Acknowledgements

ROAD participants, facilitators, co-founders, advisory board, and community partners * Cambridge Health Alliance * Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology, Lynch School of Education, Boston College * BC Graduate Education Association * BC Graduate Student Association * BC Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

ReferencesDavies, J.M., Lyon, E., & Monti-Catania, D. (1998). Safety planning with

battered women: Complex lives/difficult choices. In Sage Series on Violence Against Women (Vol. 7). Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc.

Goodman, L.A., Glenn, C., Bohlig, A., Banyard, V.L., & Borges, A.B. (Under Review). Feminist relational advocacy: Processes and outcomes from the perspective of low-income women with depression.

Goodman, L.A. & Epstein, D. (2007). Listening to Battered women: A survivor-centered approach to advocacy, mental health, and Justice. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.

Peled, E. & Edleson, J. L. (1994) Advocacy for battered women: A national survey. Journal of Family Violence, 9(3), 285-296.

Schechter, S. (1982). Women and male violence: The visions and struggles of the battered women's movement. In (Eds.) R.K. Bergen, J.L. Edleson, & C.M. Renzetti (Eds.), Violence against women: Classic papers. (pp. 198-219). Auckland, New Zealand: Pearson Education New Zealand.

Toporek, R. L., & Liu, W. M. (2001). Advocacy in counseling psychology: Critical issues of race, class, and gender. In (Eds.), D. B. Pope-Davis & H. L. K. Coleman. The Intersection of Race, Class, and Gender: Implications for Multicultural Counseling. Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications.

FRA: A New Approach to AdvocacyFeminist Relational Advocacy (FRA) marks an alternative approach to working with IPV survivors that builds on the foundations of woman-defined advocacy, feminist psychology, community psychology, and liberation psychology (Goodman et. al.., 2008).

What is Feminist Relational Advocacy?

Four elements of FRA: 1. Valuing the woman’s narrative: Adapting the intervention to suit the real needs of the woman as she herself defines them rather than based on agency or system mandates.2. Honoring mutuality and the development of a genuine relationship: Sharing the power in the relationship, building trust, developing a reciprocal relationship.3. Recognizing that emotional and instrumental support are intertwined and inseparable.4. Attending to external forms of oppression as sources of distress: Understanding poor women’s distress as a reasonable response to a difficult situation.

FRA can be applied in many different contexts and with many different kinds of communities. In the current context, mental health Masters students from Boston College served as advocates with low-income women struggling with depression from Cambridge, MA, most of whom had experienced or were dealing with domestic violence. Advocates worked with their partners for 4-6 hours each week for nine months.

Present PosterGiven the paucity of research that truly focuses on women’s

subjective experience of the advocacy process, the primary goal of the present study was to use qualitative content analysis to explore women’s responses to engaging in FRA.

Introduction

History of Advocacy with IPV Victims In the 1970’s advocacy emerged as a way to address the diverse political, psychological, social, and material needs of victims of domestic violence (Peled & Edleson, 1994; Goodman & Epstein, 2008). Building on the core idea that domestic violence warranted a political, as well as an individual, response, advocacy historically addressed issues at multiple levels, ranging from individual empowerment to wider systemic change (Schechter 1982; Toporek & Liu, 2001). However, as time progressed, in part due to the increasing specialization, narrow outcome matrices, and systemic mandates of particular organizations or systems (e.g. shelters, criminal justice system, civil system, hospitals), domestic violence advocacy has become increasingly time limited and highly focused (Goodman & Epstein, 2008; Goodman, Glenn, Bohlig, Banyard & Borges, 2008). Within this more constricted climate, advocates are often unable to offer broad based support to women. Instead, clients’ options for assistance are often based primarily on the availability of specific services within the specific organizations to which they have turned for help. Jill Davies and her colleagues call this service-defined, rather than woman-defined, advocacy (Davies, Lyon, & Monti-Catania, 1998; Goodman & Epstein, 2008).

MethodWe chose to utilize qualitative methodology to explore this issue as it allowed for a more faithful representation of the women’s experiences, and allowed their voices to guide our understanding of their experiences.

Participants Participants included eight women who were part of the ROAD

(Reaching Out About Depression) project, a community organizing and peer support project for low-income women in the Cambridge area. All participants had worked with an advocate for at least one year, and five had participated in advocacy for two years.

Procedure Graduate students at Boston College interviewed participants using

a semi-structured 60-90 minute interview, taped and subsequently transcribed these interviews.Participants received $20 for their participation in the project. The basic topics discussed in the interviews included:

o participants’ perspectives on the respective roles of the advocate and the participanto the nature of the relationship between the advocate and the participanto the kinds of internal and external shifts they expected or wanted, what they actually got, and what was most valuable

Data Analysis The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. This process entailed dividing up the transcribed interviews into

“meaning units,” which were discussed extensively during the coding process.

The latter stages of coding involved refining these categories, dividing up the quotes into these categories, and ultimately

developing a sense of the relationship between the categories themselves.

Member-checking focus group Once the coding was complete, participants were invited to come

back for a focus group in which the women helped to provide feedback about the coding and to refine the categories.

Results (cont…)In order to deal with these issues, advocates did the following:

o Found out about local resourceso Co-defined goals and co-created planso Accompaniment - literally accompanied and stood with

them at meetings with caseworkers, landlords, etc., to get issues resolvedo Took initiative - showed willingness to roll up their sleeves to do what it takes to get things done and offered

without being asked2. How women experience what advocates do to promote their relationships with participants. These are actions that were directly or indirectly focused on relationship building and emotional support. Felt and showed commitment

Checked in regularly, wanted to help in the face of challenges, was there when it counts

Anticipated needs that participants might not express directly, but that simmered below the surface

Read between the linesDeveloped a ‘real’ relationship

Authenticity and mutuality, was willing to reveal oneself in a genuine way, showed transparency

Focused on strengths Noticed and commented on specific and unique

strengths participants reported being encouraged and inspired by

thisProvided encouragement and hope.

3. Participants’ own internal processes within the advocacy relationship. Struggled with asking for and accepting help

o Dealt with disappointment with help sources (other than advocates) that inadequately addressed and often pathologized their needs. o Difficulty feeling deserving of help.

Reconciled expectations with reality o Frustration of not getting the specific help that they needed.

4. What participants are able to take with them from the advocacyA new sense of self-worth and efficacy

A renewed sense of confidence in their ability to advocate for themselves and create changes in their own livesBetter able to help someone else in the future

Feminist Relational Advocacy: A New Approach to Domestic Violence Victim AdvocacyAngela M. Borges, B.A., Rachel Singer, M.A., Lisa A. Goodman, Ph.D., Catherine Glenn, MSEd., Boston College

Amanda Bohlig, M.A., University of Wisconsin, MadisonVictoria Banyard, Ph.D., University of New Hampshire

Implications This study illustrates the important role of social context in shaping, if not causing, emotional distress. It also demonstrates the extent to which low-income women’s struggles with asking for help creates a gap between what service providers may think their clients need or want and what in fact they feel. The findings show the potential for the FRA model to help low- income women and women recovering from IPV:

o Navigate the maze of services in which they are so often mired. o Address their short- and long-term goals within the context of a supportive and authentic relationship.o Eventually work towards long-term changes in the system and in their communities.o Also, since the model utilizes volunteer advocates, it offers a way to sidestep issues of reimbursement, which so often plague non-traditional programs.

Overall, we believe that FRA offers a key supplement, if not an alternative in some cases, to traditional psychotherapy or advocacy for low-income women struggling with depression. More broadly, the FRA model illustrates one potential solution to the problem of fragmented and narrowly targeted interventions that do not address the full range of marginalized clients’ needs.

ResultsQualitative coding of women’s responses produced four main

categories: 1. What advocates do to address specific issues2. What advocates do to promote relationships with participants3. Participants’ internal processes within the advocacy

relationships4. What participants are able to take with them

1. How women understand what advocates do to address specific issues in their lives

Advocates helped women to cope with a variety of issues within the context of a web of stress and inadequate material or emotional support. o Difficulty securing housing, utilities, healthcare, and

transportationo Dealing with bankruptcyo Lack of access to services or difficulty dealing with service

providerso Need to acquire computer skillso Inability to pay off student loanso Inability to communicate with family memberso Need for disability-related services

Discussion The major themes that emerged within each of the four categories

derived from the data reflected the four major principles of feminist relational advocacy. These themes included:

o The devastation wrought by povertyo The importance of commitment and authenticity on the

part of the advocateo The need for a flexible approach that encompasses

nuanced interpersonal dynamics and specific actions targeted at external challenges

o The importance of privileging women’s own accounts of what the women want and need.

These themes are entirely consistent with the principles of feminist relational advocacy, though they add a depth and complexity to our understanding of the model.