Responding to intimate partner violence victimisation : effective options for help-seeking / Silke Meyer.

Canberra, A.C.T. : Australian Institute of Criminology, 2010.

78431

Intimate partner violence -- Australia.

Abused wives -- Services for -- Australia.

Victims of crimes surveys -- Australia.

Help-seeking behavior -- Australia.

"Approximately one in four women in most Western nations are at risk of becoming a victim of intimate partner violence (IPV). Interventions for IPV victims have shown to be significant in preventing negative outcomes. Using data from the International Violence Against Women Survey, this paper examines predictors of help-seeking by IPV victims and considers whether such responses are influenced by the severity of abuse experienced. Many IPV victims seek assistance informally from family and friends in the first instance and that experience may affect subsequent attempts to seek help from more formal sources. This study found that victims of IPV are more likely to explore formal avenues of support when married to the abusive partner, have children who have witnessed incidents of abuse, have used drugs or alcohol to cope with abuse and where the abusive partner has previously received counselling for his behaviour. It was found that in cases where the victim had experienced more severe types of abuse, and/or if they felt their life had been threatened during the most recent incident, there was a significantly increased likelihood of formal help-seeking. Collectively, these findings can inform the enhancement of current responses made by formal sources of support to better accommodate the needs of IPV victims and their children."--Foreword.

Title from title caption of PDF document (viewed April 14, 2010).

"March 2010".

Includes bibliographical references (p. 6)

Text; available to download from PDF file or view in HTML.

Australian Institute of Criminology 2010.

1 electronic text (6 p.) : PDF file.