Interview Guide for Focus
Group Interviews of Latino Community.
Introduction:
You are being asked to participate in a discussion group with other
women/men from the Latino community. The purpose of this discussion is to get
your opinions on violence between couples, married, living together, or just
dating. This discussion group is part of a project being conducted by the
Latino Community
Development Agency, with the support of the
The information you provide us will be used to plan
services to prevent or control partner violence. Families experiencing partner
violence will benefit from your help in planning this program.
The group discussion will last about an hour and you
will be paid $ 20.00 (in WalMart gift certificates)
for your participation. You will not be asked
to give us your name nor will we ask you personal questions or to discuss your
personal experiences. We are mainly interested in your opinions. What you say
in the group will be kept confidential. Your participation is voluntary and you
may leave at any time during the discussion if you wish. Feel free to ask the
group leader any questions.
Read the following vignette:
Rosita lives with her
husband Victor and their two young children. She frequently fights with Victor
because he doesn’t give her enough housekeeping money and won’t let
her work because he gets jealous. He
often insults her (he says she’s a
bad cook and rotten mother) and has slapped her a few times when
dinner’s late or isn’t to his liking.
1. Do Rosita and Victor have a
problem? What behaviors make you think there is a problem (probe perception of
behaviors underlined not mentioned by group)? What other behaviors (not
described here) would also be considered a part of this problem? What is the problem
called?
2. How frequent is (use their term)? Is it more or less
frequent among Latinos?
3. How serious is (use their term)? What problems might
they have that would be more serious than (use
their term)?
4. What do their neighbors
think about Rosita and Victor’s problem? And Rosita’s family? And Victor’s
family?
5. What might happen if a
neighbor or family member intervenes?
6. What might happen to Rosita
if nothing is done to stop the problem?
7. What might happen to her
children?
8. What reasons does Victor
give for treating Rosita this way?
9. What are the causes of
Victor’s problem?
10. What reasons does Rosita
give for staying with Victor?
11. What can Rosita or Victor do
to solve the problem?
12. What would make Rosita
decide to get help?
13. What kind of help does
Rosita need?
14. Where would Rosita go to get
help?
15. What can we do to prevent
our children from ever having this problem?