Where are we now?
A phased approach will be used.
Phase 1 will involve broad and representative sector consultation to review, document and begin to categorize the range of services provided by shelters. We will survey, using qualitative and quantitative research methods and weighted sampling techniques, front-line workers, administrators and service recipients in the shelter sector across Ontario, and key representatives of related service organizations to which women are often referred (Figure 1).
Phase 1 will provide important data regarding:
What shelters do, both in terms of short-term residential services, but also, importantly, in terms of ongoing outreach and “navigation/linkage” work; as well as other forms of instrumental, cognitive and affective support that help women make and implement decisions to break free from violence;
Whether other sectors (per Figure 1) are aware of and fully understand the work done by shelters;
Contextual factors at the system, community and organizational level that influence service delivery and efficacy;
Success outcomes – that is, what stakeholders feel should be assessed to determine whether shelter services have been effective in improving the lives of abused women and their children.
Phase 2 will be developed as Phase 1 nears completion and will focus on designing a project to evaluate shelter services using the woman-focused success outcomes identified by stakeholders in Phase 1. Figure 2, based on previous work by our team members, and existing research literature, provides a conceptual model for Phase 2, which will examine the following questions:
Do the services identified in Phase 1 map onto the instrumental, cognitive and affective support functions outlined in Figure 2?
Do women receive these services and supports?
If so, how are they helpful or not helpful?
To what extent does the service context influence how women evaluate these services and functions?
Knowledge translation, linkage and exchange will be integrated throughout the project, with a particular focus on working with local Coordinating Committees 3 to feed back emerging project results to inform their work, but also to engage them, and through them their service sectors, in identifying emerging priorities, needs and opportunities.
3 Domestic Violence Community Coordinating Committees provide important service coordination work at the local level, seeking to improve the quality of services to survivors and perpetrators of family violence through collaboration.
Deliverables
A report on Phase 1 project results
A Proposal for funding for Phase 2
An assessment of the effectiveness of the communication and knowledge translation, linkage and exchange activities
