¶ … Shelter Service Utilization of Domestic Violence Victims.
Shelters have proven to be useful for women who have been domestically abused and for their children in numerous capacities. Yet it has been found that only approximately one out of four women use them. The question then is why some women choose to use them and others not even though, by not using them, they will be harmed further. The ecological model (or systems theory) is used for understanding this conundrum.
Systems theory posits that people operate within a system of interacting spheres that affect one another. These spheres operate on the individual, family, and societal level. These spheres also have their boundaries which impact how open or closed they are as well as influencing the mode of the individual's behavior.
An open system means that individuals have extended contact to people (and organizations) in the outside world through the resources within their own system. A closed system, however, represents the reverse. When the system -- whether open or closed -- has adequate resources and there is open flow of communication between individual and system, the individual's needs are met.
However, sometimes the individual's behavior deviates from that of the system or there are inadequate resources in the system. This provides challenges to the individual.
When it happened away from their home, victims were more likely to use the shelter. Finally, physical abuse where victim was injured also was a more crucial factor in impelling victim to seek shelter.
The bottom line of all of this -- as related to the theory -- was that when the victim's own circle / system failed in providing the sufficient resources, the victim was compelled to seek one outside his system. Because this would instantiate deviant behavior on her part and may seem threatening to individual (as well as to system), the victim preferred a shelter that provided a system of…
