TY - JOUR PY - 2009// TI - "Because of my beliefs that I had acquired from the church...": Religious belief-based barriers for Adventist women in domestic violence relationships JO - Social work and Christianity A1 - Popescu, Marciana A1 - Drumm, René A1 - Mayer, Sylvia A1 - Cooper, Laurie A1 - Foster, Tricia A1 - Seifert, Marge A1 - Gadd, Holly A1 - Dewan, Smita SP - 394 EP - 414 VL - 36 IS - 4 N2 - Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects women in all socio-economic and religious strata. The belief systems women rely on affect their ability to acknowledge and challenge the abuse in their relationships and move towards safety. This study explores religious belief-based barriers that deter women survivors of IPV in a conservative Christian community from changing their circumstances. The religious belief-based barriers identified by women in this study consist of an internal layer of religious beliefs and external social reinforcers strengthening these beliefs. Using the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1984), we explore these belief barriers as they affect women primarily during the precontemplation and contemplation stages. The study contributes to the current literature in two ways: by presenting a set of beliefs that affect women in conservative faith communities, thus informing the practice of both social workers and clergy; and by introducing a new conceptual approach to change for women survivors of IPV in conservative faith communities.
LA - SN - 0737-5778 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -