Abstract

OSPINA, DORIS; JARAMILLO, DIVA ESTELA ; URIBE, TULIA MARÍA  and  CABARCAS, GERMÁN. A SCALE FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF BEHAVIORAL CHANGE IN WOMEN IN A VIOLENT MARITAL RELATIONSHIP. rev.latinoam.psicol. [online]. 2006, vol.38, n.3, pp.523-534. ISSN 0120-0534.

The study describes the construction of a 12 item scale serving to identify the stage within the process of change lived by battered women. Several tests were conducted to measure reliability and concurrent validity of the instrument in a sample of 199 women consulting 11 out of 17 Family Resource Centers of Medellín, Colombia. Women ranged in age from 16 to 72 years old, mean 35.47, (s = 10.00); 95% of these women had a low household income. Findings report that most of the women were located in the second stage of the process of change. Up to this moment they realize that have been battered, but they stay in the violent relationship. In order to survive they begin to protect themselves. Cronbach's alpha with the current sample was 0.80, which indicate that the information collected had internal consistency. The scale contributes to enhance interventions that involve battered women, recognizing that these women live a process of change during their violent relationship and that they work to overcome the abuse. Also they experience different needs depending of the stage of behavioral change where they are located.

Keywords : Marital abuse; domestic violence; battered women.

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