"Partnering with community agencies to address intimate partner violence: Collaboration in the evaluation of a law school legal advocacy clinic"

Developing solid working relationships with community providers and agencies is a crucial component of doing effective and sensitive research in the area of intimate partner violence (IPV), yet one that is overlooked or given only cursory attention by many researchers. Because studies often recruit participants at shelters, courts, and other agencies, securing community buy-in is important if for no other reason than to ensure access to participants. Both research and community intervention have much to gain from more extensive collaboration, however. With provider input, researchers are able to develop more realistic study procedures, design studies sensitive in both theoretical approach and methodology to the real world issues facing victims, address questions of immediate relevance to victims and providers, and infuse victims’ and providers’ voices throughout the study conceptualization and implementation process. On their end, community agencies obtain data potentially useful in supporting funding requests, evaluating cost effectiveness, and identifying gaps in service. Many challenges complicate such partnerships, however, including the need to negotiate interdisciplinary divides, to recognize differences in resources and product pressures, and to balance the rigor of research design with pragmatic adaptations to real world constraints.

This presentation will discuss, from a researcher’s point of view, the process of developing and nurturing collaborative relationships with IPV service providers. Drawing on community psychology principles, we will discuss our experiences collaborating with court systems and community-based agencies that provide assistance to low-income, primarily Black battered women. A key part of the presentation will be on strategies to overcome obstacles to collaboration such as specifying goals and assumptions in advance and ensuring that all staff at the agency are invested in the collaboration. Other issues to attend to throughout the partnership include the need to keep lines of communication open, negotiate social status differences, and adopt a long-term perspective. The importance of considering the impact of different organizational cultures, mutually beneficial collaboration beyond research, and alternative dissemination strategies will also be highlighted.