Help Seeking Patterns Among Female Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

Background

Intimate partner violence (IPV) results in numerous physical and mental health consequences that survivors need to seek help to address. Research shows that some survivors do not seek help critically needed and that their help seeking is affected by many factors, including sociodemographic characteristics and the nature of IPV. Research also suggests that the survivor’s selection of help source is influenced by many factors. Such information is critical in developing adequate services for the survivors as well as reaching out to those who do not seek help. Many previous studies utilized small clinical samples and did not include a variety of influencing factors as well as help sources. This study fills this gap by using recent national data to examine how the IPV survivor’s help seeking patterns vary depending on the characteristics of survivors and IPV incidents.

Methods

This study used the National Crime Victimization Survey from 2008 to 2014. Among a total of 48,246 respondents, females aged 18 or over who reported IPV victimization were included in the study sample (N=503). IPV was defined by three types of violence (physical attack, sexual assault, and verbal threats) committed by intimate partners in the past 6 months. Dependent variables were three types of help seeking: reporting to the police, receiving medical care from professionals (e.g., doctors), or from informal sources (e.g., friends). Independent variables included the survivor’s characteristics; the types, severity, and consequences of IPV. Four logistic regression analyses were conducted: first with all help sources combined; and next with each type of help source (police, professional medical care, and informal medical care).

Results

The results demonstrated that IPV survivors’ patterns of help seeking were affected by many factors. For any help sought by the survivor, non-Blacks and those who experienced sexual assault or reported severe injuries were more likely to seek help. The police was more likely to be used by non-Blacks and sexual assault survivors. Professional medical care was more likely to be used by the survivors who were less educated, non-sexually assaulted, or injured severely. Informal medical care was more likely to be used by the survivors who were widowed, divorced, or separated, or who reported severe injuries or psychological distress.

Conclusions

It is not surprising but still alarming to find that black survivors were less likely to report to the police and seek for professional medical care. It might mean that race still means a lot in the survivor’s seeking whatever kind of help. It is encouraging to find that sexual assault survivors were more likely to report to the police. For it might mean that the police have steadily advanced from being indifferent of the sexual assault survivors’ needs to becoming supportive for them. Use of informal medical care by certain types of survivors emphasizes the importance of raising public awareness of how to respond to IPV survivors’ complicated needs and how to better coordinate a wide range of help sources for survivors.