Help seeking and barriers of Hispanic partner violence survivors: A systematic review of the literature

Intimate partner violence crosses all racial and ethnic boundaries. Given the growing interest in the experiences of Hispanic survivors of partner violence, researchers are beginning to explore the help-seeking strategies and barriers to help seeking evident in this population. To develop a better understanding of current knowledge in this area, we reviewed and synthesized a selected body of the published research addressing help-seeking patterns of Hispanic women. A systematic search of the literature resulted in more than 650 articles, 27 of which met our selection criteria for review. Although the review shows that Hispanic women use an array of help-seeking strategies, our ability to develop full understanding of those strategies and corresponding barriers is hindered by mixed findings and inconsistent research methods, which are also discussed in this review. Nevertheless, various barriers to help seeking that are specific to Hispanic survivors of partner violence are identified, including limited English language proficiency, Hispanic cultural tolerance of male violence, and fear of deportation among undocumented Hispanic immigrants. We present recommendations for practice, policy, and research based on the findings of this review.

Research highlights► 27 studies examined help-seeking behaviors and barriers of Hispanic IPV survivors. ► Hispanic IPV survivors face many unique barriers to help-seeking. ► Hispanic women manage to seek help from multiple sources, multiple times. ► Mixed findings and inconsistent methodology limit our understanding of the problem.