A Profile of the Consumers Served in Office Based Counseling at the NISAA Institute for Women's Development: 1995 - 1996

A Profile of the Consumers Served in Office Based Counseling at the NISAA Institute for Women's Development: 1995 - 1996

Kailash Bhana
NISAA Institute for Women's Development The following study is available through the NISAA Institute for Women's Development

Abstract

This study was undertaken in order to construct a profile of the abused women served by the NISAA Institute for Women's Development in office based counseling for the period 1995 - 1996. Further the study sought to establish whether there were trends in:

  • Client identifying data
  • Presenting problem
  • Nature of abuse
  • The last abusive incident
The research methodology employed was that of secondary analysis, based on the office intake forms, using content analysis. The duration of women's abusive relationships was found to be complexly related to their entrapment in the psychological, economic and social dimensions, which encompasses unsatisfactory institutional responses. The study established that the abuse to which women were subjected was multi-dimensional (physical, emotional, sexual and financial) and that it is reported in the majority of cases after a minimum period of five years.

In addition, the greater the number of children a woman had the longer was the duration of abuse. The study suggests that the longer a woman remains in an abusive relationship, the more likely it is that her depression will intensify. It was concluded that the perpetrators' substance use was not a causal factor of women abuse. Lastly, the majority of clients served resided in Lenasia.

The findings of this study are corroborated by and are consistent with the theory and past studies in the field of women abuse. The principal recommendations include the need for NISAA to intervene on a primary, secondary and tertiary level:

  • Involvement in school programmes at the preventive/promotive level to intervened in the intergenerational transmission violence
  • Engage in greater public and professional awareness campaigns to heighten the awareness of women abuse as well as minimise secondary victimisation
  • Lobbying for women-friendly changes in the statutes
  • Instituting group work services for children exposed to marital abuse
  • Active economic empowerment for the clients
 

Preventing Violence
Against Women		 Women'sNet Home Page