Patterns and Predictors of Service Use among Women Who Have Separated from an Abusive Partner

This document is an analysis of data from a study of 309 Canadian women separated from an abusive partner to examine their use of services. Services studied included general health services, mental health services, social services, violence-specific services, and legal services. The study found that women were generally confident in their knowledge of how to access services and did so at a rate higher than the general population, showing that they were actively seeking to improve their situations. However, the study also showed that women did have difficulties in accessing services, with obstacles including lack of money to pay for services, transportation issues, and childcare issues. The study also found that sometimes the services available were inadequate to meet the women’s needs. The study also found that many women continued to access violence-specific services many months after separation from the abuser, which shows the need for services beyond just the initial separation period.