Victimized immigrant women in Portugal: factors associated with formal and informal help-seeking (Las mujeres inmigrantes víctimas de agresión en Portugal: factores asociados a la búsqueda de ayuda formal e informal)
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online May, 2020
Victimized immigrant women in Portugal: factors associated with formal and informal help-seeking (Las mujeres inmigrantes víctimas de agresión en Portugal: factores asociados a la búsqueda de ayuda formal e informal)
Few studies have focused on immigrant women’s help-seeking that is due to factors such as having a history of multiple victimization. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of help-seeking and the factors associated with informal or formal sources. The participants were 84 immigrant women in Portugal who had experienced any form of violence in the host country. The results showed that 92% of the participants had experienced victimization for the first time in Portugal, and 58% had not sought any type of help. Lower length of stay in Portugal is a predictor for informal help-seeking, while being Caucasian, having a higher number of victimization experiences, having higher severity perception and having low psychological disadjustment were independent predictors for formal help-seeking. The relationship between victimization and help-seeking was fully mediated by the severity perception of victimization. The choice of where help is sought depends not only on the history of violence but also on structural factors, identification as a victim and the perception of danger. Practical implications are discussed at the preventive and intervention levels.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AcevedoM. J. (2000). Battered immigrant Mexican women’s perspectives regarding abuse and help-seeking. Journal of Multicultural Social Work, 8, 243–282. doi:10.1300/J285v08n03_04
2.
AhmadF.DriverN.McNallyM. J.StewartD. E. (2009). “Why doesn’t she seek help for partner abuse?” An exploratory study with South Asian immigrant women. Social Science and Medicine, 69, 613–622. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.06.011
3.
AlhabibS.NurU.JonesR. (2010). Domestic violence against women: Systematic review of prevalence studies. Journal of family violence, 25, 369–382. Doi: 10.1007/s10896-009-9298-4
4.
AmmarN. H.OrloffL. E.DuttonM.HassG. (2012). Battered immigrant women in the United States and protection orders: An exploratory research. Criminal Justice Review, 37, 337–359. doi:10.1177/0734016812454660
5.
AmriS.BemakF. (2013). Mental health help-seeking behaviors of Muslim immigrants in the United States: Overcoming social stigma and cultural mistrust. Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 7. doi:10.3998/jmmh.10381607.0007.104
6.
BauerH. M.RodriguezM. A.QuirogaS. S.Flores-OrtizY. G. (2000). Barriers to health care for abused Latina and Asian immigrant women.Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 11, 33–44. doi:10.1353/hpu.2010.0590
Bø VatnarS. K.BjørklyS. (2010). An interactional perspective on the relationship of immigration to intimate partner violence in a representative sample of help-seeking women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 25, 1815–1835. doi:10.1177/0886260509354511
9.
BrabeckK. M.GuzmánM. R. (2009). Exploring Mexican-origin intimate partner abuse survivors’ help-seeking within their sociocultural contexts. Violence and Victims, 24, 817–832. doi:10.1891/0886-6708.24.6.817
10.
Briones-VozmedianoE.Agudelo-SuarezA. A.GoicoleaI.Vives-CasesC. (2014). Economic crisis, immigrant women and changing availability of intimate partner violence services: A qualitative study of professionals’ perceptions in Spain. International Journal for Equity in Health, 13, 1–9. doi:10.1186/s12939-014-0079-1
11.
Briones-VozmedianoE.La ParraD.Vives-CasesC. (2014). Barriers and facilitators to effective coverage of intimate partner violence services for immigrant women in Spain. Health Expectations: An International Journal of Public Participation in Health Care and Health Policy. doi:10.1111/hex.12283
12.
CampbellR.RajaS. (2005). The sexual assault and secondary victimization of female veterans: Help-seeking experiences with military and civilian social systems. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29, 97–106. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2005.00171.x
13.
CollinsP. H. (2015). Intersectionality’s definitional dilemmas. Annual Review of Sociology, 41, 1–20. doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112142
CrenshawK. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43, 1241–1299. doi:10.2307/1229039
16.
CrenshawK. (2002). Documento para o Encontro de Especialistas em Aspetos da Discriminação Racial Relativos ao Gênero. Revista Estudos Feministas, 10, 171–188. doi:10.1590/S0104-026X2002000100011
17.
CuevasC. A.BellK.SabinaC. (2014). Victimization, psychological distress, and help-seeking: Disentangling the relationship for Latina victims. Psychology of Violence, 4, 196–209. doi:10.1037/a0035819
18.
CuevasC. A.SabinaC.MilloshiR. (2012). Interpersonal victimization among a national sample of Latino women. Violence against Women, 18, 377–403. doi:10.1177/1077801212452413
19.
DasguptaS. D. (2005). Women’s realities: Defining violence against women by immigration, race, and class. In SokoloffN. J.PrattC. (Eds.), Domestic violence at the margins: Readings on race, class, gender, and culture (pp. 56–70). New Jersey, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
20.
ElyG. (2004). Domestic violence and immigrant communities in the United States: A review of women’s unique needs and recommendations for social work practice and research. Stress, Trauma, and Crisis: An International Journal, 7, 223–241. doi:10.1080/15434610490888027
21.
ErezE.AdelmanM.GregoryC. (2009). Intersections of immigration and domestic violence: Voices of battered immigrant women. Feminist Criminology, 4, 32–56. doi:10.1177/1557085108325413
22.
ErezE.HartleyC. C. (2003). Battered immigrant women and the legal system: A therapeutic jurisprudence perspective. Western Criminology Review, 4, 155–169.
23.
Escribà-AgüirV.Ruiz-PérezI.Montero-PiñarM. I.Vives-CasesC.Plazaola-CastañoJ.Martín-BaenaD. (2010). Partner violence and psychological well-being: Buffer or indirect effect of social support. Psychosomatic Medicine, 72, 383–389. doi:10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181d2f0dd
24.
FalcónL. M.TodorovaI.TuckerK. (2009). Social support, life events, and psychological distress among the Puerto Rican population in the Boston area of the United States. Aging & Mental Health, 13, 863–873. doi:10.1080/13607860903046552
25.
FungK.WongY.-L. R. (2007). Factors influencing attitudes towards seeking professional help among East and Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee women. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 53, 216–231. doi:10.1177/0020764006074541
26.
Garcia-MorenoC.JansenH. A.EllsbergM.HeiseL.WattsC. H. (2006). Prevalence of intimate partner violence: Findings from the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence. The Lancet, 368(9543), 1260–1269. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69523-8
27.
GillumT. L. (2009). Improving services to African American survivors of IPV: From the voices of recipients of culturally specific services. Violence against Women, 15, 57–80. doi:10.1177/1077801208328375
28.
GonçalvesM.MatosM. (2012). Adaptation of life trauma and victimization history for immigrant population. Braga: University of Minho.
29.
GonçalvesM.MatosM. (2016). Cultural competence in intervention with immigrants: A comparative analysis between health professionals, social workers and police. Acta Medica Portuguesa, 29, 629–638. doi:10.20344/amp.7121
GurugeS.HumphreysJ. (2009). Barriers affecting access to and use of formal social supports among abused immigrant women. The Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 41, 64–84. Retrieved fromhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19831055
HuddlestonT.BilgiliÖ.JokiA. L.VankovaZ. (2015). Migrant Integration Policy Index 2015. Barcelona / Brussels: CIDOB and MPG.
34.
HymanI.ForteT.Du MontJ.RomansS.CohenM. M. (2006). Help-seeking rates for intimate partner violence (IPV) among Canadian immigrant women. Health Care for Women International, 27, 682–694. doi:10.1080/07399330600817618
35.
IngramE. M. (2007). A comparison of help seeking between Latino and non-Latino victims of intimate partner violence. Violence against Women, 13, 159–171. doi:10.1177/1077801206296981
36.
IngramE. M.McClellandD. J.MartinJ.CaballeroM. F.MayorgaM. T.GillespieK. (2010). Experiences of immigrant women who self-petition under the Violence Against Women Act. Violence against Women, 16, 858–880. doi:10.1177/1077801210376889
37.
IngramJ. R.PatchinJ. W.HuebnerB. M.McCluskeyJ. D.BynumT. S. (2007). Parents, friends, and serious delinquency: An examination of direct and indirect effects among at-risk early adolescents. Criminal Justice Review, 32, 380–400. doi:10.1177/0734016807311436
38.
JosephsonJ. (2005). The intersectionality of domestic violence and welfare in the lives of poor women. In N. Sokollof & C. Pratt (Eds.), Domestic violence at the margins: Readings on race, class, gender, and culture. New Jersey, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
39.
KaukinenC. (2004). The help-seeking strategies of female violent-crime victims: The direct and conditional effects of race and the victim-offender relationship. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19, 967–990. doi:10.1177/0886260504268000
40.
KaukinenC.DemarisA. (2009). Sexual assault and current mental health: The role of help-seeking and police response. Violence against Women, 15, 1331–1357. doi:10.1177/1077801209346713
41.
LambertM. J.BurlingameG. M.UmphressV.HansenN. B.VermeerschD. A.ClouseG. C.YancharS. C. (1996). The reliability and validity of the Outcome QuestionnaireClinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 3, 249–258. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0879(199612)3:4<249:AID-CPP106>3.0.CO;2-S
42.
LeeY. S.HadeedL. (2009). Intimate partner violence among Asian immigrant communities: Health/mental health consequences, help-seeking behaviors, and service utilization. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 10, 143–170. doi:10.1177/1524838009334130
LiangB.GoodmanL.Tummala-NarraP.WeintraubS. (2005). A theoretical framework for understanding help-seeking processes among survivors of intimate partner violence. American Journal of Community Psychology, 36, 71–84. doi:10.1007/s10464-005-6233-6
45.
LinaresL. O. (2004). Social connection to neighbors, multiple victimization, and current health among women residing in high crime neighborhoods. Journal of Family Violence, 19, 355–366. doi:10.1007/s10896-004-0680-y
46.
LipskyS.CaetanoR. (2007). The role of race/ethnicity in the relationship between emergency department use and intimate partner violence: Findings from the 2002 national survey on drug use and health. American Journal of Public Health, 97, 2246–2252. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.091116
47.
LuceaM. B.StockmanJ. K.Mana-AyM.BertrandD.CallwoodG. B.CoverstonC. R.CampbellJ. C. (2013). Factors influencing resource use by African American and African Caribbean women disclosing intimate partner violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 28, 1617–1641. doi:10.1177/0886260512468326
48.
MachadoP.FassnachtD. B. (2014). The Portuguese version of the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45): Normative data, reliability, and clinical significance cut-offs scores. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 88, 427–437. doi:10.1111/papt.12048
49.
MahapatraN.DinittoD. M. (2013). Help-seeking behaviors of South Asian women experiencing domestic violence in the United States. Partner Abuse, 4, 295–313. doi:10.1891/1946-6560.4.3.295
50.
McCartM. R.SmithD. W.SawyerG. K. (2010). Help seeking among victims of crime: A review of the empirical literature. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23, 198–206. doi:10.1002/jts.20509
51.
McIntyreT.VenturaM. (1996). Escala de avaliação da resposta aos acontecimentos traumáticos. In Avaliação psicológica: Formas e contextos, IV (pp. 567–576). Braga: Psiquilibrios.
52.
Ministry of Internal Affairs (2014). Annual report of intern security. Lisbon: Ministry of Internal Affairs.
53.
MookerjeeS.CerulliC.FernandezI. D.ChinN. P. (2015). Do Hispanic and non-Hispanic women survivors of intimate partner violence differ in regards to their help-seeking? A qualitative study. Journal of Family Violence, 30, 839–851. doi:10.1007/s10896-015-9734-6
54.
NadeemE.LangeJ. M.EdgeD.FongwaM.BelinT.MirandaJ. (2007). Does stigma keep poor young immigrant and U.S.-born Black and Latina women from seeking mental health care?Psychiatric Services, 58, 1547–1554. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.58.12.1547
55.
PreacherK. J.HayesA. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36, 717–731. doi:10.3758/BF03206553
56.
RajA.SilvermanJ. (2002). Violence against immigrant women: The roles of culture, context, and legal immigrant status on Intimate Partner Violence. Violence Against Women, 8, 367–398. doi:10.1177/10778010222183107
57.
ReinaA. (2010). Domestic violence in Iowa: Exploring the experiences of Latinas with organizational response. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. 11443. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/11443
58.
ReinaA. S.LohmanB. J.MaldonadoM. M. (2013). “He said they’d deport me”: Factors influencing domestic violence help-seeking practices among Latina immigrants. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29, 593–615. doi:10.1177/0886260513505214
59.
RizoC. F.MacyR. J. (2011). Help seeking and barriers of Hispanic partner violence survivors: A systematic review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16, 250–264. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2011.03.004
60.
RodríguezM.ValentineJ. M.SonJ. B.MuhammadM. (2009). Intimate partner violence and barriers to mental health care for ethnically diverse populations of women. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 10, 358–374. doi:10.1177/1524838009339756
61.
RunnerM.YoshihamaM.NovickS. (2009). Intimate partner violence in immigrant and refugee communities: Challenges, promising practices and recommendations. Princeton, NJ: Family Violence Prevention Fund for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
62.
SabinaC.CuevasC.SchallyJ. (2015). The influence of ethnic group variation on victimization and help seeking among Latino women. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 21, 19–30. doi:10.1037/a0036526
63.
SabinaC.CuevasC. A.LannenE. (2014). The likelihood of Latino women to seek help in response to interpersonal victimization: An examination of individual, interpersonal and sociocultural influences. Psychosocial Intervention, 23, 95–103. doi:10.1016/j.psi.2014.07.005
64.
SabinaC.CuevasC. A.SchallyJ. (2012). The cultural influences on help-seeking among a national sample of victimized Latino women. American Journal of Community Psychology, 49, 347–363. doi:10.1007/s10464-011-9462-x
65.
SegalM. T.ChowE. N. (2011). Analyzing Gender, Intersectionality, and Inequality in Global, Transnational and Local Contexts. In E. N. Chow, M. T. Segal, & L. Tan (Eds.), Analyzing Gender, Intersectionality, and Multiple Inequalities: Global, Transnational and Local Contexts (Advances in Gender Research, Volume 15, pp. 1–14). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
66.
SilvaA.AzevedoL. (2005). Imigração e etnicidade - Vivências e trajetórias de mulheres em Portugal (pp. 139–147). Lisboa: SOS Racismo.
67.
SmithA. (2004). Beyond the politics of inclusion: Violence against women of color and human rights. Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 4, 120–124. doi:10.2979/MER.2004.4.2.120
68.
SpalekB. (2006). Crime victims: theory, policy and practices. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
69.
SullivanK.OrloffL. (2013). Breaking barriers: A complete guide to legal rights and resources for battered immigrants. Washington DC: National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP, pronounced new-app), American University, Washington College of Law.
70.
TamD. (2004). Culturally responsive advocacy intervention with abused Chinese-Canadian women. British Journal of Social Work, 34, 269–277. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch026
71.
TingL. (2010). Out of Africa: Coping strategies of African immigrant women survivors of intimate partner violence. Health Care for Women International, 31, 345–364. doi:10.1080/07399330903348741
72.
TingL.PanchanadeswaranS. (2009). Barriers to help-seeking among immigrant African women survivors of partner buse: Listening to women’s own voices. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 18, 817–838. doi:10.1080/10926770903291795
73.
WidomC. S.DuttonM. A.CzajaS. J.DuMontK. A. (2005). Development and validation of a new instrument to assess lifetime trauma and victimization history. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18, 519–531. doi:10.1002/jts.20060
74.
WongR.HouD. L.Wong-kimE.PermanenteK.CityU. (2015). Understanding family connections and help seeking behavior in Chinese American immigrant adults who attempt suicide. The Open Family Studies Journal, 7, 68–76. doi:10.2174/1874922401507010068
75.
YoshiokaM. R.GilbertL.El-BasselN.Baig-AminM. (2003). Social support and disclosure of abuse: Comparing South Asian, African American, and Hispanic battered women. Journal of Family Violence, 18, 171–180. doi:10.1023/A:1023568505682
76.
ZakarR.ZakarM. Z.FaistT.KraemerA. (2012). Intimate partner violence against women and its related immigration stressors in Pakistani immigrant families in Germany. SpringerPlus, 1, 5. doi:10.1186/2193-1801-1-5
77.
ZarzaM. J.AdlerR. H. (2008). Latina immigrant victims of interpersonal violence in New Jersey: A needs assessment study. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 16, 22–39. doi:10.1080/10926770801920453
