What Would They Do? Latino Church Leaders and Domestic Violence

Abstract

Understanding what Latino church leaders believe about domestic violence, and what they do when they confront it, is a key step in developing programs to help them engage in domestic violence prevention and intervention activities in their congregations. This article presents the findings from an exploratory study of 28 Latino church leaders. The study surveyed respondents' beliefs about domestic violence and asked for their reactions to three domestic violence vignettes they might encounter. We found that study participants were willing to respond to cases of domestic violence in what we would define as constructive ways. However, some responses suggested potentially unsafe and ill-advised reactions to the vignettes. We discuss our study's implications for practice and suggest future directions for additional research.

From Systematic Review to Call for Action

“…Included studies are summarized in Table 1 (Behnke, Ames, & Hancock, 2012; Denham et al, 2007; Duke & Cunradi, 2011; Murdaugh, Hunt, Sowell, & Santana, 2004; Kim-Godwin & Fox, 2009; Moracco, Hilton, Hodges, & Frasier, 2005). All studies were ranked at Level VI evidence (single descriptive or qualitative studies) and applied cross-sectional, descriptive designs, or surveys (Fineout-Overholt, Melnyk, & Schultz, 2005).…”

“…Moracco et al (2005) and Duke and Cunradi (2011) included rural farmworker participants yet only addressed rurality in the title. When studies contained both rural and urban participants, researchers neither analyzed data for urban/rural differences nor discussed rurality in the results (Behnke et al, 2012; Murdaugh et al, 2004). In general, rurality is generally defined by a combination of measures of population, population density, and proximity to metropolitan areas, generally defined as areas of 50,000 or more people (U.S.…”

“…Hispanic Health Care International 15(2) rural differences nor discussed rurality in the results (Behnke et al, 2012;Murdaugh et al, 2004). In general, rurality is generally defined by a combination of measures of population, population density, and proximity to metropolitan areas, generally defined as areas of 50,000 or more people (U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, 2016b).…”

Measuring Engagement in Later Life Activities

“…Scenario-style items are a largely unexplored area in instrument development. A search of research databases using keywords such as "scenario items," "vignette items," and "multi-sentence items" produced few results, except in applications where the respondent predicted personal behavior in an ethically challenging situation or judged a characteristic of a hypothetical "other," rather than the level of a measured construct in himself or herself (Basow & Thompson, 2012;Behnke, Ames, & Hancock, 2012;Walker-Descartes, Sealy, Laraque, & Rojas, 2011).…”

Engaging with faith groups to prevent VAWG in conflict-affected communities: results from two community surveys in the DRC

“…Furthermore, religion has the ability to socialise the individual and create group cohesion through common beliefs and value systems [22]. Faith leaders are influential gatekeepers in their communities, with the ability to influence the beliefs and behaviours of their followers [14,23]. Believers turn to their faith leaders and faith communities in challenging times.…”