IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2021i1p104-d709258.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding and Measuring Help-Seeking Barriers among Intimate Partner Violence Survivors: Mixed-Methods Validation Study of the Icelandic Barriers to Help-Seeking for Trauma (BHS-TR) Scale

Author

Listed:
  • Karen Birna Thorvaldsdottir

    (School of Health Sciences, University of Akureyri, 600 Akureyri, Iceland
    Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA)

  • Sigridur Halldorsdottir

    (School of Health Sciences, University of Akureyri, 600 Akureyri, Iceland)

  • Denise M. Saint Arnault

    (Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA)

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a global human rights violation of vast proportions and a severe public health problem. Despite high rates of adverse outcomes related to IPV, help-seeking and service utilization among survivors is low. This exploratory sequential mixed-methods study using a combined etic–emic approach describes the validation of the Icelandic Barriers to Help-Seeking for Trauma (BHS-TR) scale. The qualitative phase involved developing new items based on the experiences of 17 Icelandic IPV survivors, identifying barriers including beliefs that help-seeking is a sign of weakness, and the desire to safeguard oneself from re-traumatization. The quantitative phase examined the psychometrics of the BHS-TR in a sample of 137 IPV survivors in Iceland. Results supported an eight-factor structure (Financial Concerns; Unavailable/Not Helpful; External Constraints; Inconvenience; Weakness/Vulnerability; Problem Management Beliefs; Frozen/Confused; and Shame), which when grouped comprised two indices of Structural and Internal Barriers. The scale’s internal consistency was high (α = 0.87), and the results provided evidence of convergent, discriminant, and known-group validity. This study adds to the growing literature supporting the advantages of applying mixed methods for instrument development and validation, and its results highlight the significance of giving rise to the voices of survivors. The BHS-TR is the first trauma-specific and survivor-centered measure of help-seeking barriers available in Iceland. It can be used to provide valuable information that may guide the development of evidence-based interventions to break down barriers and help survivors find ways to trauma recovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Karen Birna Thorvaldsdottir & Sigridur Halldorsdottir & Denise M. Saint Arnault, 2021. "Understanding and Measuring Help-Seeking Barriers among Intimate Partner Violence Survivors: Mixed-Methods Validation Study of the Icelandic Barriers to Help-Seeking for Trauma (BHS-TR) Scale," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-21, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:104-:d:709258
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/104/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/104/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jing Jing Su & Deborah Lindell, 2016. "Promoting the menstrual health of adolescent girls in China," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 481-487, December.
    2. Koo, Jawoo & Nkonya, Ephraim M. & Azzarri, Carlo & Cox, Cindy M. & Johnson, Timothy & Komarek, Adam M. & Kwon, Ho Young & De Pinto, Alessandro & Roberts, Cleophelia & Zhang, Wei, 2016. "Promoting healthy soils for healthier agricultural systems," IFPRI book chapters, in: 2016 Global Food Policy Report, chapter 5, pages 40-47, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Sigrun Sigurdardottir & Sigridur Halldorsdottir, 2021. "Persistent Suffering : The Serious Consequences of Sexual Violence against Women and Girls, Their Search for Inner Healing and the Significance of the #MeToo Movement," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Rob Eisinga & Manfred Grotenhuis & Ben Pelzer, 2013. "The reliability of a two-item scale: Pearson, Cronbach, or Spearman-Brown?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(4), pages 637-642, August.
    5. Henry Kaiser, 1974. "An index of factorial simplicity," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 39(1), pages 31-36, March.
    6. Antonovsky, Aaron, 1993. "The structure and properties of the sense of coherence scale," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 725-733, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leiv Gabrielsen & Pål Ulleberg & Reidulf Watten, 2012. "The Adolescent Life Goal Profile Scale: Development of a New Scale for Measurements of Life Goals Among Young People," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(6), pages 1053-1072, December.
    2. Erik Piculell & Lisa Skär & Johan Sanmartin Berglund & Peter Anderberg & Doris Bohman, 2021. "Using a Mobile Application for Health Communication to Facilitate a Sense of Coherence: Experiences of Older Persons with Cognitive Impairment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-16, October.
    3. Elisabet Montoro-Fernández & Antonio Ramón Cárdenas-Gutiérrez & Antonio Bernal-Guerrero, 2022. "Entrepreneurial Resilience: A Case Study on University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Lillemo, Shuling Chen, 2014. "Measuring the effect of procrastination and environmental awareness on households' energy-saving behaviours: An empirical approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 249-256.
    5. Izolda Pristojkovic Suko & Magdalena Holter & Erwin Stolz & Elfriede Renate Greimel & Wolfgang Freidl, 2022. "Acculturation, Adaptation, and Health among Croatian Migrants in Austria and Ireland: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Xiaoxu Dong & Huawei Zhao & Tiancai Li, 2022. "The Role of Live-Streaming E-Commerce on Consumers’ Purchasing Intention regarding Green Agricultural Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-13, April.
    7. Kristin Thomas & Evalill Nilsson & Karin Festin & Pontus Henriksson & Mats Lowén & Marie Löf & Margareta Kristenson, 2020. "Associations of Psychosocial Factors with Multiple Health Behaviors: A Population-Based Study of Middle-Aged Men and Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, February.
    8. Ana Raquel Nunes, 2021. "Exploring the interactions between vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to extreme temperatures," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 109(3), pages 2261-2293, December.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Governance, capital flight and industrialisation in Africa," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-22, December.
    10. Pamela E. Ofori & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2021. "The Synergy between Governance and Economic Integration in Promoting Female Economic Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 21/071, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    11. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Knowledge Economy and Financial Sector Competition in African Countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(2), pages 333-346, June.
    12. Lyn M. Van Swol & Paul Hangsan Ahn & Andrew Prahl & Zhenxing Gong, 2021. "Language Use in Group Discourse and Its Relationship to Group Processes," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440211, March.
    13. Chimere O. Iheonu, 2019. "Governance and Domestic Investment in Africa," Working Papers 19/001, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    14. Rodríguez-Fuentes, Carlos Javier & Hernández-López, Montserrat, 1997. "Análisis de diferencias estructurales interregionales determinantes en el impacto de la política monetaria," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 7, pages 141-157, Junio.
    15. Asongu, Simplice & Tchamyou, Vanessa & Asongu, Ndemaze & Tchamyou, Nina, 2018. "The Comparative African Economics of Governance in Fighting Terrorism," MPRA Paper 92346, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Simplice A. Asongu & Rexon T. Nting & Joseph Nnanna, 2020. "Linkages between Globalisation, Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(11), pages 949-963, August.
    17. Simplice A Asongu, 2013. "Modeling the future of knowledge economy: evidence from SSA and MENA countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 612-624.
    18. Mia M. Vainio & Daiva Daukantaitė, 2016. "Grit and Different Aspects of Well-Being: Direct and Indirect Relationships via Sense of Coherence and Authenticity," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 2119-2147, October.
    19. Megha Gupta & Suhasini Verma & Smita Pachare, 2023. "An analysis of Conventional and Alternative financing—Customers' perspective," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2404-2414, July.
    20. Xiangfei Yuan & Haijing Hao & Chenghua Guan & Alex Pentland, 2022. "Which factors affect the performance of technology business incubators in China? An entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:104-:d:709258. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.