Establishing LA VIDA: A Community-Based Partnership to Prevent Intimate Violence against Latina Women

Abstract

LA VIDA--the Southwest Detroit Partnership to Prevent Intimate Violence Against Latina Women--evolved in response to community concern about the problem of intimate partner violence (IPV) and the lack of culturally competent preventive and support services for Latino women and men in southwest Detroit. Since 1997, diverse organizations have mobilized as a community-academic partnership to ensure the availability, accessibility, and utilization of IPV services. This article describes and analyzes the evolution of LA VIDA within a community-based participatory research framework using a case study approach that draws on multiple data sources including group and individual interviews and field notes. The challenges and lessons learned in addressing a complex multifaceted problem such as IPV in an ethnic minority community are highlighted in an examination of the process of mobilizing diverse organizations, conducting community diagnosis and needs assessment activities, establishing goals and objectives within a social ecological framework, and integrating evaluation during the development phase.

The Value and Challenges of Participatory Research: Strengthening Its Practice

“…We therefore reviewed literature discussing partnerships to uncover the stages of PR partnerships (10,81,97,134), key partnership activities (27,53,77,83,97,104), and potential trouble spots (12,17,53,78,83,85,131). These are presented in detail in Table 3 and discussed below.…”

“…Effective leadership, a strong predictor of partnership synergy, facilitates this type of communication (140). Building mutual respect and trust takes time and patience and, even once established, can never be taken for granted (77,83,134). Despite commitment to a shared purpose, partners often have different educational, cultural, racial, ethnic, and social backgrounds and areas of expertise, and they represent organizations, institutions, and agencies with diverse agendas, mandates, and reward structures (14,66,117,135,146).…”

“…Although presently no systematic reviews demonstrate that use of PR is more or less effective than are non-PR approaches for specific inquiries, a review of descriptive and etiological research suggests that PR has moved research forward by balancing scientific standards with social and cultural validity to (a) illuminate prevalence rates of health problems (80,93,116,119); (b) identify needs and priorities of diverse communities of interest (53,77,87,99); and (c) establish causal associations between behavioral risk factors, social and environmental risk conditions, and the health status of vulnerable populations (60,70,73,79,145).…”

Can Communities and Academia Work Together on Public Health Research? Evaluation Results From a Community-Based Participatory Research Partnership in Detroit

“…During its first 4 years, 10 articles on URC activities were published in peer-reviewed journals, and over 40 presentations on URC-related activities were made, although none of the evaluations of specific interventions had been completed yet. [17][18][19] In virtually all of these publications and presentations, nonacademic partners have served as coauthors and as copresenters; many students have been involved as well. In addition, without exception, faculty involved with the URC claimed that their affiliation with this partnership had an important and positive impact on their teaching.…”

A Typology of Women's Use of Violence in Intimate Relationships

“…Immigration status frequently prevents women from reporting DV to authorities (Acevedo, 2000;Aldarondo et al, 2002). For example, Detroit police reported a large volume of calls from Latina women who had been victims of violence; however, many women did not want to prosecute the abusers because of fear of deportation (Maciak, Guzman, Santiago, Villalobos, & Israel, 1999). Language barriers also prevent many Latinas from seeking or receiving help (Torres, 1998).…”