title: Rural and urban women's perceptions of barriers to health, mental health, and criminal justice services: implications for victim services.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine rural and urban women's perceptions of barriers to health and mental health services as well as barriers to criminal justice system services. Eight focus groups were conducted, two in a selected urban county (n = 30 women) and two in each of three selected rural counties (n = 98 women). Results were classified into a barrier framework developed in the health service utilization literature which suggests there are four main dimensions of barriers: affordability, availability, accessibility, and acceptability. Results indicate that: (1) women face many barriers to service use including affordability, availability, accessibility, and acceptability barriers; (2) it takes an inordinate level of effort to obtain all kinds of services; however, women with victimization histories may face additional barriers over and above women without victimization histories; (3) barriers to health and mental health service utilization overlap with barriers to utilizing the criminal justice system; and (4) there are many similarities in barriers to service use among rural and urban women; however, there are some important differences suggesting barriers are contextual. Future research is needed to further clarify barriers to service use for women with victimization histories in general, and specifically for rural and urban women. In addition, future research is needed to better understand how women cope with victimization in the context of the specific barriers they face in their communities.
authors.affiliation: University of Kentucky, Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, 1151 Red Mile Road, Suite 1A, Lexington, KY 40504-2645, USA. tklogan@uky.edu
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Logan
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leukefeld
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D003416:Criminal Law; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011902:Rape / Q000523:psychology; D012424:Rural Population; D012938:Social Perception; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*