Development of a tool to assess client-centered practice on a domestic violence hotline

Abstract

Summary

Client-centered practice, also termed survivor-centered practice in the context of domestic violence, has broad support as a set of strategies for working effectively with trauma survivors. However, research, evaluation and staff training are limited by a lack of measurement tools. This paper describes the process of developing an index of hotline caller reactions to practitioners’ client-centered practices.

Findings

The project was a collaborative effort between academic researchers and practitioners working in a community agency. To generate and refine the items, researchers consulted the scholarly literature and agency materials, had discussions with practitioners, and coded a group of 25 recorded calls to the agency’s hotline. The resulting tool separates two phases of the hotline calls and identifies 23 client reactions to advocate behaviors that indicate the client-centeredness of the interaction.

Application

The collaborative nature of the process ensured that the final product included multiple vantage points on client-centered practice. The tool developed in this study, the Client-Centered Hotline Assessment Tool (C-CHAT), may be used for research, evaluation, and training. Future research could explore the generalizability and, consequently, predictive utility of the tool in outcomes of interest to practitioners. In evaluation, the tool allows agencies, in assessing client experience, to go beyond client self-report of general satisfaction, and to improve services in response. Finally, in training, the tool allows supervisors to assess the level of fidelity to the client-centered model, and to pinpoint particular aspects of interactions that suggest strengths or growth areas for staff, ultimately improving the quality of services.