Effectiveness of hotline, advocacy, counseling, and shelter services for victims of domestic violence: a statewide evaluation.

The authors report the results of an evaluation of services provided by 54 Illinois domestic violence agencies. In collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago evaluation team, domestic violence advocates identified services to be evaluated, specified desired outcomes of those services, and participated in developing measures of those outcomes in both English and Spanish. Within the limitations of the study, outcomes were positive in all four program areas: hotline, counseling, advocacy, and shelter. The authors then discuss implications for evaluation of domestic violence programs that maintain victim safety as a guiding principle.