This article explores the help-seeking challenges faced by a community sample of 25 Latina intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors. We include the experiences of Latinas who sought help from IPV services and those who did not. Additionally, we utilize an ecological framework to highlight the barriers that are present at multiple levels for Latinas who seek assistance, and we include their recommendations for increasing access. The information provided by these Latina survivors afford social workers the opportunity to address the barriers experienced by them as well as the opportunity to take a proactive stance in further enhancing services available in the community.

This article addresses key issues in ethical andculturally competent research with battered immigrant Latinas. The discussion centers on the importance of having an understanding of the realities of the population studied in a research project as well as a commitment to engage in partnership and collaboration with the communities the participants represent. The objective of this article is to conceptualize how domestic violence should be assessed with underserved populations such as battered immigrant women. We illustrate this approach with examples from ethnographic research on immigrant Latina women experiencing domestic violence in the United States and from oral history research conducted in Mexico.

This critical ethnography explored the experiences of battered, immigrant, Spanish-speaking Latinas in the Midwest of the United States. It relied on Chicana and Mujerista frameworks for understanding help-seeking. Although there has been progress in documenting intimate partner violence in the United States, there is less knowledge concerning this issue with undocumented Latinas. The methodology implemented two stages: (a) observations and informal interviews and (b) formal interviews. The findings reveal multiple sides of "el silencio." Maintaining the silence, or breaking it, is surrounded by exchanges with the internal voice parallel to personal experiences with violence at different points in life. It is also affected by cultural expectations in home and host country.

There is a clear need for financial literacy programs specific to survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), as the skills and knowledge acquired during these programs stand to increase survivors' ability to achieve economic independence. In order to understand advocates' experiences in providing a financial literacy program, this study reports the findings of a qualitative study among 19 domestic violence advocates across 10 states. Findings revealed that advocates expressed complexities in providing financial literacy to survivors. Furthermore, advocates discussed the ways in which they incorporated the financial literacy curriculum into their own financial management behaviors. These findings provide critical information in regard to best practice approaches to incorporating financial literacy into IPV services.

Intimate partner violence is experienced by millions of women. The experience becomes complex when confronted in a different country, especially for Spanish-speaking Latina immigrants, representing a challenge in their path to survival. This ethnographic study was based in Chicana feminism and Mujerismo epistemology. From the Mujerista framework arises the concept of permítanme hablar and la lucha, which emphasizes the importance of the women’s narratives from their own contexts. Consequently, the need of reclaiming from their stories alternative forms of intervention by service providers and those who develop programs as well as social policies in favor of their communities.