Disclosing abuse: The voices of Spanish-speaking women in Canada.
Published: 2006
Language: eng
Number of pages: 138
ISBN-13: 9780494214275
Description: This study examined the experiences of Spanish-speaking Latin American immigrant women abused by their intimate partners. The focus of the study explored from a Canadian context the experiences of Latin-American immigrant women regarding the disclosure of abuse and elicited data on how helping professionals can better support immigrant women in disclosing and seeking help for intimate partner violence. A participatory action approach utilizing in-depth interviewing with helping professionals as key informants, and focus group methodology with Latin-American women was employed to better understand the barriers and facilitators of disclosure of intimate partner violence. Thematic analysis highlighted the cultural and language barriers faced by women, fragmentation of the legal and social service systems, the complexities involved for immigrant women in maneuvering their way through these systems, fear of their partners retaliation, losing their children and compromising their immigration application, and distrust of dealing with authorities in the Canadian service system. This study shows the need for immigrant women to be able to secure safety and better access to supportive social services, and for the social service network to find ways to provide these more effectively. These findings have important implications for social work practice and policy in working with this often overlooked population in Canada: the Latin American community.
Notes: Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-03, page: 1297.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Toronto, 2006.

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