According to the California State Department of Justice there were 182,000 reported cases of domestic violence in 1988 that required police intervention. This descriptive study, an explorative evaluation survey, examined 47 shelter programs in California to determine what components are essential to a shelter's effectiveness in facilitating lasting change in learned-helplessness behavior and ending a woman's involvement in a battering relationship. The study examined 188 categorical and continuous variables, including those identified in the literature as necessary components of shelter programs for battered women. Descriptive analyses revealed seven proposed essential criteria for determining a shelter program's effectiveness: (1) the philosophical framework advocates the elimination of domestic violence and the empowerment of women and the actual stay in the shelter approximates the minimum time required for lasting behavior change to occur; (2) the organization has a mission statement and clearly defined philosophy and goals that can be operationalized; (3) the shelter program includes a strong health education component that begins with an examination of one's value system; (4) the shelter program includes provisions for a measurement of changes in beliefs, attitudes, and self-image; (5) when the philosophical framework of an organization advocates the elimination of domestic violence, provisions for addressing the behaviors of the batterer; (6) sustained contact with former residents regardless of length of stay; and (7) provisions for ascertaining an accurate and current recidivism status of former residents. (LLL)