Using Digital Technology to Address Intimate Partner or Domestic Violence Among Im/Migrant Populations: A Scoping Review

Background and Purpose: Digital technologies, such as smartphones and internet/virtual spaces, have been increasingly utilized to address intimate partner or domestic violence (IPV/DV). While digital technologies can assist people experiencing IPV/DV, they may simultaneously facilitate forms of IPV through digital medium. This complexity is especially pronounced within (im)migrant populations, who face intersecting forms of marginalization (e.g., racialization, language barriers). Informed by critical theories of digital inequity (Wolfson et al., 2017) and structural intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991; Hudson & Mehrotra, 2021), our study adopts an intersectional and systemic lens to understand (1) how the challenges of using digital technology for IPV/DV experienced among im/migrants are socio-structurally and culturally constructed and perpetuated and (2) how diverse im/migrant communities actively mobilize resources to navigate and resist these challenges.

Methods: For this study, we included scholarly publications that empirically focused on (1) IPV/DV, (2) digital technology, and (3) (im)migrant populations (inclusive of people transnationally displaced or forced to migrate). We took a subsample of all selected studies that were originally analyzed in a scoping review project focused on the role of digital technology in facilitating and responding to gender-based violence among im/migrants (Hu et al., 2023). Two team members independently screened 4,765 results from eight academic databases (English only, including grey literature), with regular consultation with a third team member to resolve screening disagreements. Our final sample consists of 25 studies, including 21 peer-reviewed articles, three dissertations, and one book chapter. The review was guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) scoping review framework with methodological enhancements from Levac et al. (2020). We directly involved community groups supporting (im)migrant populations affected by IPV/DV, conducting feedback sessions to share our findings and explore resonance with their work.

Results: The studies documented diverse digital tools, including social media sites, websites and blogs, mobile technologies, and digital service platforms, utilized to address IPV/DV among (im)migrant populations through community support, professional services, and community-led digital activism. Primary challenges of using digital technology against IPV among (im)migrants include digital IPV/DV (e.g., partner control of digital use, digital surveillance and harassment), financial insecurity, precarious immigration status, linguistic marginalization, limited digital literacy and comfortability, the impact of Covid-19, and inadequate culturally responsive digital resources. To address these systemic digital challenges, some studies found that (im)migrant survivors developed strategies like enhancing smartphone privacy and preventing partner digital tracking to promote safety and mutual support among peers.

Conclusions and Implications: This scoping review highlights the intersectional burden of social and systemic challenges that (im)migrants often bear when using digital technology for IPV/DV. Survivor-led knowledge building to navigate these challenges is evident. The findings suggest an urgent inclusion of systemic factors in addressing digital access and inequity among (im)migrant survivors. Moreover, considering the onset of the emerging era of artificial intelligence (AI) and the new possibilities and challenges it brings to gender-based violence advocacy, future research must extend its focus to encompass the existing peer knowledge and leadership built among diverse (im)migrant communities for equitable use of digital technology and transformative impact against IPV/DV.