The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #61321

Amy Pan, PhD¹, Lourdes Rivera, MA², Danielle Lingle², Kara Williams³, Verna Griffin-Tabor, LCSW², and Vivian Reznik, MD, MPH³. (1) Ahimsa Project for Safe Families, Center for Community Solutions, 5150 University Avenue, San Diego, CA 92105, 619-283-9624, kjwilliams@ucsd.edu, (2) Division of Community Pediatrics, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0927, La Jolla, CA 92093, (3) Division of Community Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0927

San Diego County has the second largest population of refugee and newly immigrated persons in the United States. The Ahimsa Project for Safe Families is designed to address domestic violence (DV) issues through increased outreach to the Latino, Somali and Vietnamese Communities in the Mid City community of San Diego, as well as to build the capacity of social service providers to serve immigrant and refugee communities in a culturally appropriate manner.

A needs assessment of attitudes and behaviors associated with domestic violence in the Latino, Somali and Vietnamese communities was conducted. Each community identified behaviors unique to their immigrant experiences and cultural beliefs. In the Somali community, domestic conflicts were resolved primarily by consultation with family member and tribal elders. In the Vietnamese and Latino communities, strong family ties and respect for family members were cited as ways of promoting family harmony. In all three communities, parents were reluctant to discuss intimate partner violence, but were eager to address family violence.

Interventions were designed to meet the needs of each community. For example, a six session parenting class was developed and implemented to address their concerns. Our work with these communities indicates that domestic violence prevention programs must be culturally specific for each targeted community and must be conducted within the context of family violence prevention efforts. Additional efforts and training are needed to enhance service providers’ ability to design and implement culturally specific intervention strategies.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to:
• Define domestic violence, family violence and gender based violence.
• Examine cultural factors that affect family violence in the Hispanic, Somali and Vietnamese communities in San Diego, California.
• Identify cultural factors that affect community development in immigrant and refugee communities.

Keywords: Minorities, Domestic Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.