Measuring Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Service Providers’ Attitudes: The Development of the Survivor-Defined Advocacy Scale (SDAS)

Abstract

Survivor-defined advocacy, which emphasizes survivor empowerment and systemic change, is an emerging preferred practice for intimate partner violence (IPV) service delivery. IPV service providers’ attitudes can facilitate or impede the implementation of this practice model. This article reports on the development and revision of the Survivor-Defined Advocacy Scale (SDAS), which assesses IPV service providers’ attitudes about their work and clients. Results for the SDAS yielded a two-factor solution: Survivor Empathy and Systems Advocacy. This study also examined the SDAS relationship to provider demographics, perceptions of organizational values, and compassion satisfaction. Compassion satisfaction accounted for most of the variance in survivor-defined advocacy. The implications of these findings and the potential uses of the SDAS with IPV providers are discussed.