Social support needs and help seeking behaviours among Spanish-speaking Canadian immigrant women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV)

There is considerable research about women who have experienced Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in the Canadian literature. However, most of these studies have focused on IPV among Canadian-born women. Immigrant women who make the decision to seek help for IPV have received less attention in the research-based literature in Canada. This qualitative study examined the IPV experiences of 10 Spanish-speaking immigrant women in Canada, all from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The main focus was to examine the intersectionality between social support and help seeking behaviours for IPV. Results indicated that Spanish-speaking immigrants in Canada utilized both formal and informal sources of support for IPV. The importance of continuous support as a factor preventing women from returning to an abusive relationship was consistently reported by participants. Implications of the study findings and directions for future research are further discussed in this manuscript.