Family violence in NZ Asian communities
A recently completed study by University of Auckland researchers provides a snapshot of family violence among Asian peoples in the New Zealand context.
The study, Improving Particular Communities' Responsiveness to Family Violence: Combining Research, Programme Development and Evaluation, was funded by SPEaR Linkages and conducted by Dr Samson Tse, Dr Safia Akhter, Dr Janet Fanslow and Dr Peter Adams, of the university's School of Population Health.
It included interviews with individual migrants from China and the South Asian and South East Asian regions and practitioners working in the area of family violence, as well as focus groups involving service users, practitioners and trainees.
The study identified a range of factors, causes and triggers for family violence within New Zealand Asian communities. "The key issues are related to difficulties in adjusting to living in a new country, in particular, finding suitable employment and financial hardship," Samson says.
"Men's dominance in some Asian families remains a concern, especially when men see control or abuse over their wives as a last resort to protect their cultural values and traditions. The power men hold over their immigrant wife's residency status, coupled with 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."
Samson says the effects of family violence on individuals are far reaching. "In the case of the Asian immigrant communities, family violence impacts not only on immediate family members, relatives and parents in New Zealand, but also extended family members in their country of origin."
The study found that barriers in preventing or dealing with family violence in Asian communities are related to the perception that violence is a private matter among Asian peoples, the women's desire to keep the marriage or relationship intact, an absence of witnesses and limited responsiveness and capacity within the Asian communities.
"On the other hand, the strengths and capacities in preventing and reducing family violence are found within individual women, the immediate neighbourhood, existing organisations and family violence services as a collective," Samson says.
A gaps and needs analysis focused on what is needed to prevent family violence, to provide effective crisis interventions and to help women or families to return to communities. "All these require concerted efforts across various government agencies, education to improve immigrants' English language skills, counselling and clinical services," Samson says.
The researchers developed a set of recommendations for improving community responsiveness to and prevention activities around issues of family violence in New Zealand Asian communities. "Because aspects of the study were exploratory and have methodological limitations, it's not possible to generalise the findings to the wider Asian population," Samson says. "However, the convergence of the findings from the literature review, individual interviews and focus groups suggest they provide a useful snapshot on family violence among Asian peoples in New Zealand."
The report will be available soon from the SPEaR Secretariat via info@spear.govt.nz
