A Look at the Effectiveness of Outreach Programs for Victims of Domestic Violence: Outline of Preliminary Findings of a Small Scale Study

Intimate-partner violence is an injustice imposed on both men and women; however, the vast majority of victims are women. Therefore, my study focuses solely on women. Moreover, abused women deal with an array of complexities in terms of their overall quality of life due to the abuse they suffer, and as a result a variety of outreach programs are being offered in hopes that these women will have a chance at a better living situation and better health outcomes. This paper will examine the psychological and physical symptoms experienced by battered women and the role of outreach programs to help them. My quantitative study will examine the efforts of one organization and its attempts to address the issue through the services offered to the victims of domestic violence in that particular area. The study consisted of a survey that revealed the benefits experienced by regularly attending the outreach program. In the study the participants overall reported the alleviation of symptoms thus actually benefitting from the program. The outreach program researched is Next Door Solutions, a program located in San Jose, CA, that has an ethnically diverse clientele. Furthermore, this study was a small scale study with 19 participants that was used to shed light on what is effective, what can be offered, and suggests that further research can be done to look into alternative approaches that can be implemented for a more effective outreach program