DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02992
title: Evaluation of Victim Advocacy Services Funded by the Violence Against Women Act in Urban Ohio, 1999
title: Archival Version

description: The focus of this research and evaluation endeavor was on
direct service programs in Ohio, particularly advocacy services for
female victims of violence, receiving funding through the Services,
Training, Officers, Prosecutors (STOP) formula grants under the
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994. The objectives of this
project were (1) to describe and compare existing advocacy services in
Ohio, (2) to compare victim advocacy typologies and identify key
variables in the delivery of services, (3) to develop a better
understanding of how victim advocacy services are defined and
delivered, and (4) to assess the effectiveness of those services. For
Part 1, Service Agencies Data, comprehensive information about 13
VAWA-funded programs providing direct services in urban Ohio was
gathered through a mailback questionnaire and phone interviews.
Detailed information was collected on organizational structure,
clients served, and agency services. Focus groups were also used to
collect data from clients (Parts 3-11) and staff (Parts 12-23) about
their definitions of advocacy, types of services needed by victims,
services provided to victims, and important outcomes for service
providers. Part 2, Police Officer Data, focused on police officers'
attitudes toward domestic violence and on evaluating service outcomes
in one particular agency. The agency selected was a prosecutor's
office that planned to improve services to victims by changing how the
police and prosecutors responded to domestic violence cases. The
prosecutor's office selected one police district as the site for
implementing the new program, which included training police officers
and placing a prosecutor in the district office to work directly with
the police on domestic violence cases. The evaluation of this program
was designed to assess the effectiveness of the police officers'
training and officers' increased access to information from the
prosecutor on the outcome of the case. Police officers from the
selected district were administered surveys. Also surveyed were
officers from another district that handled a similar number of
domestic violence cases and had a comparable number of officers
employed in the district. Variables in Part 1 include number of staff,
budget, funding sources, number and type of victims served, target
population, number of victims served speaking languages other than
English, number of juveniles and adults served, number of victims with
special needs served, collaboration with other organizations, benefits
of VAWA funding, and direct and referral services provided by the
agency. Variables in Part 2 cover police officers' views on whether it
was a waste of time to prosecute domestic violence cases, if these
cases were likely to result in a conviction, whether they felt
sympathetic toward the victim or blamed the victim, how the
prosecution should proceed with domestic violence cases, how the
prosecution and police worked together on such cases, whether domestic
violence was a private matter, and how they felt about the new program
implemented under VAWA.
description: The focus of this research and evaluation
 endeavor was on direct service programs in Ohio, particularly advocacy
 services for female victims of violence, receiving funding through the
 STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) formula grants under
 the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994. It was undertaken as a
 collaborative partnership between the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice
 Services (OCJS) and the Ohio State University (OSU). The objectives of
 this project were (1) to describe and compare existing advocacy
 services in Ohio, (2) to compare victim advocacy typologies and
 identify key variables in the delivery of services, (3) to develop a
 better understanding of how victim advocacy services are defined and
 delivered, and (4) to assess the effectiveness of those services.
 There were two components to this evaluation: a study of victim
 service agencies (Parts 1 and 3-23) and a survey of police officers
 (Part 2), some of whom participated in a new victim services program
 and others who did not. The descriptions of victim advocacy services
 focused on (a) the types of agencies providing services, (b) how those
 programs defined advocacy, (c) how those definitions were reflected in
 the services being delivered, and (d) what outcomes the funded
 agencies hoped to achieve. The program evaluation sought to determine
 the effectiveness of the police officers' training and the effects of
 their improved access to information on the outcome of domestic
violence cases in which they were involved.
description: In fiscal year 1996, 55 programs in Ohio were
 competitively selected through a grants process to receive VAWA
 funding. For this study, VAWA programs in urban centers were selected,
 since they offered the largest number of clients and the richest
 diversity of services. The number of agencies participating in the
 evaluation was further restricted to agencies identified as providing
 direct services to victims. When these two criteria were applied, 13
 victim advocacy programs were identified to participate in the
 evaluation. For Part 1, Service Agencies Data, a survey was mailed to
 each of the 13 agencies to collect comprehensive information about
 services provided for victims. Respondents could either mail or fax
 their completed surveys to the investigators. Additionally, a few
 telephone interviews were conducted due to time constraints. The
 survey was designed to collect detailed information from each of the
 projects based on OCJS and VAWA quarterly performance reports, and to
 solicit more detailed information on organizational structure, clients
 served, and agency services. Focus groups were also used to collect
 data from clients (Parts 3-11) and staff (Parts 12-23) about
 definitions of advocacy, type of services needed by victims, services
 that are provided, and the outcomes that are important to service
 providers. This qualitative approach allowed the researchers to
 describe services from the perspectives of the recipients and the
 providers and to compare their views on critical questions while still
 being sensitive to the needs of the women who participated. Each of
 the focus groups lasted one to one and a half hours and the
 discussions were audio-taped for later transcription and analysis.
 The number of participants in each group ranged from two to sixteen.
 No demographic data were collected on the participants in an effort to
 protect respondent confidentiality of the clients and staff. Site
 codes were also omitted for the same reason. Part 2, Police Officer
 Data, focused on police officers' attitudes toward domestic violence
 and on evaluating service outcomes in one particular agency. The
 agency selected was a prosecutor's office that aimed to improve
 services to victims by changing how the police and prosecutors
 responded to domestic violence cases. The prosecutor's office chose
 one police district as the site for implementing the new program,
 which included training police officers and placing a prosecutor in
 the district office to work directly with the police on domestic
 violence cases. A questionnaire was developed to evaluate the police
 training program, and police officers from the selected district were
 administered the surveys. Also surveyed were officers from another
 district who handled a similar number of domestic violence cases and
 employed a comparable number of officers. The first 20 questions of
 the survey were completed by all respondents in both districts and
 addressed attitudes toward domestic violence cases. Five additional
 questions were included on the version distributed to the selected
 district to assess the officers' reactions to the procedural changes
 that were implemented as part of the new approach to dealing with
domestic violence.
description: Variables in Part 1 include number of staff,
 budget, funding sources, number and types of victims served, target
 population, number of victims served speaking languages other than
 English, number of juveniles and adults served, number of victims with
 special needs served, collaboration with other organizations, benefits
 of VAWA funding, and direct and referral services provided by the
 agency. Variables in Part 2 cover police officers' views on whether it
 was a waste of time to prosecute domestic violence cases, if these
 cases were likely to result in a conviction, whether they felt
 sympathetic toward the victims or blamed the victims, how the
 prosecution should proceed with domestic violence cases, how the
 prosecution and police worked together on such cases, whether domestic
 violence was a private matter, and, for officers participating in the
 new program implemented under VAWA, how they felt about the
 program. In Parts 3-11 clients were asked about what brought them to
 the service agency, why they chose that particular agency, what it was
 like at the agency, if they felt safe, whether the staff were
 supportive, what types of services they received and whether the
 services met their needs, and their biggest success in coming to the
 agency. In Parts 12-23 staff were asked what brought women to their
 agency, how they described their target population, why women chose
 their agency, what women needed from their agency, whether the women
 felt safe at their agency, whether staff were supportive of clients,
 what services women received, whether these services met the needs of
women, and what were the biggest successes of their clients.
description: Response Rates: The response rate for Part 1 was 85 percent. The
response rate for Part 2 is unknown.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used in Parts 1 and 2.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Service Agencies Data
DS2: Police Officer Data
DS3: Client Focus Group 1 Data
DS4: Client Focus Group 2 Data
DS5: Client Focus Group 3 Data
DS6: Client Focus Group 4 Data
DS7: Client Focus Group 5 Data
DS8: Client Focus Group 6 Data
DS9: Client Focus Group 7 Data
DS10: Client Focus Group 8 Data
DS11: Client Focus Group 9 Data
DS12: Staff Focus Group 1 Data
DS13: Staff Focus Group 2 Data
DS14: Staff Focus Group 3 Data
DS15: Staff Focus Group 4 Data
DS16: Staff Focus Group 5 Data
DS17: Staff Focus Group 6 Data
DS18: Staff Focus Group 7 Data
DS19: Staff Focus Group 8 Data
DS20: Staff Focus Group 9 Data
DS21: Staff Focus Group 10 Data
DS22: Staff Focus Group 11 Data
DS23: Staff Focus Group 12 Data
description: Part 1: All victim advocacy service agencies that provided
direct services and were located in Ohio urban centers. Part 2: All
police officers in an urban Ohio district where the prosecutor's
office implemented a new training program, and all officers from a
comparison district. Parts 3-11: Clients of victim advocacy service
agencies in Ohio urban centers. Parts 12-23: Staff of victim advocacy
service agencies in Ohio urban centers. Smallest Geographic Unit: none
description: Data collected from focus group sessions with
clients (Parts 3-11) and staff (Parts 12-23) of victim advocacy
service providers are available through the Restricted Access Data
Archive.The user guide, codebook, and data collection instruments
are provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file
format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed
using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided
on the ICPSR Web site.