Women victims of gender violence in shelters: Sociodemographic and maltreatment characteristics

• Main Authors: Liria Fernández-González, Esther Calvete, Izaskun Orue
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2017-03-01
• Series: Psychosocial Intervention
• Online Access: http://www.copmadrid.org/webcopm/publicaciones/social/in2017v26n1a2.pdf
• ISSN: 1132-0559; 2173-4712

Research on the profiles of women victims of gender violence in shelters is scarce. This study aimed to describe the sociodemographic and abuse characteristics of this group, as well as to analyze changes in the study variables over the last 10 years. A descriptive study was conducted using the document analysis technique. The sample consisted of records of women who had been assisted in two shelters of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia between 2006 and 2015, an emergency shelter (n = 834) and a medium-long stay shelter (n = 84). The results indicate that, in general, the user of these shelters is a young woman, in more than half of the cases a foreigner, with few socioeconomic resources and a history of long-term abuse. Many women had experienced poly-victimization and repeated victimization. The most substantial changes in the past ten years were found for the country of origin and work and economic situation in the emergency center, as well as the time spent at the center. The results have implications for improving interventions. <p style="text-align: justify;"></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"></p>