Battered Black Women's Use of Religious Services and Spirituality for Assistance in Leaving Abusive Relationships

Abstract

Though there is substantial rationale to consider any association between spirituality and religion and intimate partner violence, research in this area is particularly lacking. African Americans are known to utilize religion and spirituality at significant rates to deal with adversity. Accordingly, any investigation of Black women's methods of contending with abusive relationships would be deficient if it did not include an examination of the women's use of ecclesiastical resources. Using 40 semistructured in-depth interviews with battered Black women, this article explores the participants' successes and discontent with religion and spirituality to escape abuse.

Oppression and Barriers to Service for Black, Lesbian Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

“…This research suggests that an understanding of both cultural difference and social context are crucial to providing relevant services and reaching underserved women in all areas of social service delivery (Barnoff & Moffat, 2007;Jiwani, 2005;Moore, 2011;Potter, 2007;Renzetti & Maier, 2002;Swan & Snow, 2006). This research reveals that women claim multiple identities and also experience multiple types of oppression, sexism being only one of many factors that influence women's stories of IPV.…”

“…In addition, ethnic and racial minority members' negative experiences with the dominant culture's social institutions influence their views of service accessibility (Jiwani, 2005). For example, women of color are often fearful of the criminal justice response to DV and worry that using the services of this institution may result in additional victimization or in their partners being subjected to racism, discrimination, and violence (Potter, 2007;Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005;Williams & Becker, 1994). Since this is also a concern for lesbian survivors who worry that both they and their abusive partners will be victims of an abusive legal system, it is likely that such fears are compounded among lesbians of color.…”

“…There continues to be a need for qualitative research to shed light on the complex lives of survivors (Bent-Goodley, 2005;Bornstein et al, 2006;Giorgio, 2002;Potter, 2007). The majority of the studies conducted on IPV in lesbian relationships have used quantitative methodology, which, although valuable, does not allow for the rich examination of individual perspectives that qualitative methodology does (Creswell, 2014).…”

“…These factors are crucial to an understanding of women's varied experiences of DV. For example, Potter (2007) identified spirituality as a particularly important factor in mediating the experience of abuse for Black women. Although Potter's findings suggest that religious institutions are frequently unsupportive of Black survivors of IPV, the results are significant in that they emphasize the nontraditional ways that this particular group of women looks for support.…”

Intimate Partner Violence, Spiritual Well-Being, and Parenting Stress in African-American Women

“…Furthermore, spiritual well-being may be a salient construct to explore in women exposed to IPV because of its emphasis on privately held beliefs and experiences that are independent of involvement in religious communities or churches. This is an important consideration given that researchers have identified concerns by abused Christian women that their church would sympathize with the batterer or be unsupportive (Potter, 2007;Watlington & Murphy, 2006;Yick, 2008).…”