The Impact of Community-Based Outreach on Psychological Distress and Victim Safety in Women Exposed to Intimate Partner Abuse

By making outreach directly to victims, community-based agencies remove barriers that might otherwise impede women from seeking out community-based services to address psychosocial needs. Further, the high level of coordination involved in CCR programs means that community-based agencies can be selected to outreach to victims based on specific psychosocial needs. Matching services with victim needs at the point of outreach should lead to better service provision, with resulting gains in psychological symptoms and safety. Further, the process of finding resources should be less stressful (e.g., women do not have to retell their stories as they seek out an agency that meets their needs), which may also reduce distress. Outreach might be particularly important to women who are oppressed or marginalized by life circumstances beyond the IPA itself (e.g., socioeconomic status, physical dependence on the offender) that otherwise add barriers to seeking out services or increase risk of psychological symptoms, making examination of moderators important.”