Personal and Community Resources for the Victims of Domestic Violence

Beyond the emotional and social implications of domestic violence on victims, personal and community resources occupy a central place in the analysis of this phenomenon. Women possess many personal strengths and resources that promote leaving an abusive relationship and healing from the effects of IPV. Identified personal characteristics that aid in this process include spirituality, a sense of hope, self-education, positive self-talk and the belief in one’s ability to take action. The purpose of this study was to understand how social worker or counsellors can be most helpful to women who are attempting to access community resources in the process of leaving an abusive relationship by providing a thorough description of types of community and personal resources that female IPV survivors find most helpful. This research focuses on two problems personal and community resources that victims of IPV identify as critical to leaving an abusive relationship and, describe the experience of accessing these resources by victims of IPV. The research is based on a theoretical framework and the analysis was based on issues of qualitative methodology research that is using individual sociological investigation. So I made several semi structured interviews with victims of domestic violence that benefit of assistance and protection in a shelter from Arges county. Ten IPV survivors, ages 23-40 years, describe positive and negative experiences with social support, self-care, connection, IPV assessment, community validation, but many of them reported lack of protection, community support, and inappropriate responses to IPV needs. However, results of this study show that, although community resources for IPV victims are largely inadequate, the victims possess multiple forms of resiliency and the social worker can play a key role in assisting IPV victims.

Keywords: domestic violence, personal resources, community resources