A Winning Alliance

Abstract

This article describes the development and process of a successful collaboration between researchers at the University of Massachusetts Boston and the Massachusetts Coalition of Battered Women's Service Groups on a study documenting the prevalence and effects of domestic violence among recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in Massachusetts. The study, which entailed 30-minute, in-person interviews with a representative sample of 734 women, was seen as highly credible and as having a significant effect on public policy in the state. Barriers to collaboration, strategies for overcoming them, and the benefits of this type of endeavor are discussed.

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References

AFDC Working Group of the Massachusetts Governor's Commission on Domestic Violence . (1997). Safely toward self-sufficiency: Battered women's path through welfare reform. Boston: Massachusetts Coalition of Buffered Women's Service Groups.

Allard, M. A. , Colten, M. E. , Albelda, R. , & Cosenza, C. (1997). In harm's way? Domestic violence, AFDC receipt, and welfare reform in Massachusetts. Boston: University of Massachusetts Boston, McCormack Institute and Center for Survey Research.

Tolman, R. M. (Ed.). (1999). Welfare, work, and domestic violence: Current and future directions for policy and practice [Special issue]. Violence Against Women, 5(4).

United States General Accounting Office . (1998). Domestic violence: Prevalence and implications for employment among welfare recipients (GAO/HEHS, 99-12). Washington, DC: Author.