ASPIRE: A Multi-Site Community-Based Participatory Research Project to Increase Understanding of the Dynamics of Violence Against Immigrant & Refugee Women in Australia

Background

One in three women around the world are or have been subjected to violence. This includes in Australia, where violence against women is an urgent public health and human rights issue. Immigrant and refugee women who have resettled in Australia are known to face barriers accessing services aimed at preventing and responding to family violence. However there is little evidence about the contexts, nature and dynamics of violence against immigrant and refugee women to inform appropriate responses to enhance their safety and well-being. The ASPIRE project will address this gap by identifying opportunities for the development of responsive local and community-based interventions for family violence against immigrant and refugee women, contributing to the currently limited Australian research in this area.

Methods/Design

This participatory research project will work with communities in eight geographic locations (two inner-city, three outer-suburban, and three regional) across two states (Victoria and Tasmania), to generate evidence about immigrant and refugee women’s experiences in a range of settings. The project will engage stakeholders and communities through extensive consultation prior to data collection and by facilitating community members’ participation in generating and analysing data. A mix of qualitative methods will be used to generate rich data about the family, cultural and place-based contexts that shape the prevalence and dynamics of violence against immigrant and refugee women; women’s prevention and help-seeking efforts; and community attitudes about and responses to violence across a range of cultural groups. Methods include in-depth interviews with women who have experienced family violence, key informant interviews with local community service providers, focus group discussions with men and women from predominant cultural groups that have migrated to areas covered by the research sites, and Photovoice with community leaders. Bilingual health educators will contribute to development of the research approach, the collection and analysis of data, and the dissemination of findings.

Discussion

Findings from this two-year study will be disseminated to communities, service providers and policy-makers, providing evidence to inform culturally-appropriate prevention and support interventions, and building local communities’ awareness and capacity to respond to violence against immigrant and refugee women.

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/lzky4f

By:   Cathy Vaughan, Adele Murdolo, Linda Murray, Erin Davis, Jasmin Chen, Karen Block, Regina Quiazon, and Deb Warr

Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010 Australia

Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health, Suite 207, Level 2, 134 Cambridge St, Collingwood, VIC 3066 Australia

School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, 7005 Australia

Cathy Vaughan, Email: ua.ude.bleminu@nahguav.c.

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Intimate Partner Violence and Animal Abuse in an Immigrant-Rich Sample of Mother–Child Dyads Recruited from Domestic Violence Programs

We examined rates of animal abuse in pet-owning families experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). We also examined whether higher levels of IPV (as measured by subscales from the Conflict Tactics Scales) predicted increased risk for partner-perpetrated animal abuse. 

Our sample included 291 mother–child dyads, where the mothers sought services from domestic violence agencies. Nearly half the sample is comprised of Mexican immigrants. Mothers reported that 11.7% of partners threatened to harm a pet and 26.1% actually harmed a pet, the latter of which represents a lower rate than in similar studies. When examining animal abuse by “Hispanic status,” follow-up analyses revealed significant omnibus differences between groups, in that non-Hispanic U.S.-born partners (mostly White) displayed higher rates of harming pets (41%) than either U.S.-born or Mexican-born Hispanic groups (27% and 12.5%, respectively). 

Differences in rates for only threatening (but not harming) pets were not significant, possibly due to a small number of partners (n = 32) in this group. When examining whether partners’ IPV predicted only threatening to harm pets, no IPV subscale variables (Physical Assault, Psychological Aggression, Injury, or Sexual Coercion) were significant after controlling for income, education, and Hispanic status. 

When examining actual harm to pets, more Psychological Aggression and less Physical Assault significantly predicted slightly higher risk of harm. However, Mexican-born partners had nearly 4 times lower risk of harming a pet. Overall, these results suggest that Hispanic men who are perpetrators of IPV are less likely to harm pets than non-Hispanic perpetrators of IPV, particularly if Mexican-born. 

Considering that the United States has a significant proportion of Mexican immigrants, it may be worthwhile to explore the topics of IPV and animal abuse within this group.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/3Nwkdr

By:   Christie A. Hartman, PhD1⇑, Tina Hageman, MSW1, James Herbert Williams, PhD1, Frank R. Ascione, PhD1

1. ¹University of Denver, CO, USA

1. Christie A. Hartman, University of Denver, 2148 S. High St., Denver, CO 80208, USA. Email: christie.hartman@du.edu

 

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“They See Us As Machines:” The Experience of Recent Immigrant Women in the Low Wage Informal Labor Sector

This study explores the organization of work and occupational health risk as elicited from recently immigrated women (n = 8) who have been in the US for less than three years and employed in informal work sectors such as cleaning and factory work in the greater Boston area in Massachusetts. Additional interviews (n = 8) with Community Key Informants with knowledge of this sector and representatives of temporary employment agencies in the area provides further context to the interviews conducted with recent immigrant women. 

These results were also compared with our immigrant occupational health survey, a large project that spawned this study. Responses from the study participants suggest health outcomes consistent with being a day-laborer scholarship, new immigrant women are especially at higher risk within these low wage informal work sectors. A difference in health experiences based on ethnicity and occupation was also observed. 

Low skilled temporary jobs are fashioned around meeting the job performance expectations of the employer; the worker’s needs are hardly addressed, resulting in low work standards, little worker protection and poor health outcomes. The rising prevalence of non-standard employment or informal labor sector requires that policies or labor market legislation be revised to meet the needs presented by these marginalized workers.

Below:  Framework of coding structures, which reflect the work-related experiences and health of immigrant women in informal work sectors

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/PLiZ9m

By:   

Bindu Panikkar

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States of America

Doug Brugge, Raymond R. Hyatt

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA, United States of America

David M. Gute

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, United States of America

 

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