“They are my family”: exploring the usage of spiritual and religious supports by survivors of intimate partner violence

ABSTRACT

The study of help seeking experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors typically focus on traditional supports such as mental health and community services. Spiritual or religious supports are utilized in ways often overlooked because issues of spirituality and religiosity are infrequently discussed in IPV scholarship and social services. Using qualitative interviews and focus group data of 104 women who survived IPV from three geographic areas in Ontario, Canada, this article explores the usage of intrinsic, informal, and formal spiritual and religious supports by a subset of participants. Implications for social work professionals, including those working in the area of IPV are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Intimate partner violence
• help-seeking
• spiritual
• religion
• spiritual support

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical Considerations

We confirm that this research adheres to the guidelines for the protection of human subjects. This project was approved by an institutional review board.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC).