Exploring Help-Seeking Experiences of Chinese Immigrant Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence in the US

Clinical Impact Statement Our study found that abused Chinese immigrant women were limited in seeking informal and formal support. They faced significant sociocultural (e.g., stigma and shame) and immigration (e.g., linguistic and cultural) barriers in accessing help. Our findings revealed that social service agencies and professionals must take into consideration these sociocultural and immigration barriers confronted by Chinese immigrant survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in order to better support them. Community outreach programs are also needed to inform Chinese immigrant women about available IPV resources and empower them to make an informed decision about whether and how to seek outside help. Objective: Immigrant women are vulnerable to intimate partner violence (IPV), and differences in immigration history, language, and culture impact their trauma responses. Although Chinese are the largest Asian immigrant subgroup in the U.S., little IPV research has specifically focused on this population. Therefore, we aimed to gain a better understanding of help-seeking experiences of Chinese immigrant women who had IPV. Method: Twenty female Chinese immigrant survivors of recent IPV completed a Mandarin-language qualitative phone interview about their IPV experiences, help-seeking behaviors, and barriers to services. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analyses. Results: Women in our sample relied on family, friends, and self-help strategies to cope with IPV. They experienced feelings of shame, stigma, and "losing face," and had little social support. They also faced significant sociocultural and immigration-specific problems with formal services (e.g., culturally incongruent therapists, language, financial and transportation barriers, concerns about partner's reputation and legal status), lacked knowledge about available services, and rarely engaged with them. Conclusions: Abused Chinese immigrant women may be exceptionally isolated, and culturally specific barriers may substantially impact both their understanding of their IPV experiences and their use of services. Practitioners need training and support to engage survivors in culturally competent ways. While safety planning and other formal IPV services are critical to safety and trauma recovery, these survivors underutilize them, and community outreach is needed to U.S. Chinese communities to raise awareness regarding available IPV resources and services. Finally, research is needed to develop and test culturally competent, evidence-based interventions for this isolated and vulnerable population.