Katherine E. Morrison, MS, PhD, Stone Center, Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481, 781-283-2889, kmorriso@wellesley.edu

Much of the research to date concerning victims of intimate partner violence has focused on the experiences of White women while largely overlooking African-American women. The purpose of the present study was to explore the experiences and perspectives of African-American survivors with regard to their help-seeking behavior. A 13-item, semi-structured interview guide based on components of the Social Cognitive Theory was developed in order to elicit information from participants. All of the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed using QSR NUD*IST text-based software to assist with coding and organization of data. Data are reported from 15 interviews with African-American women who were self-identified as having survived intimate partner violence. Analysis showed emergent themes among these interviews, including insights concerning potential barriers to help-seeking, perceptions of attitudes of the victims’ immediate social networks (both kin and non-kin) and of the African-American community at-large, intrapersonal factors influencing help-seeking, and the influence of the concept of the ‘strong black woman’. Results may be used to help enhance public health efforts to reduce the rates of intimate partner violence among African-Americans, a population that has been largely overlooked in current prevention programs.

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