A Study on the Situation of and the Factors that Predict the Linkage of Services in the Counseling Centers for the Victims of Violence Against Women

여성에 대한 폭력관련 상담소의 서비스 연계실태 및 연계관련 요인

Violence against women includes sexual violence, domestic violence, trafficking, etc. It is a serious problem that violates women's rights and basic freedom. In Korea, with the enactment of the laws on sexual violence and domestic violence in the 1990s, counseling centers and protective facilities for the victims began to be established and have been rapidly increasing in number recently. The purpose of this research was to investigate the current status of the counseling services with a focus on their linkage function. 78 out of 109 counselors working in the counseling centers for sexual and domestic violence throughout Korea responded to a mail survey. The questions included the general characteristics of the centers and the counselors, the structural, relationship and process dimensions of linkage function, and the subjective and objective aspects of the degree of linkage. The findings of the analysis highlighted the following problems. First, the counseling centers played limited role in serving the victims of violence due to lack of resources in the service network. Second, the linkage of services existed on a relatively small scale which was mostly based upon informal and unstructured relationship. Third, according to the multivariate analysis, the existence of potential partner agencies, the effort of the line staff to initiate the linkage relationship and mutual cooperation between agencies determined the degree of linkage among services. These findings suggest implications for establishing a more effective system to protect the victims of violence.