Thank you for your interest in adapting the Power and Control Wheel. There is a $25 service fee associated with these requests. Payment does not guarantee approval, but is intended to compensate employee time to review these requests.
For adaptation approval, we require focus groups from the persons who are experiencing the violence. It generally works best with victims who have been removed from the violence for a period of time (six months to a year) because they tend to be less likely to be in “survivor mode” and are able to articulate their experiences a little better. This is not always the case, however, and is not a hard and fast rule.
While service providers can be used for some additional input regarding adaptations, ultimately it is important for approved adaptations to rely on the input from victims. This is how the original wheel was developed and we must maintain that particular standard for adaptations. This is not to say that advocates and service providers do not have valuable input – they are an integral part of responding to the use of violence in one’s home. But it is important for our agency that victim’s experiences are at the forefront of the material we endorse.
Focus groups further serve an important function in that they formalize the process of acquiring the information that is used. They provide the transparency necessary for victims to know and understand that their stories will be used to create a resource for others. A victim who meets with an advocate or service provider expects her experiences to remain confidential and private. Even though adaptations do not utilize identifying information, it is important that a victim/survivor understands that the information they provide will be used for research purposes. Essentially, the intentions behind focus groups and meeting with individuals for service purposes are very different, and we want to ensure that the women who experience violence are aware of that when they are sharing their stories.
Finally, victims must be involved in the process from beginning to end. This means that they not only provide the content for the adaptation, but also approve the final result. This ensures that it is their voices at the forefront of the wheel, and they are the ones naming their world.
We will need to understand how your adaptation came about. Please be ready to explain the process used to develop the information, how it was gathered, over what period of time, and who provided the input. We will need to know how survivors have been involved and to what extent. We will also want to know how you analyzed the information you were given.
In addition to the above, please have the following ready before completing this form:
- Copies of your adaptation
- Credit card
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