Methods

1

• Women in Transition from Family Violence
• Becoming Independent
• Tessa Brown - Erika Goeller - Dulce López -
  Dorothy D. Scheeler
  
• Working with Sociology Professor Mary Kay
  Schleiter-

A program in Racine provides transitional housing
and two years of supportive services and self
sufficiency training to women and children who
are survivors of domestic abuse. Residents
participate in group meetings, domestic violence
counseling and workshops that cover such areas as
budgeting, homemaking, and parenting.
Methods In depth interviews were conducted with g
raduates and leavers of the program.
Interviews assess levels of self sufficiency
through current living situation, education,
employment, personal relationships, completion/
graduation, experience, and their suggestions
about the program. We were given a list of previ
ous residents, with this list we would call to
make appointments for interviews. If the numbers
were disconnected we tried to look up the names
and numbers in the phone book and/or yahoo
white-pages. For confidentiality purposes we made
our calls at the office with the offices phones,
we were not to use the name of the program.
Before we started an interview we gave the
interviewee a consent form for them to read then
sign. When the interview was completed, we
brought the recorded interview back to the
Professor for her to download. We are currently
in the process of transcribing the interviews
which consists of listening to the interview by
headphones and typing in a word document. The
next step is to do an analysis on the
transcriptions.
What weve learned (Tessa Brown) I became awa
re of the challenges faced by those who survive
partner violence but also the benefits of
providing basic support and opportunities during
a transition period. Last semester I completed
interviews and for the current semester Im
working on transcribing interviews, which is a
long process. However, I eagerly await the
analysis process actually finding the overall
results of each students interviews.
(Erika Goeller) - I learned that its not easy t
o start a new life after the challenges that
these women went through. This experience has
opened my eyes, domestic abuse is not a rarity.
The process of contacting previous residents was
harder than I thought. Many numbers were
disconnected, there were wrong numbers, and some
refused to participate. (Dulce López) - Ive le
arned a great deal with this program. It was a
challenge contacting the residents, but all the
hard work was worth it. I was excited to meet the
residents, for me they werent ordinary women,
they were courageous fighters. They lived a
tragic life, but that never stopped them to
continue to live and fight. These women have
motivated me to never give up.
(Dorothy D. Scheeler) - I began working with thi
s research project in the fall of 2007 and have
come to grasp the complexities of conducting a
research study from its inception. In taking part
in this research project I was able to appreciate
the extraordinary value of this program I found
it challenging to contact and conduct the
interviews simply because this population moves
or changes telephone contact information
frequently.