Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The aim of this study was to investigate the problems faced by women who have to leave home because of violence; the helpfulness of the individuals and agencies to which they turn for assistance, and, in particular, the usefulness of the refuge as a response to the problems of battered women. The study involved carrying out semi-structured interviews with women at the refuge and then re-interviewing them after they had left. The follow-up interview took place between one and two years after the first interview. Interviews were also carried out with the women who were involved in setting up and running the refuge during the first two years of its existence. In-depth interviews were also carried out with a sub-sample of women. Quantitative material from the first wave of structured questionnaire interviews comprised an early edition of this collection. The National Social Policy and Social Change Archive (NSPSCA) at the University of Essex contains the second wave in-depth interviews in paper format. Digitised copies of this collection, along with the material deposited earlier is now available as a second edition.

Main Topics:

Variables The study had three main themes: (1) An analysis of each woman's perception of her problems and of her own evaluation of any 'solutions' which she had been offered by her family and friends, by agencies such as the social services, the housing department, the police and the medical profession, and by the refuge and those who lived and worked there. (2) An analysis of the changing institutional structure of the refuge, an evaluation of the extent to which the self-help principle seemed relevant to the needs of the women, and an attempt to assess the value to each woman of her stay at the refuge as a resource to help her cope with her difficulties. (3) An analysis of each woman's situation before, during, and after her stay at the refuge. This analysis involved a consideration of the domestic situation of each woman and of the pattern of structured constraints within which she had to make decisions about the future of herself and her children.

Purposive selection/case studies

The study was undertaken in two parts. First, 25 women were interviewed at the refuge in 1976. In 1978/1979 an additional 25 women were interviewed and then follow-up interviews were conducted with as many of the 50 women who could be contacted

Face-to-face interview

Observation

(semi-structured and in-depth)