“I Thought I Was Going to Die”: Identifying Gaps in the Intimate Partner Violence Service Provision System for Black Women

Abstract

Black women experience the highest mortality and morbidity resulting from intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization, yet there remains a dearth of culturally responsive interventions designed to meet their needs within the coordinated community response system. We employed the Theory of Help-Seeking Behavior to explicate the barriers that Black women experience when securing assistance from providers within the IPV service provision system, inclusive of the criminal legal, child protective service, shelter, healthcare, and mental healthcare systems. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 30 people who self-identified as Black women who were help-seeking within the IPV service provision system at the time of data collection. Data was analyzed via the matrix system and organized based on pathway-specific domains. Findings explicate substantive gaps within the existing system of care. Fundamental to improving Black women’s IPV-related outcomes is improving the system to ensure it is designed to fully support them. Importantly, this is the first study to examine Black survivors’ experiences throughout the continuum of the IPV service provision system.