Supporting the Mental Health of American Muslim Women Impacted By Intimate Partner Violence

Background and Purpose:

Intimate partner violence (IPV), also referred to as domestic violence, is pervasive among American Muslims, where nearly 75% of American Muslims reported knowing someone who has experienced IPV (Peaceful Families Project, 2011). Exposure to IPV is associated with negative mental health outcomes for everyone involved, including perpetrator, victim, and family members (CDC, 2021). Help-seeking among American Muslim women (AMW) is shaped by distinct facilitators and barriers, including cultural and religious interpretations of abuse, immigration status, and knowledge and perceptions of available services (Oyewuwo-Gassikia, 2016). Additionally, with the rise of anti-Muslim discrimination in the United States and Canada, and a growing Muslim population in these regions, social workers must examine how to support the mental health needs of AMW experiencing IPV.

A scoping review was conducted to answer the question, “What themes emerge among scientific research on the mental health experiences of American Muslim women impacted by IPV?”

Methods:

A scoping review was conducted to examine the landscape of research on mental health of AMW impacted by IPV. The PRISMA-ScR protocol was utilized to ensure rigor and consensus among two independent reviewers. A search was conducted across 3 databases (Academic Search Complete, APA PyschInfo, SOCIndex with Full Text) using key words around AMW and IPV. Results yielded 185 results. Studies underwent a title and abstract review for inclusion criteria, which included peer-reviewed articles with questions, purposes, or discussion focused on AMW, IPV, and mental health (n=22 at this stage). Finally, studies underwent a full-text review to determine if the study contained questions, purposes, or discussion about mental health constructs (n=9 at this stage). These studies were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Results:

Findings were centered around four major themes. First, migration-related stressors were a barrier to seeking mental health support among first-generation Americans. Second, informal support systems such as family members and the mosque, played a critical role in supporting AMW, often moreso than formal systems. Third, anti-Muslim discrimination shaped the experience of AMW, and contributed to mistrust of engagement with services. Fourth, the findings underscored the importance of an intersectional lens, as the experiences of American-born Black Muslims were qualitatively distinct from those of first- and second-generation immigrant Muslim women.

Conclusions and Implications:

Findings support the need to apply an intersectional lens when examining the mental health needs of AMW, and deploying a framework that consider the sociopolitical, cultural, and migration-related factors that shape American Muslim women’s experiences. Social workers are uniquely positioned to incorporate both formal and informal systems of support by collaborating with “insider” institutions such as mosques and community agencies that serve the Muslim community. Further, addressing anti-Muslim discrimination broadly will be critical to increase engagement with formal systems of mental health support.

Finally, the small number of studies highlights a significant gap in the literature, and points to a need to develop a framework tailored to the specific mental health needs of American Muslim women experiencing IPV.