplays independent achievement and agency, the "achievement" component of racial identity was posited to be particularly helpful for girls in buffering the negative effects of the "awareness of racism" component. Controlling for fall grades and academic efficacy, fall racial identity significantly predicted spring academic efficacy differentially for boys and girls (n = 91 African-American eighth graders), with the lack of the achievement component of racial identity being particularly detrimental to girls.
International Journal of Behavioral Development 08/2010; July 1(2001):379-385. · 1.58 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: This longitudinal study used multilevel modeling to examine the relationships between witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV), community and school violence exposure (CSVE), family social support, gender, and depression over 2 years within a sample of 100 school-aged children. We found significant between-child differences in both the initial levels of depression and the trajectories of depression; depression over time was positively associated with change in witnessing IPV and CSVE and negatively associated with change in support. Two significant 3-way interactions were found: Gender and initial support, as well as gender and initial witnessing IPV, both significantly moderated the effect of change in witnessing IPV on the children's depression over time.
Journal of Family Psychology 04/2010; 24(2):197-207. · 1.66 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Intimate partner violence is a serious and pervasive social problem with deleterious consequences for survivors' well-being. The current study involved interviewing 160 survivors 6 times over 2 years to examine the role of social support in explaining or buffering these negative psychological consequences. The authors examined both between- and within-persons variability to explore women's trajectories regarding their experiences of abuse, social support, depression, and quality of life (QOL). Findings revealed the complex role of social support on women's well-being. Evidence was found for main, mediating, and moderating effects of social support on women's well-being. First, social support was positively related to QOL and negatively related to depression. Social support also partially explained the effect of baseline level and subsequent change in physical abuse on QOL and depression over time, partially mediated the effects of change in psychological abuse, and moderated the impact of abuse on QOL. The buffering effects of social support were strongest at lower levels of abuse. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 09/2009; 77(4):718-29. · 4.85 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: This 2-year longitudinal study investigated the relations between community and school violence exposure, witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV), family social support, and anxiety, within a sample of 100 school-age children (39% female, M age = 9.90 years). Using multilevel modeling, we found heterogeneity across children in terms of their initial levels of anxiety and their trajectories of anxiety over time. Initial community and school violence exposure and witnessing IPV were both positively associated with initial levels of anxiety. Over time, change in both community and school violence exposure and witnessing IPV positively covaried with anxiety. Further, gender, initial family social support, and change in family social support significantly moderated the effect of change in community and school violence exposure on anxiety.
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology 06/2009; 38(3):365-79. · 1.92 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Clubhouses and consumer-run drop-in centers (CRDIs) are two of the most widely implemented models of consumer-centered services for persons with serious mental illness. Differences in structure and goals suggest that they may be useful to different types of consumers. Information on what types of consumers use which programs would be useful in service planning. This study analyzes data from the authors' NIMH-funded research on 31 geographically matched pairs of clubhouses and CRDIs involving more than 1,800 consumers to address the following question: are there significant differences in the characteristics and outcomes of members of clubhouses versus CRDIs? Results from multilevel analyses indicated that clubhouse members were more likely to be female, to receive SSI/SSDI, to report having a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and to live in dependent care; and they reported both a greater number of lifetime hospitalizations and current receipt of higher intensity traditional MH services. Controlling for differences in demographic characteristics, psychiatric history, and mental health service receipt, clubhouse members also reported higher quality of life and were more likely to report being in recovery. CRDI consumers were more likely to have substance abuse histories. Possible reasons for the differences are discussed. The results suggest that CRDIs are a viable alternative to more traditional mental health services for individuals who might not otherwise receive mental health services.
The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research 07/2008; 36(3):361-71. · 1.32 Impact Factor
