TANF Workers’ Responses to Battered Women and the Impact of Brief Worker Training What Survivors Report

• Published in: Violence against women Vol. 11; no. 2; pp. 227 - 254
• Main Authors: Saunders, Daniel G., Holter, Mark C., Pahl, Lisa C., Tolman, Richard M., Kenna, Colleen E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01-02-2005; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: battered woman; Battered Women; Client Relations; Crime Victims; Crime Victims - rehabilitation; Domestic violence; Female; health service; human; human relation; Humans; in service training; Inservice Training; Inservice Training - standards; Male; Michigan; needs assessment; Needs Assessment - standards; professional competence; Professional Competence - standards; Professional Training; Professional-Patient Relations; Satisfaction; Social worker-Client interactions; Social workers; Staff; Support services; TANF; TANF caseworkers; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; Training needs; United States; USA; victim; Welfare Recipients; Welfare services; Women; Women's Health Services; Women's Health Services - standards; Michigan; battered women; TANF; TANF caseworkers
• ISSN: 1077-8012; 1552-8448; 1552-8448
• DOI: 10.1177/1077801204271837

Battered women (n = 159) report on their experiences with their Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) case workers. Workers most often ask about physical harm, feelings of fear, and police involvement. They least often create a safety plan, give information about work exemptions, and ask whether the partner had a gun. Women’s major reasons for not talking about abuse are that the worker did not ask and a fear of negative outcomes. Workerswho attendeda 1-day training are more likely than untrained workers to discuss the women’s fear and physical harm, to help develop a safety plan, and to be viewed as generally helpful.