THE PREDICTORS OF ESCAPING VIOLENCE: A TWO YEARS’ FOLLOW-UP OF WOMEN WHO SOUGHT HELP AT AN ANTI-VIOLENCE CENTRE

Intimate partner violence is a widespread problem that persists in most countries and is associated with serious, sometimes fatal, consequences for women and their children (Howarth & Robinson, 2016; World Health Organization, 2005). Despite the common belief that for ending violence it is sufficient to break up with the violent man, the women’s histories and the research data show that ending the relationship does not imply that the violence is going to cease (Anderson & Saunders, 2003). Violence often continue after the separation and when children are present they are used as a mean to exert control over the woman and to maintain the violent situation (Kelly, Sharp, & Klein, 2014). Few studies have examined what factors predict the achievement of a life free from violence among women victims of intimate partner violence. Most of them are retrospective and do not consider together the social and personal factor that can have an impact on the woman’ course of life. With the present work, we try to go beyond the current literature limitations. We conduct a follow-up study among women who addressed themselves to an Anti-violence centre situated in the North of Italy, with the main aim to understand what are the factors that predict the decrement/cessation of violence in women victims of intimate partner violence. Furthermore, we analyse the relationships between the women’s characteristics, characteristics of violence, health status and the help-seeking process of women.