Abstract
This article explores the help-seeking challenges faced by a community sample of 25 Latina intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors. We include the experiences of Latinas who sought help from IPV services and those who did not. Additionally, we utilize an ecological framework to highlight the barriers that are present at multiple levels for Latinas who seek assistance, and we include their recommendations for increasing access. The information provided by these Latina survivors afford social workers the opportunity to address the barriers experienced by them as well as the opportunity to take a proactive stance in further enhancing services available in the community.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects an estimate of 6.9 million women in the United States each year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). The negative impact of IPV on a number of domains for women has been well documented, including mental and physical health (Cerulli et al., 2011; Lacey, McPherson, Samuel, Sears, & Head, 2013). The negative consequences of IPV reflect a number of issues that represent key concerns for the social work profession. Although many social workers are well equipped to assist IPV survivors, the extant literature demonstrates that most survivors do not seek formal social services (Dichter & Gelles, 2012; Liang, Goodman, Tummala-Narra, & Weintraub, 2005). Instead, most survivors disclose first to informal support systems such as family or friends, and then formal systems such as social workers, advocates, or police (Coker, Derrick, Lumpkin, Aldrich, & Oldendick, 2000; Macy, Nurius, Kernic, & Holt, 2005).
A number of barriers are present for survivors to disclose to informal or formal support networks, such as economic dependency, cultural expectations for women to stay in committed relationships (Marrs Fuchsel, Murphy, & Dufresne, 2012), and lack of access to services (Hien & Ruglass, 2009). In many cases, survivors feel shame, fear, stigma, and concern of losing their children (Rodriguez, Valentine, Son, & Muhammad, 2009). In addition to these barriers, there are a number of obstacles to help-seeking that are faced by women from various ethnic and cultural groups, including Latinas. Research indicates that Latina women experience IPV at rates similar to non-Latinas; however, there may be particular barriers that are faced by Latina survivors in help seeking. These barriers may exist at multiple levels, ranging from family or group norms to organizational obstacles.
This article explores the help-seeking challenges faced by a community sample of Latina IPV survivors. We extend the literature by including the experiences of both Latinas who sought help from IPV services and those who did not. Additionally, we utilize an ecological framework to highlight the barriers that are present at multiple levels for Latinas who seek assistance, and we include their recommendations for increasing access. We end with a discussion that includes implications for social work practice and policy.
Latinas and IPV
The research literature available on Latina survivors of IPV varies greatly in how the term, Latina, is defined. Although researchers often do not explicitly define Latino/Latina, it is apparent that many use the definition to include anyone born or with ancestors from Central America including Mexico, and any Spanish-speaking countries in South America and the Caribbean (Klevens, 2007). The term Latino/Latina may also include new immigrants, descendants of immigrants, citizens, residents, and undocumented persons, as well as both English and Spanish speakers (Gutiérrez, Yeakley, & Ortega, 2000). Unfortunately, the research presented in this article did not distinguish the variability in the Latina ethnic population studied but instead, defined Latina as any female who is connected through birth or ancestry to countries in Central or South America, or the Caribbean. When reviewing the literature, we use the same descriptor of the population that the authors used.
Latinos/Latinas in general are exposed to health disparities that make them a vulnerable and underserved population. Latinas who experience IPV are even more susceptible to limitations on access to resources (Smedley, Stith, & Nelson, 2003). Although research on IPV among Latinas is limited, it is clear that Latinas (immigrant or U.S.-born) experience similar rates and trends of violence when compared to non-Latinas (Bonami, Anderson, Cannon, Slesnick, & Rodriguez, 2009; Huisman, 1996; Klevens, 2007; Loke, 1997; Raj & Silverman, 2002). Catalano (2005) reported that Latinos/Latinas and non-Latinos/Latinas were equally likely to experience rape and sexual assault; Tjaden and Thoennes (2000) found that there was no significant difference among ethnic groups in reports of physical assault and stalking in an intimate relationship. Acknowledging the presence of IPV in the lives of many Latina women, other studies have documented its effect on their mental health (Hazen, Connelly, Soriano, & Landsverk, 2008). Fedovsky, Higgins, and Paranjape (2008) found that Latinas who survived IPV were 3 times more likely to report having posttraumatic stress disorder, than those who had not. Similarly, Kelly (2010) found that Latinas who needed shelter and other types of services for IPV, experienced more severe mental health issues than Anglo-American or African American women. Even though it is evident that Latinas who experience IPV need support from informal and formal sources, many of them do not seek help or wait long periods of time before doing so (Klevens, 2007). One of the reasons for not seeking help is because of the unique barriers confronted by these women.
Research reveals multiple and interlocking barriers Latinas face when deciding to seek services (Bhuyan & Velagapudi, 2013). These range from barriers at the family, cultural, and organizational levels. An ecological model provides a useful framework for understanding the multiple layers of Latina’s lives that may present these barriers. It is common to analyze the experiences of women and violence at the individual level. However, acknowledging factors at all levels that come into play when experiencing IPV is important because it brings awareness to the complexities around this multifaceted issue (Heise, 1998). The interaction of factors at the individual, familial, social, and cultural levels and how they operate in the articulation of the experience around IPV also facilitate understanding help seeking. Another important element to consider when using an ecological perspective is the effect that social and cultural expectations have in patriarchal societies on women, especially when gender inequality is present (Meyers & Post, 2006). The following sections examine the literature on help-seeking and IPV at the family, community or cultural, and organizational levels.
Challenges to Seeking Help at the Family Level
Research focusing on extended family and informal support has found that there are major differences between Anglos and Mexican Americans in kinship structure as well as the involvement of family members in daily life (West, Kaufman Kantor, & Jasinski, 1998). Studies that focus on extended family and informal support report that among Latino families, the kinship structure and participation of family members in daily life are unique (Keefe, 1979, 1984; Markides, Boldt, & Ray, 1986). On one hand, support from family members is pivotal in seeking help and can be a protective factor (Rodriguez et al., 2010) while on the other, disclosing “intimate issues” such as IPV can be perceived as shameful (Vidales, 2010).
A study on disclosure of IPV and social support comparing African American, Asian and Latina battered women found that the majority of all three groups turned to kin for assistance (Yoshioka, Gilbert, El-Bassel, & Baig-Amin, 2003). One quarter of the Latina participants even sought support from the abuser’s family (Yoshioka et al., 2003). Because the in-laws could be more likely to support the abuser in cases of IPV, these types of family support can be quite challenging for battered women. Contradictory values in the Latino/Latina community have an impact on the informal family support available to battered Latinas. Unity in the family and close ties with extended family are anchored in values of
A more recent study found that Latinas were hesitant to disclose to formal sources with only 20% seeking any type of formal help, whereas most Latinas in the same study (58%) disclosed to informal sources such as parents, family, friends, or neighbors (Cuevas & Sabina, 2010). Therefore, using informal support for something as “private and personal” as IPV becomes problematic (Fawcett, Heise, Isita-Espejel, & Pick, 1999). Sharma (2001) explains that although the extended family can be very helpful for child rearing and financial assistance purposes, boundaries between the couple and the rest of the family may be difficult to draw. As a result, battered women may feel pressured to stay in the abusive relationship.
Challenges to Seeking Help at the Community/Cultural Level
Battered Latinas also face barriers to seeking help at the community or cultural level. For example, several cultural beliefs about
In contrast, marianismo is the set of beliefs that direct Latinas in the role women take within the family. Traits such as submissiveness, deference to others, spiritually untainted, and self-sacrificing behaviors mirror the role of the suffering Virgin Mary (Goldberg-Edelson et al., 2007). The maintenance of the family unit is often placed before the well-being of the woman herself. Additionally, Latinas are often socialized to allow someone else to make decisions for them, most often the men in their lives. Women are taught to depend on men financially; they continue this cycle by raising their daughters in the same way (Kasturirangan & Nutt-Williams, 2003).
Hence, machismo and marianismo often direct the gender roles in the families with fathers seen as the sole provider, protector, and authority figure, (Kasturirangan & Nutt-Williams, 2003; Perilla, 1999) and mothers seen as responsible for child rearing and the well-being of the family (Perilla, 1999). As such, some Latinas traditionally do not work out of the home; for those who choose to do so out of desire or necessity, they may be at greater risk of IPV due to the shift in gender roles and perceived threat to their partner’s machismo (Erez, Adelman, & Gregory, 2009). For example, in one study, when Latino men who were jailed for IPV were asked about machismo, the majority of them agreed that it was a main element in their culture and a major influence on them. One participant said, “I believed that because I was a man I had the right to offend my partner and to do whatever I wanted to her” (Saez-Betacourt, Lam, & Nguyen, 2008, p. 139).
Additionally, marital problems may stem from a strong belief in machismo and marianismo since problems are to be kept private and not shared with others at all, not even extended family. Such discussion of problems or expressing dissatisfaction with the relationship would cast the marriage and family in a negative light and bring shame to the family (Perilla, 1999). Latina survivors have reported that they were told by family members that if their marriage ended, it would put their children’s welfare at risk including damaging future marriage opportunities for female children (ALAS, 2004; Erez et al., 2009). Researchers have reported that many Latina IPV survivors believe that their extended families would not be supportive, would blame them for not being good wives, and would encourage them to stay in the relationship and endure the violence (Kasturirangan & Nutt-Williams, 2003; Klevens, 2007).
Challenges to Seeking Help at the Organizational Level
In addition to seeking help from their family or community, IPV survivors may reach out for help to multiple types of organizations such as law enforcement, human services, and religious organizations. Indeed, faith-based organizations can provide healing and support to survivors whose faith is an important aspect of their lives (Bent-Goodley & Fowler, 2006). Unfortunately, not all survivors report positive experiences but rather may experience negative interactions (Ahrens, 2006; Chen & Ulman, 2010; Humphreys & Thiara, 2003; Postmus, Severson, Berry, & Yoo, 2009). Hilbert and Krishnan (2000) explain that disallowing, disregarding, and prohibiting people from accessing the services they need have negatively impacted IPV survivors when seeking help. In fact, they define this lack of access as social exclusion. They go further in stating that limited funding and staff and limited services for diverse populations are additional forms of discrimination against IPV survivors of color. In addition, limits to outreach work, including sharing with underserved communities about services available particularly for immigrant survivors of IPV, affect help-seeking (Raj & Silverman, 2002).
Regarding cultural competency and specialized services for Latina survivors of IPV, Erez and Hartley (2003) reviewed the need to consider that many Latinas may not be proficient in English and may not be literate in their own languages. The lack of access to linguistically competent services puts these women in disadvantage allowing for their revictimization and isolation (Sabina, Cuevas, & Schally, 2012; Wrangle, Fisher, & Paranjape, 2008). In order to have a clear conceptualization of the needs of Latina survivors of IPV and their communities, Silva-Martinez and Murty (2011) suggest learning about the culture of these women, which includes their cultural, social, and economic backgrounds in both the home and host countries.
In sum, seeking services for Latina survivors of IPV is a complex process. Factors at the family, community, and organizational levels have an impact on decisions related to seeking help. One gap in the review of the literature includes the lack of suggestions from Latina survivors themselves as to how to address challenges when seeking help. This article addresses this gap by presenting the results of a qualitative study in which Latina survivors, including those who had received IPV services as well as those who had not, were asked about their challenges to seeking help and their recommendations to address those challenges. Specifically, the research questions driving this study include: (1) What are the challenges faced by Latina survivors when getting help for IPV? Specifically, what challenges exist at the family, community, and organizational levels? (2) What recommendations do Latina survivors provide to help those become better connected to IPV service providers?
Method
Participants and Data Collection Procedures
The data for this project come from qualitative interviews with Latina IPV survivors residing in a midsized community in Northeastern United States (
Participants in the service group were recruited by program staff informing them of the study and inviting them to participate. They were clearly informed that their participation in the study had no impact on their ability to receive services. If the individual was interested in participating, they were given the phone number of the bilingual researcher and contact information was released to the researcher if desired by the participant.
Those in the community group were recruited through referrals from local social service agencies and by posting fliers throughout businesses in the community which Latinas frequent. The flier described the eligibility criteria for the study which included questions about experiencing physical, verbal, or emotional abuse.
All of the women interested in participating (from both the service and community groups) were instructed to contact a bilingual member of the research team by phone to determine whether they qualified and to schedule an interview. All participants were Latina women over the age of 18 who lived in the community and who had experienced IPV since the time the program was initiated. During the screening phone call, eligibility criteria were confirmed.
Interviews typically lasted about 1 hour, were audiotaped, and were conducted at a space that was agreed upon by the researcher and participant, with most being held at either at a local library or space provided by one of the participating agencies. All interviews were conducted in the language of the participant’s choosing, either English or Spanish, and were conducted by a bilingual interviewer. Interviewers were trained in qualitative interviewing techniques prior to data collection. Such training focused on improving the consistency among interviewers, establishing rapport with participants, asking questions sensitively, distinguishing between encouraging and feedback, and keeping a participant focused. All interviewers were either students or graduates of a social work master’s or PhD program.
Measurements
A semistructured interview guide was created by the researchers based on a review of the literature and in collaboration with the partnering agencies. Interviews consisted of open-ended questions and numerous probes, centering on how Latinas learned of IPV services, the barriers encountered, and thoughts about how to reach other Latina survivors. The questions for those who had or had not used services were similar in content but were tailored to reflect why the participant had or had not utilized services. For those survivors who had not used the bilingual services, referral information was provided at the end of the interview. Demographic questions such as age and immigration status were not asked in order to ensure the confidentiality and safety of participants, given the sensitive nature of the study. Any names used in this article have been changed.
Data Analysis
All interviews were transcribed in Spanish, and translated into English, or transcribed directly into English if conducted in English. The transcripts were imported into Atlas Ti, a software package for qualitative analysis. Data were analyzed using a line-by-line coding and constant comparison methods (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) intended to identify as many codes as possible across the transcripts. Codes were then merged into groups (called “families”) based on their commonalities. Finally, “families” were condensed into themes that captured the essence of the data. To improve the reliability of the findings, investigator triangulation (Patton, 2002) was used in which one reviewer completed coding for all of the interviews, and a second reviewer completed coding on three cases from each group. The reviewers then met to compare codes and themes and found that the majority of codes and themes were similar or the same between reviewers. Those themes that were not the same were discussed between the researchers until consensus was reached.
Results
The results are framed around the two research questions driving this study which included: (1) What are the challenges faced by Latina survivors when getting help for IPV? Specifically, what challenges exist at the family, community, and organizational levels? (2) What recommendations do Latina survivors provide to help those become better connected to IPV service providers?
Challenges and Supports Encountered When Seeking Help
All of the participants in both the services and community groups talked about both challenges and supportive factors they faced when seeking help from a number of levels. Such sources include family and friends, the Latino community, and organizations or service providers. The participants’ views on challenges and opportunities presented by each of these levels are outlined below.
Challenges and support from family and friends
For those women who had received formal IPV services, it was very common for them to report that family members were supportive of leaving the husband to get help. A few women reported that their family did not live close by and the only family they had was the abuser’s family. As such, the women reported that these family members were unsupportive of their decision to get help. For example, one survivor explained: His friends-his family says that they’re angry. They’re angry because I involved the police … They’re all mad at me. But the thing is they don’t think about the way he is. They just think about him as their brother but they don’t think about the way they behave.—Isabel (services)
However, at the same time, these women acknowledged that they thought their families were unaware of the abuse they experienced until they told them about it. Some of these women explained that they themselves didn’t know what abuse was until the advocate helped them to understand the different dimensions of IPV.
For the group of women who had not received services (the community group), about half of them did not talk to anybody about the abuse, not even to family members. This was mainly due to shame and a sense of not wanting to burden others with their issues. One survivor explained: I choose not to talk to my best friend because I love her to death but she’s going through her own stuff. And I don’t wanna burden you with my crap when you’re going through your own stuff. Same thing with my sister. She’s going through a lot right now too and it just-I don’t feel it would be fair for me to burden anyone that’s going through something, but I know it’s bad keeping it bottled in because I’m very angry, very edgy, very irritable.—Sabrina (community)
Challenges from the Latino/Latina community
Overall, women from both groups expressed the belief that the Latino/Latina community misunderstands IPV. A few women explained that, as a result of this lack of understanding, community members do not know what to do when someone experiences IPV. Some women reported that they believed the community sees certain forms of IPV, such as jealousy, as being an expression of love and commitment. Two participants illustrated this by stating: People who don’t have an idea about what domestic violence is, who don’t live it, they only hear about it, have no idea what it is to go through it. They think that it’s an illness like the flu that goes away quickly. That it doesn’t matter … So sometimes people don’t understand until they’ve lived it. And it’s hard to make them understand.—Julia (services) They [the community] see it as your husband is jealous or, you know your husband is being protective or overprotective. They don’t see it as domestic violence at all. There’s no emotional aspect of it or economical, no. Most people see domestic violence as, like you’re almost dead. Or you have to like show up with bruises and cuts and-which a lot of them can be hidden. You can hide your bruises and your cuts and everything just as easy as your emotional.—Flora (services)
Women from the service group also reported that it is not always easy for the Latino community to separate IPV from machismo. Prior to obtaining services, the participants acknowledged that they did not realize that abuse existed because they thought it was just part of machismo. One participant said: Which is strange because if you’re Hispanic-a Latino and you live on machismo, it’s not OK for your sister’s husband to beat her, but then your-you might not be beating your own wife, as a Latino man, but you’re still, you know, taking her money and you’re still keeping her from her friends and you’re still acting jealous and stalking and having rages and breaking her things. You’re still doing the same thing. You’re just not accepting that that’s part of domestic violence.—Flora (services)
Women in the community group identified this lack of understanding of IPV as a barrier to help seeking. For example: When a boy is born, they always say, in our culture, you’re the man of the house. You’re in charge of your sister, tell her bring me this, just ordering around, they shouldn’t do anything, don’t touch the plates that’s for women, don’t lift a plate that’s for women, and at least that’s how it is in our culture. And even the kids need to be educated too so that they help.—Maris (community) Well there are a lot of people now that don’t think it’s a problem but that it’s part of married life, you get accustomed to it, they don’t see it as bad … I see that that a lot of people think that, they do think it’s normal.—Barbara (community)
Challenges and support from organizations or service providers
For those women in the services group, they were asked about their experiences with the IPV provider and how they were connected to those services. The women explained that they did not know about the service provider until the police or hospital gave them the phone number. The participants commented that it was easy to receive services and that many of the services were truly needed (e.g., food, shelter, and English classes). I don’t think it can get any easier, I mean, they don’t require anything. You just have to go and say your story and they’ll help you from there.—Irma (services)
Overall, the women were extremely satisfied with the services they received. All of the women were very thankful of all the help given to them and commented on how their life has drastically improved. They are attentive to me, seeing if everything is OK or if I need anything. Thank God, they have helped me.—Mary (services) I feel confident. I feel more confident because I did lose a lot of faith in the justice system. I feel more confident and safe. Since I know my rights, I feel like I’m able to move on or to move forward or to start a new life. I feel like I’m able to do that now, but most of all I feel confident.—Flora (services)
One woman in particular spoke of how appreciative she was that the advocate never told her what she had to do. Instead, the advocate gave her options but always allowed her to make her own decisions. When you’re ready to take that step, they’ll help you all the way through, but until you’re ready to make that decision and get to that step, they don’t tell you, do this, do that. They tell you, these are your options. This is what you could do, but it’s up to you to make that decision and go through that step.—Carmen (services)
All of the participants appreciated the bilingual bicultural legal advocate and especially thankful that she was bilingual. They reported that if the counselor was not bilingual, they would have never called for help, and it scared them to think of what could have happened if they did not get help. For example, one woman said: It’s scary but she (bilingual advocate) was there the whole time. She was very supportive and she explained step-by-step how to talk to the judge, how-you know, wait for your turn when it’s his time to talk you listen and you don’t make any comments. You look directly to the judge; you don’t look at him and stuff like that so it helped a lot. Cuz it’s overwhelming and at the end when you walk in there you kind of forget certain things, but I knew the basics.—Carmen (services)
For the women who had not received services, they explained how they were afraid to ask for help from formal services because of the possible repercussions from their abuser and the possible mistreatment from those organizations. For example, one woman explained: Usually you’re afraid to talk to somebody. Maybe the person will intervene and do something that you need to do but you’re not willing to do because you’re scared, you’re afraid of the person.—Rosa (community)
Although one woman from the community group spoke to a counselor at her child’s school, about half of the women turned to the church for support when they felt they had nobody else to turn to. These women said how their belief in God was helpful to their recovery, but others described how the priest or religious leader was not helpful to them. I spoke to the priest (at my church), and I talked to him about my problem, about my situation, and he told me that (I should) get married, that I should look more for God. And then the priest said, I give you such date to get married through church, start fixing your marriage, get married, do things that God will like because all of that (abuse) is due to evil.—Bianca (community) The main help was my family. After my family, at the organizational level was the church. I’m a Christian. We went to the church to ask for help, to ask for backing and it wasn’t until that last time that I had contact with my ex-husband was when I went to the police station. I should be honest; the biggest help apart from the church and my family was a friend who to be a good friend.—Mayra (community)
Although it was clear that women from the community group had been informed of the local IPV service provider by the police, very few of them spoke in detail about their interactions with the police. However, one participant explained in detail how the police had not helped her. I called the police so that they’d take him away but they didn’t take him away. He-because he started to grab the knives and scare the children so I called the police and when he saw that the kids were yelling that the police were coming, quickly he was so calm and the police came in, they looked around and on the couch where he was sitting there was a knife and they said to him, what’s with this knife? I have this knife to cut a lemon because I’m having my beer. And the police said to me that nothing was wrong and they left.—Barbara (community)
The women from the community group said that at the time of the abuse, they did not know about the IPV service provider and did not know where to look for services. If they had known about such services when they were experiencing IPV, they would have used it. I used to cry in the middle of all of that, my children cried, and what did the police say, get help, get help. And I used to say, where, where am I going to look … Yes that would have helped me; I would have known what to do with my partner a long time ago.—Bianca (community)
Participant Recommendations
All of the women who received services from the bilingual advocate were extremely satisfied with those services received; however, they did have recommendations on further services they wished they had received. Most focused on wanting help to find jobs and housing; others suggested wanting classes to teach children about IPV to break the cycle. Other participants talked about providing more services in Spanish and getting more help with immigration challenges. I think more organizations or more people who help in Spanish. I say that for us, the language is what often stops us from moving forward.—Mary (services) Giving like awareness that even though you might have another problem with immigration and those things that we can also help with that, that you can guide us with what to do to become legal and to be OK and so that the person who is abusing you can’t continue putting pressure on you with those things and that you can help with that too.—Gloria (services)
Almost all of the women (those receiving services and those from the community) stated that something needs to be done to raise awareness of IPV in the Latino community. They suggested having more fliers posted and billboards about IPV and available services. Others suggested sending home information with children from school because mothers will see it more often than not. Other ways to distribute the fliers included posting them at churches, schools, and Laundromats. Participants also suggested television and radio ads. Maybe more advertisement because they do need more advertisement … Possibly TV, during soap operas. That’s perfect because every woman watches soap operas. Yeah. That would be the best because that would hit everybody-low-income, high-income, medium-it doesn’t matter. Everybody would hear about them—Irma (services) I think that it would be good, a commercial, an announcement on television as well, it would be good because we all watch television all the time (laughs), it’s our main source of entertainment, I think that it would be a way to get to our ears, a little easily—Paula (community) … the churches is where a lot of desperate women go, looking for help, it’s the place where I imagine that the majority of people find a little bit of relief maybe when no one listens to them, they come there. I imagine that would be the best place.—Maris (community)
Discussion
This study provides some information about the help-seeking barriers and supportive factors encountered by Latina survivors of IPV in one setting. While our findings are specific to one particular community, they suggest important next steps for better understanding on how to address IPV among the Latina population. Indeed, some of our findings can also be applied to non-Latina populations, as many obstacles faced by IPV survivors transcend cultural differences. Additionally, our findings support the ecological model as a useful framework for organizing our understanding of help seeking, as the women reported obstacles and support systems occurring at various levels of interactions.
At the family or group level, women reported mixed findings. As found with other research on support-seeking more generally, families and friends were sometimes a source of strength and support while other times presented obstacles for the women (Coker et al., 2000; Macy et al., 2005; Vidales, 2010). As evidenced in the literature, understanding
At the organizational level, the women talked about the utility of IPV service providers as well as other organizations where they turned for assistance. Participants indicated that organizations such as churches were sometimes helpful to survivors and other times were not, which is consistent with the previous research that details the ways in which religious organizations can be both empowering for victims yet also have the potential to perpetuate silence around IPV (Pyles, 2007). This finding reinforces other work that suggests that more attention and training are needed for informal networks within communities, such as churches and schools, where Latinas may turn for support first (Bent-Goodley & Fowler, 2006). Additionally, this finding likely applies to other groups beyond Latinas as well. In order to work effectively with Latinas and other groups that may not seek traditional assistance, social workers should consider partnering with faith-based institutions and other community-based organizations to develop and implement culturally relevant training for clergy and staff to recognize and respond to IPV (Bent-Goodley & Fowler, 2006).
Those women who pursued formal IPV services emphasized the importance of having a bilingual advocate available. Many women suggested that without a bilingual advocate, they would not have pursued seeking services. While the importance of bilingual advocates is not a new finding, this adds to the mounting evidence that it is an essential component for IPV service providers (Silva-Martinez & Murty, 2011). Indeed, such multilingual services are relevant and should be an essential component for most immigrant or non-English speaking survivors.
Those women that did not receive IPV services reported that a lack of awareness of the services was the primary obstacle, which has been found in previous studies (Belknap & VandeVuss, 2010). This clearly suggests that additional outreach about the availability of services is needed. When considering outreach strategies, IPV agencies should include gatekeepers or leaders from the community such as the police or medical personnel as suggested by this sample of Latinas (Silva-Martinez & Murty, 2011). While many communities and our culture as a whole may lack awareness about IPV, there are specific barriers for various groups that need to be understood through a cultural lens. Within our sample of Latinas, it appears that the concepts of machismo and marianismo seem to complicate individuals’ ability to define certain behaviors as abusive or wrong at times.
Educating community members about IPV and its effects on communities might result in better understanding of the issue and also disseminate information about services available. Once gatekeepers and community leaders gain this knowledge, women experiencing IPV in these vulnerable communities can become educated and feel more trusting of organizations that specialize in IPV because it has been suggested by community leaders. Organizations should consider establishing reciprocal relationships with these individuals and have them as allies.
Another contribution of our study was the series of recommendations provided by Latinas themselves about how to better address the issue of IPV in their community. Nearly all of the participants in the study recommended that increased awareness of IPV and services available are needed in their community. Many of the suggestions were for these messages to be disseminated in places where Latinas frequent. Additionally, there were a number of suggestions for increased media messaging through fliers, billboards, television, and advertisements.
In line with the recommendations from the participants, research on effectiveness of social norms media marketing has been emerging in the field of sexual violence and can perhaps be applied to IPV as well (Potter & Stapleton, 2011). This approach uses marketing vehicles such as posters and the media to change perceptions about what attitudes and behaviors are approved and desirable within their community (Paluk & Ball, 2010). One of the tenets of social norms marketing is that the message is relevant to the particular population and is based on feedback and information from the community itself (Potter, Moynihan, & Stapleton, 2011; Potter & Stapleton, 2011). This seems especially important when addressing the needs of Latina/Latino immigrant communities, where community members themselves can address culturally relevant norms such as machismo and marianismo, and provide insight as to the language and definitions used to describe abuse. Identifying the social norms and structures that need to be addressed should be done in conjunction with community members who can speak to the particular norms of their context (Casey & Lindhorst, 2009).
Limitations
There are several limitations to consider when discussing this study. First, the study uses a purposeful sampling technique; hence, it is not random and therefore is limited in applicability to other Latina populations. Given the difficulty in recruiting vulnerable populations such as battered women and Latinas (who may be undocumented), the sample size is small and not necessarily representative of the broader community. Women who had used services were recruited by the community agencies’ staff and were easier to recruit. Recruiting women directly from the community who had not used services proved more difficult. Every attempt was made to ensure confidentiality and safety; therefore, some potentially useful data were not collected in order to protect participants’ identities. While demographic data such as age, immigration status, and country of origin could have contributed to understanding certain aspects of these groups, it was determined that safety was paramount and superseded the need for these data. Another potential problem area is the use of translated interview transcripts, as the translation process opens up the potential for error in interpreting the participants’ words. To minimize problems with interpretation, the translators consulted with each other when there was a question about a word’s meaning or intent when translating from Spanish to English.
Conclusion
The information provided by these Latina survivors afford social workers the opportunity to address the barriers experienced by them as well as the opportunity to take a proactive stance in further enhancing services available in the community. Specifically, social workers can provide a greater awareness about IPV in Latina communities with attention given to developing culturally sensitive information that could be widely disseminated, especially when acknowledging the intersection of gender and race when working with Latinas. Part of providing this awareness would include offering training on IPV and the specific needs of the Latina population for those helping systems that come into contact with victims. Churches, law enforcement, schools, community centers, as well as other informal networks should be targeted to receive such training to enhance their awareness of IPV as well as their understanding of how to best respond to Latina survivors. When creating such awareness, social workers must ensure that all information is congruent with the cultural values and beliefs held by different Latino populations living in the United States. Additionally, many of the findings from the current study represent factors influencing IPV survivors in cultures other than Latina. Social workers can use these findings as a framework to engage with diverse cultural groups around the issue of IPV.
Footnotes
Authors’ Note
We would like to recognize the important contribution to this project from the Puerto Rican Action Board and Women Aware, both located in New Brunswick, NJ. The authors would also like to acknowledge the work of Jennifer Martinez for her assistance in the data analysis of this project.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was supported by the Puerto Rican Action Board in collaboration with Women Aware, both located in New Brunswick, NJ. Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of these agencies.