DIMENSIONS OF PERSON-ENVIRONMENT RELATIONSHIPS IN SHELTERS FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The plight of battered women and their children has drawn increasing attention in recent years. It is estimated that in the United States, a violent act is committed against a woman every 18 seconds, and it is estimated that child abuse occurs even more frequently. Raised social awareness of the problem has led to the establishment of environments specifically created as refiiges for persons in flight from a violent home environment. At present, approximately 880 shelters for victims of domestic violence are in operation in the United States. In response to the need to explore person-environment transactions in shelters, an empirical investigation was developed. A photo-questionnaire was completed by 101 respondents (staff and residents) in shelters in Los Angeles and in New Orleans. This yielded nine factor-analytic dimensions addressing preferred shelter exterior architectural imagery and amenities, five factors which address one's satisfaction with one's shelter setting and five factors on one's psycho-emotional status and patterns of shelter use. A number of staff-resident differences were identified. Few regional differences were detected. Parallels are drawn between these data, the battering experience, and the potential for the shelter environment to function as a source of therapeutic support.