Linguistic Support Services for Florida Domestic Violence Victims

Purpose: Intimate partner violence is increasing among immigrant women in the U.S., but because of language barriers, abused immigrant women may not be able to access formal services. A subsequent impact is the lack of social support. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of demographic factors such as geographic location (urban/rural) and percent of non-native English speakers on the availability of linguistic support services in one highly diverse state—Florida.  Linguistic support services were defined as providing translators or bilingual services. A total of 259 service providers were surveyed about their perceptions of the availability of linguistic support services in various settings (law enforcement, legal, physical health, mental health) where victims of domestic violence are served.

Method: This research is a secondary data analysis using the latest Domestic Violence Needs Assessment in Florida and the United States Census Bureau (2007-2011). Descriptive statistics were computed for all of relevant variables and Pearson correlations were used to examine the significance of associations. Furthermore, chi square analyses, binary logistic regression, and linear regression analyses were run in order to test the proposed hypotheses.

Results: Bivariate analyses showed that there were significant differences between rural and urban providers' perceptions of the availability of linguistic support services in the law enforcement, legal, and mental health service arenas. Urban service providers perceived greater availability of linguistic services in all areas except physical health services than rural service providers. Also, results of the binary logistic regression indicated that percent of non-native English speakers predicted greater bilingual law enforcement, legal, physical health, and mental health linguistic service availability. Lastly, results of the linear regression indicated that the more frequently providers perceived victims’ basic needs to be met, the greater likelihood that providers indicated the linguistic support services were frequently being met in their service area.

Conclusions and Implications: Results of this study point to the need for studying factors associated with services needed by special populations experiencing domestic violence, including linguistic support. Immigrant women may be isolated because of cultural differences, and the experience of domestic violence and subsequent inaccessibility of services only compounds such isolation and lack of support.  In particular, immigrants experiencing abuse who reside in rural areas, might tend to endure added difficulties in accessing assistance. While it may not be cost efficient for rural service providers to hire translators or multilingual staff, such services may be cost-shared with other agencies or made available through other means such as Skype or other types of technology.