Diverse Intimate Partner Violence Survivors’ Experiences Seeking Help from the Police: A Qualitative Research Synthesis

Intimate partner violence (IPV), inclusive of all forms of abuse, is an ongoing public health and criminal-legal issue that transcends social boundaries. However, there is a lack of equitable representation of diverse populations who experience IPV in the literature. To garner a holistic knowledge of diverse IPV survivor populations’ experiences with seeking help from the police, the current review utilized a qualitative research synthesis methodology to explore police interactions among six IPV survivor populations that are underrepresented in the current literature: women with substance use issues, immigrant women, women in rural localities, heterosexual men, racially/ethnically minoritized women, and sexual minority women. Seven electronic databases were searched to identify peer-reviewed articles on IPV survivors’ narrative descriptions (qualitative or mixed-methods) of their encounters with law enforcement. The final analysis included 28 studies that were then coded with an iterative coding strategy. The analysis uncovered the following themes: (a) revictimization by the police, (b) police negligence, (c) discrimination, (d) cultural differences, and (e) positive experiences. These themes demonstrated that while some experiences with law enforcement were shared between under-researched survivor groups, some experiences were explicitly tied to some aspects of survivors’ identities. Recognizing the potential law enforcement has to support survivors, the findings of the current review reiterate the need for ongoing efforts to improve law enforcement knowledge and overall response to IPV, especially for diverse populations of IPV survivors.