COUV ACTES - Psychologie communautaire

Community Psychology: Common Values, Diverse Practicesthe available social support and a sense of social capital during adulthood. Prevention of abuse is imperative inpromoting wellbeing of women.Although it is often believed that an abusive intimate partner interferes with a woman’s social support network,this study found that experience of IPV, whether it occurred in the past year or more remote past, did not affectthe current frequency of contact or the number of available individuals. However, IPV in the past year wasassociated with lower level of satisfaction with the available social support. Coupled with the finding of highersymptom counts among respondents with lower satisfaction with social support, assistance programs for abusedwomen designed to alleviate distress and those that are designed to enhance the quality of social support areneeded.Not surprisingly, social capital is related to the women’s residence and participation in community affairs, i.e., thelength of residency and participation in community groups. The significant interaction effect between the length ofresidency and IPV 1+ years ago suggest that among those who had experienced IPV 1+ years ago, living in thesame neighborhood is more critical to feeling connected and having a sense of trust in the community comparedto those who had not experienced IPV. Unfortunately, women who experience IPV may have no choice but leavetheir home and familiar surroundings in order to escape the abuse. In fact, in this study, IPV 1+ years ago wasnegatively associated with the length of residency at the current address. This suggests that prior IPV would likelyto lead to relocation to a new area, which in turn contributes to a lower sense of social capital. Althoughemergency shelters are a critical resource for women who need to escape violence, it is important to expandresources for abused women so that they can remain in their familiar surroundings 1 .ReferencesBronfenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecological models of human development. In T. Husen & T. N.Postlethwaite (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (2nd ed.) (pp. 1643-1647).New York: Elsevier Science.Narayan D. C. M. F. (2001). A dimensional approach to measuring social capital: Development and validation of asocial capital inventory. Current Sociology, 49, 59-102.Lochner K., Kawachi I., & Kennedy B.P. (1999). Social capital: A guide to its measurement. Health & Place, 5,259-270.Gittell M., Ortega-Bustamante, I., & Steffy, T. (2000). Social capital and social change: Women's communityactivism. Urban Affairs Review, 36, 123-147.Coleman J. S. (1990). Foundations of social theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Putnam R. D. (1993). The prosperous community: Social capital and public life. The American Prospect, 4, 35-42.World Health Organization (1994). A user's guide to the Self Reporting Questionnaire. Geneva, Switzerland:World Health Organization Division of Mental Health.Yoshihama, M. & Horrocks, J. (2002). Post-traumatic stress symptoms and victimization among JapaneseAmerican women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,70(2), 205-215.1For more information about the WHO VAW Study in Japan, please refer to:Yoshihama, M., Horrocks, J., Kamano, S. (2007). Lifetime experiences of intimate partner violence and related injuries among women inYokohama, Japan. American Journal of Public Health, 97, 232-234.Yoshihama, M., Horrocks, J., Kamano, S. (2009). The role of emotional abuse in intimate partner violence and health among women inYokohama, Japan. American Journal of Public Health, 99(4), 647-653.Yoshihama, M., & Horrocks, J. (2010). Risk of intimate partner violence: Role of childhood sexual abuse and sexual initiation in women inJapan. Children and Youth Services Review, 32, 28-37.226