School of Social and Political Science

Description

Domestic abuse (DA) is significantly related to homelessness. The provision of safe housing for violence survivors and their children is recognized as a critical need in responding to DA. Unfortunately, research concerning  what approaches have success in ensuring safe and stable housing for violence survivors and their children is limited. To help address such knowledge needs, women who were experiencing DA and who were homeless or unstably housed were invited to participate in a quasi-experimental, longitudinal evaluation, which followed them over two years after they sought services from one of five participating DA agencies in the northwestern USA. This community-engaged study was comprised of 344 participants who were surveyed at five times. Using multilevel modeling, the study examined both how a novel housing program and women’s social support related to changes over time in both housing instability and DA. Findings show that both the housing program and social support, independently and jointly, decreased DA and housing instability. Implications for housing programs and policy will be discussed, particularly the importance of social support from friends, family, and the local community to help end DA. 

Rebecca J. Macy, PhD, MSW, is an Honorary Professor of Social Work in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh. She has served as a Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work and as an Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Family Violence. Macy’s program of research comprises over 20 years’ experience conducting community-engaged studies that focus on preventing and responding to intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking. Dedicated to finding effective and feasible programs, Macy conducts investigations in community settings, working in collaboration with service users and their families, service providers, and policy makers. Macy has published over 100 scholarly articles, book chapters, editorials, and invited commentaries, and has given over 190 peer-reviewed and invited presentations. 

This is a hybrid event, which takes place in the Violet Laidlaw Room (6.02).

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