Partners in Survival: African immigrants’ utilization of informal supports for addressing needs in Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a threat to individuals, families, and communities throughout the globe, including among immigrants to the United States. Presenting as cycles of violence with multiple, interlocking, and long-term negative effects on individual victims,[i] their families, and the community, IPV is an acute and endemic social problem. Preventing and responding to IPV is a priority for families and for service providers striving to improve health and well-being. Crucially, as with so many challenges, effectively confronting IPV begins with better understanding. To ally with people experiencing IPV, we must see their difficulties from their perspectives and listen to their visions for a safe and healthy future. 

IPV and African Immigrants

Here, IPV is defined in congruence with the World Health Organization, to include behaviors within an intimate relationship that result in physical, sexual, or psychological harm to one’s partner.[ii] While these harms occur across all demographic groups,[iii] people’s experiences of IPV are impacted by their cultural backgrounds, social contexts, and unique circumstances. Successfully approaching IPV, then, requires differential examination of the forces and factors shaping individuals’ journeys. Importantly, while men experience IPV, women are overrepresented, with young women and those of lower socioeconomic status reporting higher rates, and women of color facing additional challenges in accessing needed services. Crucially, the stress of migration—separation from family supports, complicated legal and cultural contexts, financial strains—increases risks of IPV, including among African immigrant women.[iv] Importantly, African and other immigrant women experiencing IPV then confront additional challenges in seeking support, including dismissive and unsupportive responses from the formal systems designed to respond—reactions that exacerbate their vulnerability and can lead to frustration, shame, and delayed healing.[v] As these negative encounters shape community perceptions and survivor choices, immigrants experiencing IPV tend to rely on their informal support networks for help,[vi] decisions that are often adaptive but also leave potential gaps—for individual survivors and for our collective response to IPV in our diverse nation. 

WHAT WE EXAMINED

In this qualitative study, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 West African immigrant women (ages 18-60) who were survivors of IPV. After recruiting participants via social media and publicity in public spaces, including churches and African markets, the interviews explored participants’ experiences of IPV and in considering, seeking, and utilizing informal supports in their survival journeys. Guided by Liang et al.'s Help-Seeking Conceptual Model[vii] and literature that identifies the crucial roles social connections—friends, family members, cultural groups—play in supporting African immigrant IPV survivors, data were analyzed to explore how these survivors describe their experiences of seeking informal support. The aim was to understand how African immigrant women experience IPV, how they navigate help-seeking, and the lessons they impart to others seeking to reduce IPV in immigrant communities.

WHAT WE FOUND

Four major themes emerged from the data. First, the help-seeking process begins with recognition of IPV, a step that, for these African immigrant survivors, is strongly influenced by culture, including religious beliefs about marriage, norms about resolving conflict within families, and stigmas about disclosing problems and seeking help. One participant said, “I didn’t know I was experiencing abuse … he would scream and call me names … but I didn’t know that was abuse … I thought that was normal … but it became more frequent and happened in public.” Recognizing IPV as it is occurring can be challenging for survivors from other cultural backgrounds as well, but these survivors faced additional difficulties related to patriarchal norms that identify men as the head of the family and consider marriage to be a commitment not only to a partner, but to a family. These cultural contexts can make it hard to define and accurately interpret the severity of the threat faced,[viii]overarching pressures to prioritize collective cultural values, even in contexts of personal risk.

For African immigrants like these participants, sociocultural considerations figure prominently in the decision to seek help. Participants described complicated risk/benefit calculations that required not only deciding whether and when to seek assistance, but also evaluating the trustworthiness, perceived efficacy, and cultural alignment of any intervention. Often, while informal supports are seen as both more trustworthy and more culturally congruent than formal services usually located only outside of African immigrant communities, [ix] cultural stigmas and judgment can discourage seeking informal help, presenting survivors with a dangerous bind. For example, one participant shared that, “When it comes to violence within the home it is considered a taboo or shame thing. It’s considered as a thing that should not be disclosed to outsiders.” At the same time, several obstacles, including lack of awareness, lack of culturally adapted approaches, and language barriers, separated these survivors from formal IPV services. Crucially, then, for many survivors, seeking help is not a linear or binary choice, but rather a cycle, where survivors move between formal and informal supports (and back), seeking help at times and at other times not…decisions influenced by individual, interpersonal, and sociocultural factors, as well as elements in—or absent from—the service system itself.

Although many dynamics create pose barriers for African immigrant IPV survivors seeking both informal and formal supports, participants who took those steps describe them as crucial parts of their survival. Speaking of the difficult decision to ask for help, one concluded, "I realized that staying silent wasn't helping me." When they engaged with informal supports, African immigrant IPV survivors cited both emotional and practical ways these contacts—friends, mothers, sisters, fellow church members—supported their survival. Tangibly, participants reported receiving help with food, childcare, financial assistance, transportation, housing, and referrals to formal services to address concrete and psychological needs. Importantly, though, informal support also served survivors’ emotional needs, including in ways participants described as valuable for fostering their resilience and empowering them to take additional steps for their healing. One participant poignantly described the difference this made, “The support I received really made me feel responsible for my actions. You know you're better than this. You can do this. You're beautiful. So just hearing that every day repeatedly helped me, and I had to start building my self-esteem.”

Finally, participants voiced challenges and recommendations for other survivors, including their experiences of the benefits of and barriers to seeking informal support, as well as the limitations of these informal supports, which led most to supplement these supports with formal IPV services. One participant shared a call for IPV survivors in African immigrant communities, emphasizing, “People need to know they are not alone… our culture needs to stop keeping abuse hidden, and we must encourage each other to seek help.” Cautioning that informal support can be insufficient even as it can contribute to overall healing, participants encouraged survivors to establish boundaries with family members and friends, so that informal support is truly helpful for survivors’ healing.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR POLICY & PRACTICE

• Preventing IPV requires changing norms

These African immigrant survivors of IPV celebrate much about their West African cultures and their immigrant communities in the U.S., but they also see ways in which their cultures’ norms and expectations can contribute to risk of IPV and pose challenges for survivors. Learning from and partnering with African immigrant survivors can help to develop culturally sensitive IPV prevention and response initiatives that leverage culture as an ally for family/community safety and well-being. Engaging African immigrant community leaders in dialogue about IPV, including aspects of the migrant experience and of African immigrant cultures that increase IPV risks can help to reduce the stigma that can otherwise keep survivors from asking for help.  

• Intervention models should meet survivors where—and when—they are

In recognition of the dynamic nature of the help-seeking process navigated by these African immigrant survivors of IPV, formal service providers should design interventions that welcome survivors at any point along their journey, praise their incorporation of both informal and formal resources to meet their needs, adapt to survivors’ own timelines and visions, and welcome repeated engagement as needs change and readiness takes root. Crucially, such a flexible, person-centered, and multi-directional approach ensures that survivors from any cultural background experience IPV interventions as nonjudgmental—and increases the likelihood that they get what they and their family need.

• IPV service providers should collaborate with cultural leaders and other informal supports

Organizations committed to ending IPV in immigrant communities should consider cultural leaders—churches, immigrant-owned enterprises, cultural arts entities—as allies, partnering to reach not only survivors themselves, but also community members who can serve as informal supports for those in their families and/or networks who may be experiencing IPV. Supported by targeted public awareness campaigns and strategic influencer engagement, these efforts should frame IPV as a community concern and a collective priority, striving to disseminate information about IPV, including how it works and how it hurts, as well as effective ways to respond, including the crucial, complementary, role of informal supports in facilitating survival. All community members are prospective informal supports. Crucially, equipped with necessary information, we can all be better supports.

• Survivors need practical support as well as counseling 

This study highlighted the constellation of multiple factors that come together to facilitate African immigrant women’s help-seeking and survival: personal resilience, awareness of resources, psychological readiness. While this successful formula can appear rather elusive, research participants also spoke to the critical role of tangible support in empowering their survival.  To effectively support survivors of IPV in African immigrant communities, programs should ensure access to reliable childcare, enabling women to attend counseling sessions, participate in support services, and pursue education or employment without concern for their children’s safety. Stable housing and relocation assistance are essential to provide immediate protection from abusive partners and to foster a secure environment that supports emotional healing. Employment opportunities and financial support help survivors regain autonomy, reduce dependence on unsafe networks, and build long-term economic stability. Additionally, access to sufficient food, healthcare, and culturally responsive medical services allows survivors to focus on recovery rather than daily survival needs, promoting overall wellbeing and facilitating successful transitions from IPV to safety and self-sufficiency. Programs and policies that overlook these tangible supports risk undermining the effectiveness of counseling or empowerment-focused interventions alone. 

Conclusion

This research with African immigrant survivors of IPV reveals two crucial truths: (1) there are many ways in which survivors’ experiences and needs diverge, based on their cultural backgrounds, community contexts, and individual circumstances, and (2) we learn much of what we need to know from listening to survivors themselves. Together, these insights can inform the efforts of service providers, community leaders, and those who love someone experiencing IPV. All have key roles to play in our shared effort to support survivors.

Citation: Mammah, R. (2026). Partners in Survival: African immigrants’ utilization of informal supports for addressing needs in Intimate Partner Violence. Lawrence, KS: KU School of Social Welfare, Center for Community Engagement and Collaboration.

Contact: Dr. Ricka Mammah, rickamammah@ku.edu

References 

[i]Campbell, J. (2002). Health consequences of intimate partner violence, The Lancet, 359(9314), pp. 1331-1336, ISSN 0140-6736, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)08336-8. 

[ii] World Health Organization. (2022). Violence info – Intimate partner violence. https://apps.who.int/violence-info/intimate-partner-violence/

[iii]Anitha, S. (2010). Struggles for autonomy in self-arranged marriages: Gujarati women's narratives of marital relations and domestic violence. Affilia, 25(4), 397–408. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109910384062; Bent-Goodley, T. (2005). Culture and domestic violence: Transforming knowledge development. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(2), 195–203. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260504269707.

[iv]Erez, E., Adelman, M., & Gregory, C. (2009). Intersections of immigration and domestic violence. Feminist Criminology, 4(1), 32-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085108325413

[v]Cho, H., Shamrova, D., Han, J.-B., & Levchenko, P. (2017). Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Survivors’ Help-Seeking. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(21-22), 4558-4582. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517715027 (Original work published 2020); Okeke‐Ihejirika, P., Yohani, S., Muster, J., Ndem, A., Chambers, T., & Pow, V. (2018). A scoping review on intimate partner violence in Canada’s immigrant communities. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 21(4), 788–810. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838018789156; Raj, A., and Silverman, J. G. (2002). Violence against immigrant women. Violence Against Women, 8(3), 367-398. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778010222183107

[vi] Sylaska, K. M., & Edwards, K. M. (2014). Disclosure of intimate partner violence to informal social support network members: A review of the literature. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 15(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838013511543.             

[vii] Liang, B., Goodman, L. A., Tummala‐Narra, P., & Weintraub, S. R. (2005). A theoretical framework for understanding help-seeking processes among survivors of intimate partner violence. American Journal of Community Psychology, 36(1–2), 71–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-005-6233-6

[viii]Doku, D. T., & Asante, K. O. (2015). Women’s approval of domestic physical violence against wives: Analysis of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. BMC Women's Health, 15, Article 120. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-015-0243-1

[ix]Akinsulure-Smith, A. M., Chu, T., Keatley, E., & Rasmussen, A. (2013). Intimate partner violence among West African immigrants. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 22(2), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2013.719592