LCDA Linkage Council Meeting

April 04, 2002

 

Participants:  Martha Arambula, Nancy Román, Janys Esparza, Sister Elsa Galderno, Sister Rovalez, Giovanni Perry, Pastor Jesse Chavez, Pastor Mario Zamarrón, Alfonso Ruelas, Madeline Moreno, Margie Solis, Claudia Barajas, Dr. Herman Curiel, Ahmad Saleem G. Ahmad, Maru Muńoz, Cynthia Tobar.

 

Meeting began at 3:15 pm

 

Agenda

 

1. Review previous CBLC meeting and presentations

2. Present CBLC binders and finalize CBLC directory

3. Update on program status

4. Define Intimate Partner Violence/Sexual Violence

5.Discuss and adapt key informant interview questionnaire

6. Close Meeting

 

I.  Introductions

 

Dr. Curiel introduces himself to the Community-Based Linkage Council. Participants then briefly introduce themselves.

 

II. Review previous CBLC meeting and presentations

 

Cynthia provides a brief review of previous CBLC meeting held on March 13, 2002. She points out that the meeting had generated two points:

·        Have a DHS representative to attend the meeting and clarify what happens when someone applies for help? Could there be problems for that person due to his/her legal status?

·        have someone to come in and talk about the VAWA (Violence Against Women Act).

 

Geovanni Perry (Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma) talked about VAWA and DHS:

·        For a person to qualify for help under VAWA, he/she has to be married to either a US citizen or a legal US resident.

·        Children experiencing abuse will qualify under VAWA for help and will become legal residents and issued assistance.

·        The local DHS policy is not to report on anyone who is seeking help.

 

III. Present CBLC binders and finalize CBLC directory

 

Cynthia presented the CBLC members with binders and a copy of CBLC directory (contact information about the CBLC members) was handed out for members to make corrections. The revised directory will be placed in the CBLC binders. She explained the contents of the binders.

 

IV. Update on program status

 

Cynthia updated the CBLC regarding the program status:

·        The official approval to conduct focus group was received two weeks ago.

·        Discussed conducting the focus group. She will keep the CBLC updated concerning the progress on focus groups.

·        The focus group (6 groups) will examine the perceptions of Latino community members at large, whereas key informant interviews will be with the perpetrators and the victim and will examine their personal experiences with IPV/SV.

 

V. Define Intimate Partner Violence/Sexual Violence

 

CDC's definition was written on a poster board:

 

IPV is defined as "actual or threatened physical or sexual violence, or psychological /emotional abuse by a spouse. ex-spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend, or date."

 

Dr. Curiel led the discussion on defining IPV/SV according to the Latino community:

·        we all represent a group in the community  that is interested in the IPV/SV problem. The is idea is to identify what is out there (in terms of services) but first we have to identify the problem. We have to know what IPV/SV is before gathering information about it. This will allow us to identify what types of services we need. In the Latino community domestic violence is considered a secret crime and nobody wants to talk about it.

 

Suggestions & Comments:

·        We should use the term "domestic violence" because it involves looking at family unit that includes adults and children.

·        The term IPV focuses on adults and leaves out children. Adults also recover faster from domestic violence than children.

·        People are more familiar with the term domestic violence.

·        When we translate the term IPV/SV in Spanish, what words would be appropriate to use?

·        What about the children?

·        The term usually looks at women. Have to take the term 'domestic violence' and expand it to include the rest of IPV/SV definition that is provided and it should also be included in the Spanish translations.

·        The term partner makes it seems like you are consenting to the violence.

·        Domestic violence is usually a pattern, not just a one time thing.

 

Consensus:

Use the term domestic violence instead of IPV/SV.

 

Dr. Curiel clarified why children are excluded from the definition:

The aim of this grant is to help adults. Therefore, children are not a part of the definition as we need the term to be defined now.

 

Question:

Why did they come up with the term IPV?

 

Dr. Curiel:

It is for people that may not be married, and it also include date rape. Intimacy may also involve people of the same sex.

 

Suggestions:

·        Many women do not see verbal abuse as an abuse, so we have to add that to the definition as well.

·        Adult children can also be abusive to parents and so can be other family members.

·        We can use the term household members some of the people in a house may not even be related.

 

CBLC's definition:

 

Intimate partner/ domestic violence occurs when actual or threatened physical, sexual, verbal, psychological, or emotional abuse is caused by a spouse, ex-spouse, intimate partner or other household member.

 

VI. Discuss and adapt key informant interview questionnaire

 

Cynthia expressed the need for confidentiality among the CBLC members regarding the questions.

 

Question:

What about the perpetrator involvement?

 

Cynthia:

The volunteers include some of the people who have come forward to LCDA seeking help on their own. Lawyers and probation officers will be contacted as well to elicit volunteers. There will be counselors present if there is a breakdown during the interview. Also hope to elicit participation by using incentives.

 

Question:

Will the victim and perpetrator interviews will be done at the same place?

 

Cynthia:

No, they will be done separately.

 

Dr Curiel:

The researchers are interested to know the experience of being Latino regarding domestic violence.

Question:

How many victim volunteers do you have?

 

Cynthia:

None at the moment.

 

Comment:

·        I can refer some people to you.

 

Cynthia:

The data will be put together by OU from the key informant interview and presented to CDC and it will be used to decide what type of help needs to be provided.

 

Dr. Curiel:

There will also be a sampling of agencies that provide services to victims of DV. This will help identify issues and gaps in services for the community.

 

Comments:

·        The experience that I have is that when somebody is sent to you with a problem, the person does not change, but when someone comes because that person wants to come on his/her own, then there is a better rate of success.

·        That is discussing treatment and we are discussing information seeking.

·        I heard Patti talk on the radio about the problem, but at the end the program didn’t say where to go for help. I like to suggest the use of billboards on what is domestic violence abuse and whom to call.

·        There is also the issue of money.

·        Yes, but it is a suggestion because not everyone listens to the radio, I just happened to listen to it at the time.

·        How soon are we going to do this, the kids in the community can be a source of volunteers.

 

Cynthia:

That's the input we need from our extended community. There are agencies that have the money to help us with billboards.

 

Comments:

·        It is important to have billboards since they allow us to educate people.

·        There is a lot of misinformation about domestic violence, more education is needed. Most of time you have to explain to people that it involves sexual abuse as well.

 

Dr. Curiel gave phone numbers for SAFE and National Center for Prevention of Domestic Violence to CBLC for those that need help right away.

 

Suggestions regarding the questions:

·        Question 4 (Victim): What about including "Do you want help?"

·        Question 4 (Victim): How about adding "Did you reach your goal in the program?" or "Did you get what you wanted?"

·        Question 1 (Perpetrator): We need to know if the perpetrators have been abused in their own lives.

 

Cynthia once again stressed confidentiality. She added:

You can take these questions home but you have to keep the questions to yourselves otherwise it could potentially contaminate the volunteer pool. One of the things that we can do is you can take the questions home, make changes, and mail them back to me. I'll send you a SASE along with the minutes of the meeting. Include other questions you can come up with and also you can help make these questions more culturally appropriate.

 

Comments:

·        It is better if it is done here so we can go over the questions in a group.

·        There is a problem with the wording of some of these questions.

 

Saleem:

That is why your input is needed, to go over these questions, make changes, and see if these can be translated into Spanish.

 

Comments and suggested changes:

Perpetrator (Page 26)

Question 1:   Add "Were you a victim of violence?, Did you get help?"

Question 2:   "What did you do?, What did your partner do?"

Question 5:   Change the question "When and how did you become aware that you need

          help?" Upon further discussion it was decided to leave the question

          unchanged.

Question 11: It needs a little more tact, instead of "people like you," how about

 something else. Cross out "like you." It is less abrupt that way. It also

 doesn’t make the person defensive.

Question 5:    What if the answer to this question is "No, I didn’t. I was sent here."

Question 6:    In relation to Question 5, it implies that you needed help but it doesn’t ask

that. As discussed earlier, some may participate because they were asked by the parole officer and others. Change Question 6 into a direct question, "Do you need help?"

Question 13:   Is it one service or services? Cynthia explained that it is about what type of

services were handed out. Reword the question to "Which of these services was most helpful?"

Question 14:  This question asks about curriculum. What curriculum are you referring to?

Do lay people understand the word curriculum? Is it translatable to Spanish. If it is a specific program (curriculum), then it needs to be mentioned for the perpetrators to know if they have experienced it. Suggest the use of the either the word class or program instead of curriculum since it is easier to translate into Spanish and easier to understand by lay persons.

 

 

Question 14:   Change "Any sessions feel demeaning" to "What sessions feel

                       demeaning?".  It seems like the question is passing judgment. How about "

                       What sessions you like the most and the least," and "What they made you

                       feel."

Question 1:    Ask the perpetrator "Have you been a victim of abuse?" and "If so, by

           whom?"

 

Victims (Page 24)

Question 8:     Add the word "to."

Question 9:     Change "people like you."

 

Cynthia asked if the CLBC members wanted to take the questions home. She once again stressed confidentiality concerning the questions. She added:

I'll mail the changes. If you have further changes, please mail them back. You can either take the folders with you or keep them here at LCDA. Write your name on the folder if you want to keep it here.

 

VII. Close Meeting

 

Cynthia reminded everyone that the next CLBC meeting will be held on April 25, 2002 at 3:00 pm.

 

 

 

Meeting adjourned at 4:55 pm


Changes in Questions

 

Perpetrator (page 26)

 

No

Original Question

Changes

1

First, I'd like to know a little about your background. Where were you born? Where did you grow up? Did you live with both of your parents? What were they like? How well did they get along? Did you ever hear or see them fighting? (IF no) do you know if/ (IF yes,) what was that like-did they scream at each other? insult each other? hit each other?

First, I'd like to know a little about your background. Where were you born? Where did you grow up? Did you live with both of your parents? What were they like? How well did they get along? Did you ever hear or see them fighting? what was that like-did they scream at each other? insult each other? hit each other? Were you a victim of violence ? (IF yes,) What type of violence? By whom? Did you get help?

2

Please describe the last time you hit, slapped, pushed or physically injured your wife/partner. What seems to trigger these episodes? Describe events leading to it, what you did, what your partner did. What do you think causes these behaviors? How do you think they can be prevented? How probable is it to occur again?

Please describe the last time you hit, slapped, pushed or physically injured your wife/partner. What seems to trigger these episodes? Describe events leading to it, what did you do, what did your partner do. What do you think causes these behaviors? How do you think they can be prevented? How probable is it to occur again?

6

What made you decide to get help?

Did you get help?

11

How could we get more people like you to come to this program?

How could we get more people to come to this program?

13

Of these services, what did you find most helpful? Why?

Which of these services was most helpful? Why?

14

(If participated in the curriculum) What sessions did you like the most? The least? Why? Any sessions feel demeaning? Irrelevant?

(If participated in classes/programs) What sessions did you like the most and the least? Why? How did they make you feel? Irrelevant?

 

Victim (Page 24)

 

No

Original Question

Changes

8

What problem did you find in trying make use of the services?

What problem did you find in trying to make use of the services?

9

How could we get more people like you to come?

How could we get more people to come?