violent relationships (Garcia-Moreno et al. 2005, Rose et al. 2000, Counts et al. 1999). Research conducted by Foundation Perseu Abramo in 2010 confirms these findings within the Brazilian context, where helpseeking reaches one-half to two-thirds of domestic violence cases following threats or physical violence, with the majority of women reporting to mothers, sisters and other relatives.

The decision to speak out was usually associated with a “critical moment” marked by escalated violence. This is consistent with findings from the 2005 WHO multi-country study: In all sites, women who had experienced severe physical violence were more likely to report that they had told someone than women who had experienced moderate violence (Garcia- Moreno et al. 2005). More frequent or severe physical or verbal forms of aggression or violence in front of or against children or other family members were some of the key triggers mentioned by participants in this study. A 26-year old woman in Nova Iguaçú reported that escalating and increased frequency of violence informed her decision to reach out for help: “The last three weeks were the most painful ones for me, the ones I was most beaten, the ones I cried the most, and the ones that I really opened my mind to make the decision that I had had it... because it was happening frequently, every day it was happening... We exchanged two words and there was fighting... He simply started to attack me, even in front of my father.” Approximately half of the women interviewed looked for police stations as the first formal support. However, help-seeking from police was not associated with a stated preference for this specific service, but due largely to the fact that most women needed protection in an emergency situation and lacked information on the existence of alternative services. Women generally arrived at regular police stations after police responded to calls from the women themselves or by third parties in emergency situations. Women who had planned ahead to report generally sought out specialized police stations through the indication of family or friends, through her own research or through referrals from the health system in cases where, due to the severity of the aggression suffered, women had to receive medical attention.

Approximately half of the women interviewed sought CIAMs’ services as the first formal support. However, the stories of their arrivals demonstrate the extent of the lack of knowledge on the existence of these services. Many women reported having arrived there because they thought it was a police station, a place where they could walk in and make a formal legal complaint. According to a CIAM coordinator, it is common that the women will come to CIAM "in the heat of the moment" with the desire to take revenge on the perpetrator, but without understanding the consequences of following through with the complaint - both for the offender and for themselves. In this sense, the legal and psychological counseling provided by CIAMs has the important role of providing information and supporting the individual’s decision to report or not report.

# 3.3 **Barriers in the search for support**

Besides external constraints - such as difficulties in accessing service units or the lack of their existence in certain locations - other barriers may prevent women from accessing services as this study will explore. This research considers two main types of support available to women seeking to exit violent situations: informal and formal. The informal support systems consist of family, friends, churches or other personal support systems. Formal support includes regular police stations or specialized ones (DEAMs), CIAMs, Public Defender's Office, the Special Courts of the Public Ministry (MP), among others. Based on this research, barriers to accessing support systems (formal and informal) can be grouped into three types: personal barriers, attitudes of bystanders, and institutional weaknesses. Annex 2 summarizes the specific manifestations among each of these three barriers. Additionally, it attempts to explain the sources of these specific barriers based on the data reviewed as well as literature on the subject matter.

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