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A Matter of Life and Death:

The Voices of DomesticViolence Survivors

Diane Zosky1

AbstractIn light of recent threats to funding for essential services, this qualitative study asked women

survivors of domestic violence what they would do if their current services were no longer

available. The themes seemed to span a continuum of resilience, from continuing to look for a

way to escape the abuse, to uncertainty, to hopelessness and fear, and to resignation by staying

in the abusive relationship. The majority of women reported that if domestic violence services

were not available, they would remain with their abusers with dramatically negative consequences.

Keywords

domestic violence, help-seeking, survivors

Since the 1970s, when domestic violence was first identified (Martin, 1976; Walker, 1984),

intimate partner violence has continued to be a significant social issue. Nearly 25% of women

will be victims of intimate partner violence at least once in their lifetimes, and 1.5 million

women a year in the United States will be victimized by their partners (Tjaden & Thoennes,

2000). Although the incidence and prevalence of intimate partner violence remains a significant

social issue, recent threats to funding in federal programs through the Violence Against Women

Act and the Victim of Crime Act have jeopardized services that women need to survive domes-

tic violence and eventually to seek lives of safety for themselves and their children. Indeed,

research has shown that women who receive intensive advocacy services are more likely to

access community supports, experience less violence, and are less likely to be reabused overtime than are women who do not receive advocacy services (Bell & Goodman, 2001; Sullivan,

1991; Sullivan & Bybee, 1999). Reductions in the level of services for survivors of domestic

violence will likely make their efforts to seek safety more challenging and perhaps overwhelm-

ing. In light of recent threats to funding for essential services, the qualitative study

presented here asked women survivors of domestic violence what they would do if their current

services were no longer available.

1

School of Social Work, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Diane Zosky, School of Social Work, Illinois State University, Campus Box 4650, Normal, IL 61790-4650, USA

Email: [email protected]

Affilia: Journal of Women and Social

Work

26(2) 201-212

2011 SAGE Publications

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Review of the Literature

As the dynamics of domestic violence have been studied, more has come to be known about the

coping strategies that women use when they remain in abusive relationships and how they make

decisions to leave their abusers. A plethora of research has elucidated the help-seeking strategies thatwomen use to respond to violence that is perpetrated on them by their partners.

The domestic violence community has witnessed an evolution of theory that explains how

survivors of domestic violence respond to their situations. Theory has evolved from explana-

tions of passivity to strength-based understandings of womens pursuit of safety. Early theories

tended to explain womens response to domestic violence by passivity. Walkers (1978, 1984)

early theories of learned helplessness and the battered woman syndrome attributed womens

passivity to a chronic cycle of physical and psychological abuse that diminished womens sense

of self-esteem and self-efficacy and resulted in victims capitulation to their abusers. Although

Walkers contributions to the understanding of domestic violence helped illuminate the scope

of what had been largely an invisible social issue, feminist theory began to shape the discourseof domestic violence from victimization to survival and empowerment.

Feminist empowerment theory has been instrumental in shaping the evolution of the domestic

violence community. It is founded on several principles that influence practice. A central princi-

ple is that of an egalitarian relationship between providers and users of services in the domestic

violence community (Black, 2003; White, 2006). Users of services are seen as the experts on

their situations, resilient and responsible, and fully capable of making changes in their lives with

adequate support from service providers. Feminist empowerment theory promotes a strengths per-

spective of women and dismisses labels of pathology (Bricker-Jenkins & Hooyman, 1986). This

depathologizing approach to practice is seen in the shift of language from the use of the word

victim to the use of the word survivor in describing users of domestic violence services. On the

basis of feminist empowerment theory, the community of providers of domestic violence servicesworks in collaboration and equality with survivors to help survivors effect changes in their lives,

so they can live in safety.

As research with victims of domestic violence expanded, it became apparent that women were

not passive recipients of abuse but were indeed active in their attempts to gain safety. Gondolf and

Fishers (1988) survivor theory states that women are active help seekers and use many methods to

attempt to escape their abuse. Despite many attempts to seek help, women often find indifference

from society and insufficient supports from the helping system. Consequently, unsuccessful out-

comes from attempts to seek help, rather than learned helplessness, influence women to stay in abu-

sive relationships. Merritt-Gray and Wuest (1995) identified the theory of the reclaiming self, which

states that women actively attempt to counteract violence but that leaving the violent situation is aprocess that unfolds over time and is not a discreet event. Ptaceks (1999) social entrapment theory

shifts the explanation for the difficulty in leaving an abusive relationship from microexplanations to

macroexplanations. According to this theory, a cultural context of sexism and patriarchy contributes

to social and institutional failures to respond to victims repeated requests for help.

More than two decades of research have demonstrated that women who are victimized by violent

partners are active in their coping strategies and help-seeking activities (Bennett Cattaneo,

Goodman, Stuewig, Kaltman, & Dutton, 2007; Bowker, 1983; Gondolf & Fisher, 1988; Leone,

Johnson, & Cohan, 2007; Moe, 2007). Research has continued to define how survivors cope, what

services they seek, and what influences their help-seeking. Liang, Goodman, Tummala-Narra, and

Weintraubs (2005) theoretical framework identified a three-part process of how survivors come tothe decision to seek services that is highly influenced by individual, interpersonal, and sociocultural

factors: recognizing and defining the problem, making a decision to seek help, and finally choosing

which supports to seek.

202 Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work 26(2)



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This three-part process often seems to progress from the use of informal to the use of formal

resources. Many survivors use interpersonal coping strategies, such as placating or resisting, as

initial responses to violence. When these strategies are not effective, help-seeking may expand to

include informal supports, such as family members and friends, and then progress to using formal

public supports, such as law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and the social service system

(Brown, 1997; Goodman, Dutton, Weinfurt, & Cook, 2003; Haggerty & Goodman, 2003).

The timing of when survivors of domestic violence move from recognizing the problem to

making a decision to seek help may be influenced by the severity of their abuse. That is, there seems

to be a correlation between the increased severity of the abuse and an increase in help-seeking

activity (Coker, Derrick, Lumpkin, Aldrich, & Oldendick, 2000; Goodman et al., 2003; Goodman,

Dutton, Weinfurt, & Vankos, 2005). Leone et al. (2007) found that women who were victims of

intimate terrorism, which is characterized by a sustained pattern of violence based on power and

control tactics, were more likely to use formal supports, such as the police, medical professionals,

and mental health counselors, than were victims of less-severe situational couple conflict. Women

who experienced less-severe situational couple conflict, which is defined as lacking the sustainedpattern of power and control characterized by intimate terrorism, were more likely to use informal

supports, such as friends.

The availability of resources may influence whether survivors progress to using active help-

seeking strategies to cope with violence. Survivors of violence who could identify a range of avail-

able resources they could access for help were more likely to use active means of engagement than

passive means of disengagement, such as avoidance or attempts to reduce tension to cope with vio-

lence (Taft, Resick, Panuzio, Vogt, & Mechanic, 2007). Urban women reported using more

resources than rural women overall, and urban women reported that their experiences with the crim-

inal justice and law enforcement systems were more helpful than rural women did (Shannon, Logan,

Cole, & Medley, 2006).Race may influence how survivors of domestic violence seek supports. Hollenshead, Dai,

Ragsdale, Massey, and Scott (2006) found that African American women were more likely to seek

help from the law enforcement system than from counselors, and when seeking help from family

violence service agencies, they were more likely to use legal advocacy services than counseling.

The opposite was true for Euro-American women, who were more likely to use counseling services

than legal advocacy services. African American women are more likely to use prayer than were

Caucasian women, who were more likely to use formal mental health counseling services to seek

help for violence (El-Khoury et al., 2004).

In addition to studying how abused women have been successful in seeking help, it may be

equally instructive to learn why some women do not seek help. Fugate, Landis, Riordan, Naureckas,

and Engel (2005) identified barriers to accessing help, such as wanting to avoid the loss of confiden-

tiality, being afraid to tell others, experiencing tangible losses, wanting to avoid the hassle of

reporting, feeling that their situation did not reach a threshold for intervention, and being concerned

that accessing resources would mean they would have to terminate their relationships. Fugate et al.s

study reminds us that we can learn a great deal from negative case studies as well as from the

successful ones.

Outcome studies on help-seeking have indicated that the availability and accessibility of a range

of services for survivors of intimate partner violence can have positive impact on womens ability to

achieve safety. Shelter services are critical for many women to find immediate safety to begin longer

term planning for violence-free living. These services have been found to reduce the incidence and

severity of new violence (Berk, Newton, & Berk, 1986), and women who received shelter servicesmanifest less depression and are more hopeful (Sedlak, 1988).

There is considerable outcome data to support the efficacy of advocacy services having a positive

impact on survivors of abuse achieving safety. Sullivan (1991) found that women survivors who

Zosky 203



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worked with advocates were more effective in achieving their goals than were a control group of

abused women who did not receive advocacy services. Sullivan and Bybee (1999) reported that

women who worked intensively with an advocate during the postshelter phase experienced less vio-

lence over time, reported a higher quality of life and social support, and had greater success in

obtaining community resources than did women who had not received advocacy services. Their

study compared reabuse rates over a 2-year postintervention phase and found that twice as many

women who had received advocacy services were free from violence as women who did not receive

advocacy services. Allen, Bybee, and Sullivan (2004) found that advocacy services increased abused

womens effectiveness in acquiring community resources that helped them achieve their goal of liv-

ing violence-free lives. In addition, women who received advocacy services were more likely to

access and follow through with seeking legal remedies (Weisz, 1999; Weisz, Tolman, & Bennett,

1998).

Supportive counseling from both professionals and peer support groups is effective in helping

women survive abuse. Counseling has been shown to be effective for survivors, with improvements

in self-esteem, affect, assertiveness, social supports, locus of control, coping abilities, and self-efficacy (Bennett, Riger, Schewe, Howard, & Wasco, 2004; Cox & Stoltenberg, 1991; Mancoske,

Standifer, & Cauley, 1994; Tutty, 1996). Participation in peer support groups provides stability for

women while they are making changes in their lives (Gordon, 1996). Tutty, Bidgood, and Rothery

(1993) found that women who participated in a support group had greater self-esteem, less perceived

stress, less depression, and less anxiety than did women who did not.

Feminist empowerment theory supports a collaborative model of partnership between the domes-

tic violence community and survivors. Survivors must be active help seekers, but the domestic vio-

lence community must do its part to provide avenues and services to support survivors quest for

safety and peace in their lives. Abundant research has supported the fact that women survivors of

domestic violence are active help seekers to improve their situations. When women access a varietyof services, they make better progress with positive changes than do women who do not receive ser-

vices. Indeed, unsuccessful attempts to receive services may actually increase a womens likelihood

of staying in the abusive situation (Koepsell, Kernic, & Holt, 2006). During periods of contraction in

federal and state fiscal supports, services for battered women are threatened, and survivors may

struggle with their attempts to leave their abusers or cope with their situations until they can safely

make changes in their lives. An important question is this: What impact will less funding have on the

lives of women who are trying to survive abusive partnerships? The qualitative study presented here

examined what violence survivors said they would do if the domestic violence services they were

using were no longer available.

Method

The qualitative data were gathered in summer 2007 as part of a larger strategic planning process for

the state coalition of domestic violence service providers in a midwestern state. The strategic plan-

ning committee agreed to undertake a needs assessment to determine what ongoing needs survivors

continued to experience. The coalition has 52 member organizations, each of which was invited to

participate in the data-collection phase. Member organizations are both shelter-based programs and

community-based programs. For approximately 1 month in summer 2007, each member agency

interviewed one to three recipients of service using four open-ended questions:

What would you have done if the domestic violence program did not exist? What barriers do you experience in meeting your goals?

What type of assistance from your community and other service agencies would be helpful

to you?




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If the governor of the state was sitting here, what would you tell him, in 25 words or less, about

what you need as a survivor of domestic violence?

Domestic violence caseworkers in each agency asked for volunteers to participate in the

interviews. A total of 161 women agreed to participate. To ensure anonymity for safety pur-

poses, no identifying information or demographic data were collected, and no electronic record-

ing was made of the interviews. The caseworkers took written notes of the discussions.

Members of the data-gathering committee transcribed all the individual written responses into

one aggregate file. The data were analyzed using the constant-comparative method with NVivo

qualitative software. Open coding of the transcripts was first conducted to find the major cate-

gories and themes. Axial coding was then conducted in the same manner as the open coding

and further refined the open-coded categories and themes into subthemes. This article discusses

only the results for the first of the four questions.

Results

The responses from the open-ended question that asked women what they would do if the

domestic violence services they used were not available revealed three general themes.

These themes seemed to span a continuum of resilience by continuing to look for a way to

escape the abuse, to uncertainty, and to hopelessness and fear and resignation by staying in the

abusive relationship. On the most positive end of the continuum, some women would have

been undaunted by barriers and would have continued to try to find help somewhere in any

way they could. Other women responded to this question with the theme of confusion or uncer-

tainty. They simply did not know what they would have done or what would have become

of them and their children. The largest group of responses, however, clustered on thenegative end of the continuum with the theme that the women would have had to stay in their

abusive relationships. Several subthemes or categories also emerged within these three major

themes. Although there were 161 women in the sample, the womens qualitative narratives

may have included more than one theme, so the total responses in all three themes are greater

than 161.

Theme of Resilience and Commitment to Leaving the Abusive Relationship

Of the 161 women, the responses of 54 were coded in the theme of resilience and commitment

to leaving the abusive relationship. Even within this theme, the subthemes ranged from positive

attempts to seek help to predictions of negative outcomes in any attempt to leave the abuse.Several respondents stated that they would have kept on looking for help within the social ser-

vice community. Of the 54 responses, 23 indicated that the women would have made attempts

to find other services even if they were not the best services for their situations, as in the fol-

lowing examples:

Try and find help somewhere else.

Thats very hard to answer because I tried for help through different agencies and seemed to get the run

around. I thought about renting a room somewhere in a private home or going to the YMCA. Or going to

homeless shelter or jail.

I would have found some place else to go even if I had to leave the state to be safe.

I would have had to go on several waiting lists for low-income housing. I would have to wait until some-

thing came up. I am very lucky that an apartment opened up in the crisis centers program.

Zosky 205



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The second subtheme within the overall theme of resilience was that some women would have

attempted to leave their abusive relationships by going to a family members home to stay. Of the

54 women, 13 indicated that they would seek help from family members. One woman said that the

relative who was most likely to take her in was a brother in another state, which would have required

her to move with no money and no transportation. Another woman remarked that she did not want to

be a burden to her family or appear as though she could not provide for her children. A few women

said that their abusive partners would likely find them if they lived with family members. The

following are representative comments:

[I would have] moved in with [my] parents until a place could be found to keep us safe from what was

going on or try to stay home and hope that [my] husband wouldnt show up and cause more trouble.

[I would live with my in-laws [her abusers parents].

I could have stayed with my family. However, I did not want to burden them or for them to see that

I could not care for my four children.

The third subtheme included the responses of women who speculated that they would be homeless with-

out the shelter. Of the 54 women in the overall theme of resilience, 18 reported that they would likely be

homeless. In a positive show of resilience, these women said that they thought that homelessness was a

better alternative than abuse, but some women realistically remarked that becoming homeless might also

compel them to return to their abusers. Several women said they would be living on the street. The

following comments indicate their desperation:

I would have been homeless with nowhere to go. I was living in a storage unit.

I would have looked for a cave or a vacant barn and stayed there.

More than likely, my children and I would have tried to find another shelter or stayed in my vehicle.

I could not begin to tell you. Id probably be on the streets cause I wasnt going to stay with my abuser

any longer.

Theme of Confusion and Uncertainty

Of the 161 women, 28 responded that they did not know what they would do without the shelter

program. Several women remarked that the program gave them the support, strength, and encour-

agement to begin to establish a safe life and that they could not imagine what they would do without

this help.

I dont know . . . I had no support system before.

Life would be very different. I would have been lost without this program.

[Id be] extremely confused. The program lifted [my] state of confusion and judgment for the future.

[I would have] blundered my way for years trying to find a way out. The program expedites ones ability

to understand options.

Fall apart!

Not surethis program has been everything to me. I would not have had the strength to carryon for myself and my children.

I wouldnt know how or where to start to go for safety or protection. I would probably develop some

nervous breakdown or panics.




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Theme of Living in Fear and Staying in the Abusive Relationship

By far, the most frequent response from the women was that if the shelter program was not available,

they would still be in their abusive relationships. Of the 161 women, the responses of 99 were coded

in some way to indicate the theme of staying with the abuser. Many women talked about theemotional toll that staying with their abusers would have taken on them and their children. They

identified fear, hopelessness, depression, and self-blame as likely emotional responses:

I would have remained stuck in the relationship. Now I want to believe that I eventually would have

crawled out on my own. I know for certain that I would have waited and waited. It was with Safe

Harbors assistance that I found the strength to get out and stay out.

If the DV [domestic violence] program didnt exist, I could be a hopeless person and live with fear

forever. Even thinking that this help that I am getting today did not exist is a very shocking thing for

me. It feels like living in the dark while it is bright outside.

I would have continued where I was; things would probably get worse. I would have needed to find DV

help somewhere else. I would have ended up back with my abuser or in a similar relationship. I would

feel depressed and alone.

I would not have understood what was happening, I would have thought it was my fault, blamed myself,

and repeated the same patterns.

Stay with my abuser and physically and mentally disturb my childrens lives. Be a parent I dont want to

be and live in mental misery. Always wonder if one day it will go too far, and he would kill me, and my

kids would be raised without my protection and maybe someday become victims themselves.

I would have continued to be enraged, fearful, and depressedunable to function in my daily routine any

longer. I may have left the house for a family members home to escape the intolerable, but would have

returned home to my repenting abuser, only to have the abuse get worse with each return.

I would have already lost my kids and not know what my rights are. Still continue to let my husband

emotionally, economically, and verbally abuse me. Continue to be isolated and believe that because

I am an immigrant, I have no rights and he can send me back to my country whenever he wants.

Within the theme of staying with the abusive partner, several prominent subthemes emerged. One

subtheme was that because of the constant emotional abuse and having grown-up in abusive

families, many women did not realize that their relationships were abusive until they sought services

from domestic violence service agencies. Several women said that without the domestic violence

prevention agencies, they would have stayed with their abusers and would have assumed that they

had normal relationships. These comments were typical:

I would have stayed. I thought I was in a normal relationship. As a child witness of DV, abuse was the

only thing I knew. I didnt like what was going on. However, I wasnt aware that I was being abused.

Marital problemsthat was what I was told I was experiencing. Counselors, psychiatrists, preachers,

and my family told me that my husband was sick and that I was responsible to help him. Safe Harbor

helped me see that my home was not normal. They offered support, so I did not feel alone. They, and

only they, treated me with respect.

I, too, was a child witness of DV. Without Safe Harbor, I would have stayed in an abusive relationshipthat I defined as normal.

I would have stayed in the relationship. I fell in love. I thought my relationship was how it was supposed

to be. The abuse was OK because I loved him.

Zosky 207



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I didnt know it was DV. I wouldnt know ways to defend myself until I participated in this program.

The second subtheme that is that the women predicted that they would have become violent out

of self-defense. Seven women reported feeling so desperate that they stated they might have

become violent perhaps even to the point of killing their partners. As three women noted:

I would have continued where I was; things would probably get worse. I would have needed to find DV

help somewhere else. I would have ended up back with my abuser or in a similar relationship. I would

feel depressed and alone. I might have been in jail for retaliating.

I might be dead. I might be in that same relationship. I might be in prisonI was ready to hurt that man.

I would still be experiencing sexual, physical, and emotional abuse from my husband. I have felt suicidal

and have pointed a gun at my husband (in the pastnot since Ive been coming here).

I think I would have ended up killing my spouse. I would have gotten drunk. Thank goodness for the staffhere. Theyve been real supportive.

The most chilling subtheme is that some women predicted they would be dead, either at the hands of

their abusive partners or through suicide. Of the 99 women who would have stayed with their abu-

sers, 18 described the critical situation in which many women find themselves. These women liter-

ally feared for their lives, as these comments indicate:

I would be dead. Honestly, I wouldnt have survived that last incident.

I might be dead. I would have killed myself or myself and him.

Because of my faith, I would have sought pastoral counseling. I would have prayed. I would have trustedGod. Because of my faith, I would have persevered with my marriage the way millions of women before

me had done. It might have cost me my life.

He may have killed me or caused me to have a miscarriage.

I probably would have died; I nearly did! I thank God for this place. I had not known there was help for

me until I was in the hospital having surgery.

Limitations

The results of this study must be interpreted cautiously because there were limitations in the

design and methodology. All the participants were drawn from one state, and thus the results

may relate only to survivors in that state. The sampling design consisted of an availability sam-

ple, so there is no way to ensure that the participants are representative of the population of

survivors of domestic violence. Thus, the results cannot be generalized to the population of

domestic violence survivors. Because complete anonymity of the participants was important

to the team, no demographic data were collected. The lack of demographic data, however, lim-

ited the teams ability to describe the sample and to reflect on whether the sample represents

the larger population of survivors.

The data-collection method also introduced some limitations. Because the survivors were

being interviewed by caseworkers from the agencies in which they were receiving services,

some of their responses may have been biased so as either not to reveal negative commentsor to overly embellish positive comments. The written transcriptions of notes during the inter-

views instead of more precise data-recording techniques introduced a limitation in the validity

of the data. As I stated in the Method section, however, this limitation was conscientiously




10/13

chosen to maximize the womens anonymity and thus safety. Since the gathering of these data

was originally designed to inform the team with regard to strategic planning processes, rigorous

empirical methods were not chosen at the outset. Nonetheless, the team realized after the data

were collected that the women survivors had important information that may be valuable to the

victim treatment community. Despite the methodological limitations, the results of this study

may be informative to others who are planning services or advocating for policy.

Discussion and Implications

The voices of the 161 women who were interviewed for this study tell the personal stories, struggles,

and challenges of women who are trying to survive daily acts of abuse. The womens responses

highlight how critical domestic violence services are to making the transition to independence from

their abusers.

The results are consistent with those in previous studies, which established that survivors ofdomestic violence are active help seekers and attempt to reach out to services that are available

and are able to identify what services are needed to help them make a transition to safe living. They

seem to support Gondolf and Fishers (1988) survivor theory and Ptaceks (1999) social entrapment

theory.

Fragmentation and gaps in the domestic violence service delivery system present real chal-

lenges to womens ability to access safety. Despite the inadequacy of the current system, the

respondents said that if this minimum safety net were not available, the costs would be dramatic.

Despite multiple attempts to find help, 99 of the 161 women projected that they would have

stayed with their abusers if the domestic violence service provider they were affiliated with did

not exist. These women reported that despite their attempts to find safety, if the system of carewas not sufficiently supportive, their only option would be to stay with their violent partners.

What is particularly profound about the participants accounts are their projections of the cost

of staying.

The respondents predicted what the emotional toll and potential for danger would be if they had

no choice but to stay with their abusers. They identified fear, hopelessness, depression, and self-

blame as likely emotional responses to staying in a violent situation and reflected on the anticipated

damage that might come to their children because of witnessing domestic violence. Some women

feared they would become violent themselves to defend themselves against the abuse. Of course,

the most chilling prediction of several women was that they would be killed either at their own hands

to escape the abuse in the only way they saw possible or at the hands of their abusers in one final act

of power and control.

A feminist empowerment theoretical perspective on domestic violence services emphasizes ega-

litarian partnerships between providers and recipients of services. Recipients must be active help

seekers, but service providers must have services and support available for survivors to access. Dur-

ing times of economic contraction, funding for domestic violence services competes with other

needs for scarce resources. Federal funding streams through the Violence Against Women Act and

the Victims of Crime Act have recently been in jeopardy, and providers of domestic violence ser-

vices have had to reduce their services or find alternative forms of funding. The reduction in domes-

tic violence services jeopardizes the tenuous partnership that many survivors of domestic violence

rely on to seek violence-free lives. The voices of survivors of domestic violence can be valuable to

inform policy decisions on what women need to escape violent partnerships. The womens narra-tives may also be instrumental in advocating for sustained or increased funding. From these narra-

tives of abuse, it is apparent that the stakes are high and that for some women, receiving services is

literally a matter of life and death.

Zosky 209



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Acknowledgments

The following members of the 2007 Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence Services Committee were

instrumental in the data collection for this project: Sarah Conlon, Kathy Doherty, Pat Prinzevalle, Donna

Moulton, Carrie Melton, Connie Doran, Joyce DeRenzy, Theresa DuBois, Teri Ducy, Martha Daly, Ida Anger,

Diane Mayfield, Terrie Wingo Eichorn, Joan Rappaport, Crystal Bass-White, Cathy McClanahan and Becky

Winstead.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of

this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Bio

Diane Zosky, PhD, is an associate professor in and the interim director of the School of Social Work, Illinois

State University, Campus Box 4650, Normal, IL 61790-4650; e-mail: [email protected].


Documents

201.fullA Matter of Life and Death: The Voices of Domestic Violence Survivors