Problem Statement
- Women are 2.5 times likely to be victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) than men (CDC, 2020)
- Indigenous women are disproportionally affected compared to other women (Chmielowska & Fuhr, 2017)
- Cultural difference between Indigenous women and healthcare providers impede education on the matter (Varcoe et al., 2019).
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious healthcare issue that affects people of all races and genders. However, the distribution of IPV is not equal in gender terms: evidence suggests that women are approximately two and a half times more likely to experience it than men (CDC, 2020). Moreover, women in some groups are even more vulnerable in this respect. Studies indicate that indigenous women worldwide are several times more likely to experience IPV, including being threatened, choked, and beaten (Chmielowska & Fuhr, 2017). The situation is further complicated by the fact that cultural differences with healthcare providers can prevent Indigenous women from educating themselves about dealing with IPV (Varcoe et al., 2019).
Possible Solution
Educational program teaches:
- Safety planning for violence
- Skill-building in self-care
- Strategies for stress reduction
Utilizes cultural competencies such as
- Cooperating with Indigenous Elders (Varcoe et al., 2019)
- Respectful trust building (Spangaro et al., 2016)
- Incorporation if Indigenous values (Varcoe et al., 2019)
One possible solution for this problem is an educational program specifically designed to suit the needs of Indigenous women who have experienced IPV in their lives. The program would focus on developing skills useful for the IPV victims, such as safety planning for violence, skill-building in self-care, strategies for stress reduction, and others. It is paramount for the success of the program to be based on relevant cultural competencies that would allow tailoring it according to the Indigenous women’s needs. These should include cooperation with Indigenous Elders throughout the program, respectful trust-building, and incorporation of indigenous values and concepts into the program design (Varcoe et al., 2019; Spangaro et al., 2016).
Method
- Program implemented in a sample of Indigenous women with the IPV experience
- Delivered across six months by nurses and Elders in cooperation (compare: Varcoe et al., 2019)
- Avoids the risk of a colonizing intervention with the Elder guidance and Indigenous values (compare: Varcoe et al., 2017)
The program should be implemented in a sample of Indigenous women who have experienced IPV in their lifetimes. Women enrolled would receive up to twelve sessions in the course of six months with a subsequent follow-up. Specific care should be taken to avoid the risks of a colonizing intervention. For this purpose, those implementing the program should utilize the guidance of the Indigenous Elders (compare: Varcoe et al., 2019). Additionally, the program should be based on the values and concepts relevant to the specific Indigenous culture (compare: Varcoe et al., 2017).
Possible Outcomes & Findings
Outcomes:
- Trauma and depressive symptoms
- Personal and interpersonal agency
- Quality of life
Findings in similar studies
- Improvements in quality of life (Varcoe et al., 2019; Koziol-McLain et al., 2018)
- Better than non-culture-specific interventions (Koziol-McLain et al., 2018)
- Using Indigenous values helps trust building (Spangaro et al., 2016)
The desired outcomes of the program are the improvements in the quality of life, reduction in trauma symptoms and depressive symptoms, and improvement in personal and interpersonal agency. These would be assessed through the participants’ self-report measures completed before entering the program, immediately after its completion, and after the six-month follow-up. Other studies demonstrate that similar programs achieved improvements in these outcomes (Varcoe et al., 2019; Koziol-McLain et al., 2018). They also showed the crucial importance of cultural competencies in building trust and designing a program tailored to suit the needs of a specific Indigenous population (Koziol-McLain et al., 2018; Spangaro et al., 2016).
Conclusion
Based on similar studies, the program should be successful and feasible to implement provided it uses relevant cultural competencies.
As one can see, there are reasons to assume that the program proposed would be successful in achieving its desired outcomes and educating Indigenous women about dealing with IPV. Similar studies have shown that interventions of such kind had proven successful and feasible to implement from both organizational and economic perspective. Moreover, research also indicates that the intervention designed specifically to suit the needs of a particular Indigenous group are more efficient for these populations than those designed without such concerns. Cultural competencies are crucial for designing a successful intervention, and cooperation with Indigenous Elders and the use of values and concepts important in Indigenous cultures should be the cornerstone of the program design.
References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2020). Preventing intimate partner violence.
Chmielowska, M., & Fuhr, D. C. (2017). Intimate partner violence and mental ill health among global populations of Indigenous women: A systematic review. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 52, 689-704.
Koziol-McLain, J., Vandal, A. C., Wilson, D., Nada-Raja, S., Dobbs, T., McLean, C., Sick, R., Eden, K. B., & Glass, N. E. (2018). Efficacy of a web-based safety decision aid for women experiencing intimate partner violence: Randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19, e426-e426. Web.
Spangaro, J., Herring, S., Koziol-Mclain, J., Rutherford, A., Frail, M. A., & Zwi, A. B. (2016). ‘They aren’t really black fellas but they are easy to talk to’: Factors which influence Australian Aboriginal women’s decision to disclose intimate partner violence during pregnancy. Midwifery, 41, 79-88.
Varcoe, C., Browne, A. J., Ford-Gilboe, M., Dion Stout, M., McKenzie, H., Price, R., Bungay, V., Smye, V., Inyallie, J., Day, L., Khan, K., Heino, A., & Merritt-Gray, M. (2017). Reclaiming Our Spirits: Development and pilot testing of a health promotion intervention for indigenous women who have experienced intimate partner violence. Research In Nursing & Health, 40(3), 237-254. Web.
Varcoe, C., Ford-Gilboe, M., Browne, L. G., Perrin, N., Bungay, V., McKenzie, H., Smye, V., Elder, I. P., Inyallie, J., Khan, K., & Atout, M. D. (2019). The efficacy of a health promotion intervention for Indigenous women: Reclaiming our spirits. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 886260518820818. Web.