Community Information Needs: The Case of Wife Assault.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between community needs for information about wife assault and the information response offered through social service networks in six communities of varying sizes. In the first phase of the research, 543 randomly selected women were interviewed during household surveys to assess their knowledge of different kinds of information resources that would be helpful in a hypothetical situation involving wife assault. In the second phase, 179 interviews were conducted with agencies and professionals identified as likely sources of help during the household interviews. Analyses of both surveys provided a map of the degree to which the the information delivery system's response provided a map of the degree to which the information delivery system's response overlaps with the public's need for information. The implications for the design of community information delivery systme, including information and referral centers , are discussed