A Scoping Review on the Role of Religion in the Experience of IPV and Faith-Based Responses in Community and Counseling Settings

Abstract

Research on religion and intimate partner violence does not appear to have integrated well the current evidence on religion/spirituality, marital functioning, and mental health and lacks a cross-sectoral perspective that bridges psychology, public health, international development, anthropology, and sociology. A better integration could reveal how religious experience could be leveraged resourcefully in developing faith-based interventions engaging religious leaders and when counseling victims/survivors and perpetrators in religious contexts. The current scoping review explored (a) the influence of religious experience on the rationalizations, behaviors and mental state of victims/survivors and perpetrators, and (b) the approaches and effectiveness of faith-based interventions to respond to domestic violence engaging religious leaders, communities, and psychologists. In pursuing these questions, we aimed to overcome the dominance of Western definitions of intimate partner violence and religion by combining evidence from sectors that are more international-looking and studies from low-and middle-income societies that historically received less attention. The review suggests the need to move toward more diversified and holistic understandings of religion and more context-specific approaches to designing faith-based interventions and counseling responses that are theologically grounded and trauma-informed and embedded in the sociological realities of the individuals and communities they seek to support.

“Gatekeeping Family Violence”: The Role of Religious and Community Leaders in the Afghan Migrant Community in South Australia

“…Hence, this finding is consistent with existing research on faith leaders and their role in responding to family violence (see, for example, Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence 2014, p. 104;Truong et al 2020;Victorian Government 2016, Chapter 29. See generally Bartels 2010;Ghafournia 2017;Vaughan et al 2020;Vaughan and Sullivan 2019;Davis et al 2021;Islam et al 2018;Truong et al 2020;Nason-Clark et al 2017;Chireshe 2015;Istratii and Ali 2023;Behnke et al 2012;Perkins 2019).…”

“…Such education would also assist in enabling religious leaders to view justice system involvement as another viable option in addressing family violence in their communities, rather than it being viewed as a last resort. This reservation about police involvement only for serious physical violence also occurs for some Christian religious leaders (Chireshe 2015;Istratii and Ali 2023;Perkins 2019, p. 247;Behnke et al 2012Behnke et al , p. 1267. A reframing of family violence as clearly against Islam and an understanding of the congruence of Islamic teachings and the inherent values of the justice system would enable Muslim women to be protected by the justice system more readily.…”

Integration of religious beliefs and faith-based resources in domestic violence services to migrant and ethnic minority communities: A scoping review

“…The review also excluded: a) studies that referred to the effect of faith and religious beliefs on the help-seeking of DVA survivors and perpetrators, which had already been covered in a previous literature review (Istratii and Ali, 2023), unless they made direct recommendation about faith-sensitive DVA services; b) studies that discussed faith-sensitive interventions in community settings without discussing the perspectives of DVA service providers, as this review was speci cally interested in the approaches and experiences of service providers and their types of engagement with religious beliefs and faith-based resources, and c) studies focusing on culturally competent services unless these made explicit reference to religious beliefs and faith or faith actors.…”

Integration of religious beliefs and faith-based resources in domestic violence services to migrant and ethnic minority communities: A scoping review

“…A review of the international evidence, combining religious studies, international development, public health and social work, evidences that religious beliefs can act both as a contributor to DVA and a deterrent to help-seeking and as a resource supporting survivors to cope and protection for people in their relationships (Istratii, 2020;Istratii and Ali, 2023;Le Roux and Pertek, 2023). It is also well-established that clergy and religious mediators, more broadly, are often the first to hear disclosures of DVA from survivors but often provide harmful advice or are unsupportive (Istratii, 2020;Johnson, 2015).…”

“…It is also well-established that clergy and religious mediators, more broadly, are often the first to hear disclosures of DVA from survivors but often provide harmful advice or are unsupportive (Istratii, 2020;Johnson, 2015). A previous literature review that explored the relationship between religious beliefs and IPV and effective faith-informed community-based responses internationally, including DVA services to ethnic minority communities in industrialized societies and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) programs delivered with faith communities in low-and middle-income societies, pointed to an increasingly mainstreamed understanding that culturally appropriate, sensitive or competent services needed to engage with the religious beliefs of the communities involved in IPV programs and to leverage on the influence of religious teachers and clerics to respond effectively (Istratii and Ali, 2023).…”