Family violence in Asian communities, combining research and community development.

• Author: Tse, Samson

Abstract

This study aimed to begin to fill gaps in research on family violence in Asian communities in Aotearoa New Zealand, and increase understanding of what can be done to prevent its occurrence and reduce its impacts on families, relatives and friends. The study employed interviews with migrants from China, South Asia and South East Asia who used family violence services, key informant interviews with practitioners working in the family violence field, and focus groups with service users, practitioners and trainees. The study found the triggers for family violence within these New Zealand Asian communities related to difficulties in adjusting to living in a new country, in particular, finding suitable employment and experiencing financial hardship. Men's dominance in some Asian families was an issue, especially when men saw control over their wives as a last resort to protect their cultural values and traditions. The racism and discrimination some women experienced in this study, when they attempted to find paid jobs or solve their financial dependency issues, put women at extreme risk of abuse and violence. The barriers to preventing or dealing with family violence related to perceptions in the Asian communities researched that family violence is a private matter, and to the women's desire to keep the marriage/relationship intact and limited responsiveness.

BACKGROUND

While there is some research on family violence in Pacific, Maori and Pakeha communities, there is limited research conducted on family violence in Asian communities within the cultural context of New Zealand. Little is known about the factors that trigger family violence in Asian communities in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the consequences of violent behaviours at home, particularly the impacts on people. More importantly, how can a strengths-based approach be utilised to prevent the occurrence of family violence in Asian communities and reduce its horrific impacts on families, relatives and friends in New Zealand?

For the purpose of this report, the term "family violence" is adopted over other commonly used terms, like "domestic violence" or "intimate partner violence", for two reasons. First, in the context of this study, the family is considered to be the basic unit of analysis and, when the term "domestic violence" is used, the abused woman tends to be the unit of analysis (Kurz 1989). The "family" is a system of social relations with unique properties that make it a particularly fertile ground for violence (Gelles 1993), and the triggers for spouse abuse lie in the structure of the contemporary family (Kurz 1989). Second, the notion of "family violence" has greater salience or "buy in" with Asian communities, where the family is seen as the fundamental unit of society and source of strength, and a family member's problems are often considered a threat to the balanced or harmonised relationships of the family unit. The primary focus of this study is "spouse/partner abuse" (physical, sexual and psychological violence among adult partners).

For the purpose of this report, the term "Asian peoples" is used to represent the diversity and plurality within the Asian communities. More specifically, this project focuses on South Asians and Chinese. "South Asians" refers to people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and to Indian Fijians. "Chinese" covers individuals from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South-east Asian region including Malaysia and Singapore. Within the Asian population, the immigrant communities are the focal point of the present investigation. The reason for choosing the South Asian peoples and Chinese immigrants to study is that they are the two largest population groups under the umbrella term "Asian" in New Zealand. Also, 70% of Chinese and 59% of Indians are recent immigrants (people born overseas who have arrived in New Zealand in the last 10 years) and two-thirds of the Asian population live in the Auckland urban area (Statistics New Zealand 2002), where this research was carried out.

The overall aim of this project was to utilise a capacity-building approach to address issues surrounding family violence in the immigrant and refugee communities in New Zealand. The specific objectives of this project were:

* to explore the contextual issues of social, cultural and economic triggers of family violence in Asian communities

* to identify and articulate community (and family) cultural/belief systems and mechanisms for responding to the needs of those affected by family violence

* to identify any underlying positive aspects such as creativity, leadership building, self-determination, and how these aspects could contribute to preventing family violence.

METHODOLOGY

There were five groups of participants involved in the present project:

* women who left their abusive relationship and currently live in a safe house

* women who have left a safe house and may or may not have returned to their family (the aim is to investigate their experiences and how they re-integrated into the community--or did not in some cases)

* women who have used family violence services (e.g. counselling, support and mediation), thus dealing with family violence, but not left their abuser or used safe-house facilities

* husbands / partners who have abused wives / partners

* key informants: professionals working in the sector to provide services to individuals affected by family violence.

Demographic Background of Participants

The demographics of the 56 Asian immigrant participants (50 women and 6 men) are described in Tables 1-4.

Table 1 shows the distribution by ethnic background: 23.2% of participants were Chinese, 21.4% were Indian, 19.6% were Bangladeshi and approximately 15% were Indian Fijian or Pakistani respectively.

Table 2 shows that approximately 43% of participants (n=24) have lived in New Zealand between two to three years.

Table 3 shows almost 30% of participants came to New Zealand in the family category (e.g. joining their parents, and some women, according to the interview data, entered into a pre-arranged marriage relationship); 80% of participants were citizens or permanent residents in New Zealand. The 20% who were not permanent residents were not eligible for the same family violence support services as the permanent residents. Participants whose current immigration or citizenship status was "Other" include individuals whose applications for residency under the Domestic Violence Act or on humanitarian grounds were being processed.

This study involved people who had a range of experiences with regard to the use of family violence services. In this study, the men were not "clients" presenting to services, but they might be asked to undergo training in anger management. Table 4 shows that approximately 65% (n=33) of the women in this study did not use the safe house facility to deal with violence at home. The qualitative interview data suggests some of the women stayed with relatives as a temporary shelter from violence inflicted by their husband or partner.

The focus group participants were 13 women: clients, service coordinator, support workers and social work trainees from tertiary institutions. Their countries of origin included mainly India, China, Fiji and Bangladesh.

Recruitment

Women who lived in a safe house or had left a safe house were contacted through the various safe houses' management based in Auckland. Women who faced family violence but did not use safe-house services were contacted by social workers or counsellors from relevant agencies. Male perpetrators were approached through the case social worker or counsellors (e.g. peer support groups for men with addiction problems) or through the researchers' community networks. Key informants were identified through community support people.

The three key informants interviewed to gain their perspectives on family violence within the Asian immigrant communities in New Zealand were selected on the basis of their experiences in the field, and their ability to reflect and articulate on the relevant issues.

Data Collection

The project researchers were competent in Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Urdu, Tamil, Gujrati, Cantonese or Mandarin; English was used where appropriate. The data collection was carried out in the participant's preferred language, and then the notes were translated into English and used for further analysis. When the data were interpreted and analysed, appropriate cultural expertise, input and validation was sought. The two main data collection methods were in-depth individual interviews and a focus group.

* In-depth interviews were held with women victims, perpetrators, family members, legal service providers, safe-house service providers and other relevant personnel.

* A focus group was used to explore the contextual factors related to family violence and to find out the means to address the issues. The focus group was co-facilitated by the author and an experienced family violence researcher.

Data Analysis

Data collection and analysis were concurrent and reflexive. Analysis began following the first interview. The initial information was analysed as a case analysis and served as a basic framework to identify emerging concepts, which were linked to themes and sub-themes, with new categories created as required. To maximise the credibility of the findings, a small number of participants and key informants and experienced researchers in the field were consulted after the interviews and focus group to check the closeness of fit between their experiences and the emerging research analysis, as well as the ease of comprehension. The key themes included in the results are:

* triggers for family violence within Asian immigrant communities

* barriers in tackling family violence in Asian communities

* strengths and capacities in preventing and reducing family violence.

The following sections of this paper summarise the findings of the...