Abstract
There has been relatively little research published to guide the field in identifying and addressing barriers to seeking help for older women who experience domestic violence (DV). The current article focuses on findings related to external behaviors to help-seeking in the Domestic Violence Against Older Women (DVAOW) study. Data were collected in 21 focus groups with 134 women, 45 to 85 years of age. External barriers, described by DVAOW respondents as contributing to the reluctance of some older women to seek help for domestic abuse, include response of family, response of clergy, response of the justice system, and responsiveness of community resources. These findings are discussed with implications for community outreach and future research.
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Notes
There were indeed services for the elderly available in the community. These data relate more to the knowledge of respondents than to the actual availability of services.
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Acknowledgement
This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ#2002-WG-BX-0100).
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Please cite this article as: Beaulaurier, R. L., Seff, L. R., Newman, F. L., & Dunlop, B. D. (2007). External barriers to help seeking for older women who experience intimate partner violence. Journal of Family Violence, 22(4).
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Beaulaurier, R.L., Seff, L.R., Newman, F.L. et al. External Barriers to Help Seeking for Older Women Who Experience Intimate Partner Violence. J Fam Viol 22, 747–755 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-007-9122-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-007-9122-y
Keywords
- Domestic abuse
- Barriers to help-seeking
- Older women
- Elder abuse
- Qualitative research
- Domestic violence
- Intimate partner abuse