Nursing Publications
Title
What Counts? A Mixed-Methods Study to Inform Evaluation of Shelters for Abused Women
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2015
Journal
Violence Against Women
Volume
21
Issue
1
First Page
125
Last Page
146
URL with Digital Object Identifier
10.1177/1077801214564077
Abstract
Shelters for abused women have expanded from “safe havens” to providing a range of residential and outreach services, and face increasing pressure to demonstrate “value for money” by providing evaluation metrics that may or may not reflect what they actually do. We conducted interviews and surveys with 68 shelter directors in Ontario, Canada, and found that differences in service philosophy and how abuse is defined influence decisions about who receives services and the shelter’s role in the broader community; these in turn affect how the work of shelters is positioned. Implications for shelter service evaluation are discussed.