Accessibility to Resources: Helping Rural Women in Abusive Partner Relationships Become Free from Abuse

Abstract

Women in abusive partner relationships seek useful support from family, friends, and the community but are often unsuccessful. Rural women may be especially at risk because of geographical isolation. It was predicted that having a supportive network with access to resources would enable rural women in abusive partner relationships to become free from abuse. We interviewed rural women in previous abusive partner relationships with respect to past and current abuse, supportive and nonsupportive networks, and access to resources. Results indicated that having supportive persons predicted declines in long-term abuse when information and advice were provided that helped women access resources. Nonsupportive persons hindered women's access to resources and were a factor in keeping them bound in abusive relationships.

Facilitators and Barriers for Implementing Home Visit Interventions to Address Intimate Partner Violence: Town and Gown Partnerships

“…Whether screening for abuse in an institutional setting or rural home visit; providers have expressed their concerns regarding inadequate knowledge regarding the identification and treatment of women experiencing violence as well as IPV resources a provider has available to offer women identified [30, 31, 35, 36, 38, 40–42]. There are unique barriers experienced by rural providers related to resources such as: law enforcement agencies slow response to reports of abuse due to the distance required to travel to the site of the violence and fewer shelters being available in rural areas [30, 31,41–43].…”

“…Rural providers may differ in that many times the provider may know the woman she is helping personally, or may know her abuser. This appears to be more of a concern for rural healthcare providers than those in the urban setting where additional resources are available to help provide the anonymity that abused women prefer [31, 32, 41, 42]. …”

The impact of resource constraints on the psychological well‐being of survivors of intimate partner violence over time

“…The inverse relationship between abuse and access to resources has been supported cross-sectionally and longitudinally (Bosch & Schumm, 2004;Bybee & Sullivan, 2002Sullivan & Bybee, 1999). For instance, among women recruited from a domestic violence shelter, Sullivan and colleagues found that access to community-based resources (e.g., housing, employment, health care, child care) protected women from future abuse.…”

Frightened In Isolation: Unique Considerations for Research of Sexual Assault and Interpersonal Violence in Rural Areas

“…The abuser may unilaterally decide that any newly developed relationships the victim forms must be terminated immediately, and will go to great lengths to ensure that this occurs, further intensifying isolation. Of significant note, the abuser uses a rural setting to isolate his victim from anyone who might influence her decisions to report or who could pose a threat to his sense of control (Bosch & Schumm, 2004).…”