Citation

Anderson MA, Gillig PM, Sitaker M, McCloskey K, Malloy K, Grigsby N. J. Fam. Violence 2003; 18(3): 151-155.

Affiliation

Dept of Psychiatry, Wright State Univ School of Medicine, Dayton, Ohio; Montgomery County Combined Health District, Dayton, Ohio; Wright State Univ School of Professional Psychology, Dayton, Ohio; Artemis Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence, Dayt

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1023/A:1023564404773

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Responses of victims at a domestic violence advocacy center indicate that barriers exist to seeking help that are often overlooked by many mental health professionals. This descriptive study retrospectively examined 485 victim surveys gathered in a domestic violence advocacy center (Artemis Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence) in Dayton, Ohio, over 12 months. Various reasons for returning included lack of money (45.9%, n = 184), lack of a place to go (28.5%, n = 114), and lack of police help (13.5%, n = 54). Reasons for returning indicated that barriers prevented the victim from being safe. The Barrier Model as proposed by N. Grigsby and B. Hartman (Grigsby, N. and Hartman, B. 1997, Psychotherapy 31: 465-497) is used as a vehicle to explain these findings. This model incorporates four concentric rings with the victim in the center as the innermost ring. The rings in order of external to internal represent the environmental barriers, family and social role expectations, and the psychological impact of the abuse.