Massachusetts Muslim women and intimate partner violence: A needs assessment

Intimate partner violence (IPV) in immigrant communities is influenced by stereotypes, cultural stigmas, lack of knowledge and trust in available services. Prevalence reports of IPV in Muslim populations in the US are scarce. This study investigates Muslim women's knowledge about IPV and need for services in MA. This exploratory mixed-methods study assessed the need for Muslim-specific IPV services in Massachusetts. Muslim women, who were in an intimate relationship, aged 18 and 64 years, English or Arabic speakers, resided in the United States for at least six months, and were MA residents were eligible. Convenience and snowball sampling techniques were used, and paper-based and web-based surveys administered. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed. Logistic regression models were used to predict categorical outcomes, and negative binomial regressions were used where appropriate. Abuse prevalence was 44.3% for any abuse, and 26.1% for severe abuse. Religiously observant women had 20% greater agreement with seeking outside help as the last option compared to less observant women (OR=1.2, p-value=0.02). Arabs were 22 times more likely to agree with this statement compared to non-Arabs (OR=21.9, p-value=0.002). For every unit increase in religious observance score, abuse score increased by 20%. Muslim-specific barriers to seeking outside help included: the shelter misunderstanding their culture/religious background, and the complexity of the Muslim situation. The abuse prevalence of the MA Muslim women population is lower than in other studies, but is still high. Religious observance was a significant but not a strong predictor of preferences of services used, and abuse score.